_Summer: The far north or a second spring?

Should you head far to the northwest to Alaska for one of our specialty-rich, two-parted tours in late May and early June, or to the Canadian Maritimes in Newfoundland & Nova Scotia for Atlantic Puffins in late June, or eastward to Arctic Norway on Spitsbergen for Dovekies in July? We're in full "go" mode and there are a few spaces left on each. Or instead should you plan for a second spring and a Spotted Owl in Arizona (like the one by participant Jeff Wahl below) in late July or early August after the monsoon rains have come? Summer offers so many great things! Click the images below for these tours.

_Cool bird news: BOPs

If you haven't already seen it, this month be sure to have a look at the Birds-of-Paradise Project now up on the Cornell Lab of Ornithology's website. A great place to begin for a few minutes is the "Birds" menu on the page, and then either the "Sounds" or "Dance" sub-menus. This is just amazing material, and it's fantastic to see so much incredible video, audio, and information on so many of these birds we see on our tours that visit Papua New Guinea and eastern Australia. Wow!

_Sneak peek at coming 2014 attractions!

What's coming to the "big green" next year? Well, our producers (i.e., the Field Guides Scheduling Committee!) have been hard at work planning our next big releases. An unnamed source has given us the following working titles (tour page details to be filled in soon):
Costa Rica: Birding the Edges Jan 10-18 & Jan 17-26, 2014; coming off a two-year sabbatical, guide Jay VanderGaast returns with a distinctive new two-parted itinerary: the deep-south prequel and the far-north sequel.
Panama's Canopy Camp (Darien) Jan 23-30, 2014; John Coons has been missing his Darien trips, but with the perfect new safari-camp setting, his return is assured!
Guyana (we could subtitle this "Romancing the shield") Feb 8-19, 2014, starring Megan Crewe with all those "Guianan shield" specialties as very, very special extras.
Cloudforests of El Triunfo, Mexico Mar 8-17, 2014; joining co-star Jorge Montejo, Jay VanderGaast experiences this wilderness for the first time in search of a large, near-mythical bird with a bizarre reddish ornament atop its head. He's guan wild at the prospect!
Spring in Cape May May 18-24, 2014; in this case, it's the migrants going wild for hometown favorite Megan Crewe...
Maine Jun 7-15, 2014; the perfect storm of New England birds from regional specialties to boreal delights starring new sensation Eric Hynes.

If that's not enough, you can now check out every guide's complete 2014 schedule...all Field Guides have been assigned to our various tours!

Here's a list of our Apr-Aug tours with one or more spaces still open. Contact our friendly office to help you get planning!

APRIL-MAY
Texas's Big Bend & Hill Country: Apr 20-29 with Chris Benesh & Pepe Rojas
Ethiopia: May 3-23 with Richard Webster & Phil Gregory (3 spaces)
Uganda: May 23-Jun 13 with Terry Stevenson & Jesse Fagan (4 spaces)

JUNE
Alaska: two tours, each in two parts -- (first tour) May 31-Jun 8 & Jun 7-17 with Megan Crewe & Pepe Rojas; (second tour) Jun 7-15 & Jun 14-24 with Chris Benesh & Eric Hynes; 2 to a few spaces on each section
Montane Ecuador I: Jun 7-16 with Willy Perez
Peru's Magnetic North: Spatuletails, Owlet Lodge & More: Jun 25-Jul 6 with Dan Lane & Pepe Rojas (4 spaces)
Newfoundland & Nova Scotia: Jun 28-Jul 8 with Chris Benesh (4 spaces)

JULY
The Norwegian Arctic: Spitsbergen: Jul 10-22 with John Coons
Mountains of Manu, Peru I: Jul 13-28 with Rose Ann Rowlett & Pepe Rojas (4 spaces)
Arizona's Second Spring I: Jul 27-Aug 5 with John Coons (3 spaces)
Peruvian Rainforests of the Tambopata: Jul 27-Aug 9 with Pepe Rojas & Dave Stejskal (4 spaces)

AUGUST
Arizona's Second Spring II: Aug 3-12 with Chris Benesh (4 spaces)
Galapagos III: Aug 3-13 with Megan Crewe (2 spaces)
Machu Picchu & Abra Malaga II: Aug 8-17 with Jesse Fagan