Our Latest News

See our September 2023 emailing

Check out the latest in our September 2023 monthly emailing. You’ll find a review of our various Panama itineraries, an update about our upcoming Hawaii tours, and a short report from our annual Field Guides staff meeting in Arizona (our first since 2019!). We’ve got a spotlight on our upcoming tours to India and Bhutan and our Atlantic Odyssey cruise. And, as always, we have our regular features, including photos from our recent tours in our Recent Photos Gallery—this month’s panoply contains more than 100 photographs submitted by participants and guides from numerous destinations. We feature 10 new triplists from recent tours and five updated itineraries for 2024.

See our August 2023 emailing

Our August 2023 monthly emailing is available. While much of this release focuses on a tribute to Tom Johnson, we also have some news about EU entry and lodging changes coming to Big Bend in late 2024, and we introduce Owen Hilchey as a new guide. You will also find new triplists from recent tours and various updated itineraries for 2024.

A Collection of Tom Johnson Photographs

Tom Johnson, who passed away in July (see post below) had many passions and accomplishments. One in which he excelled was photography. With that in mind, we’ve assembled a gallery of some of Tom’s best photos, along with some great photos of Tom. We’ll be re-visiting these images for a long time, remembering Tom with love and admiration.

Tom Johnson: 1988-2023

It’s impossible to comprehend even as we type these words. Tom Johnson, our “Albatross,” died unexpectedly Sunday morning, July 23, at his home in Cape May from a sudden illness. There truly are no words to express our shock and profound grief at losing such a dear friend and colleague.

There are some people you are just glad to know. Directly, closely, casually, peripherally, deeply, or once for a half hour. You are glad to be in their orbit, however many times you have the chance to spin around. They have a gravitational pull, whether you’re at arm’s length or on the other end of a Zoom signal bouncing off a satellite somewhere. They give a comfortable feeling, a warm embrace of acceptance and caring, of thoughtfulness and consideration, of curiosity and attention, of knowledge and sharing, of this moment together being precious. Such a source of joyful gravitation was Tom. We fortunate satellites, entangled near and far, now find ourselves bereft without that pull. We can hardly believe it, and we will miss you terribly, Tom, but you shine in our hearts.

Our love goes out to Melissa Roach, Tom’s fiancée, and Tom and Melissa’s families and many friends.

We will have more on Tom’s bio page in the days to come.

Our June 2023 emailing is out!

Check out the latest in our June 2023 monthly emailing. You’ll find an update about Brazil travel (not pandemic related!). We’ve got a spotlight on our upcoming tour to New Guinea & Australia with guide Jay VanderGaast. There are a couple of fun videos our guides assembled from recent tours to Chiapas in Mexico and to Arizona. And, as always, we have our regular features, including photos from our recent tours in our Recent Photos Gallery—this month’s panoply contains more than 100 photographs submitted by participants and guides from nine destinations on three continents. We feature 20 new triplists from recent tours and 18 updated itineraries for 2023 and 2024.

Our April 2023 emailing is out!

Check out the latest in our April 2023 monthly emailing. You’ll find an update about Brazil travel (not pandemic related!). We’ve got a spotlight on our upcoming July tour to Papua New Guinea, on which we’d love to take a few more folks. We also have an exciting tweak to tell you about in our September itinerary for Bolivia’s Avian Riches, which adds a night at a new-to-us lodge and gives access to a few species we’ve not been able to encounter previously. There are a couple of great videos our guides assembled from recent tours to southern Argentina and southern Mexico. And, as always, we have our regular features, including photos from our recent tours in our Recent Photos Gallery—this month’s panoply contains almost 100 photographs submitted by participants and guides from eleven destinations on three continents. We feature nine new triplists from recent tours and 11 updated itineraries for 2023.

Our March 2023 Field Guides emailing

Check out the latest in our March 2023 monthly emailing…our fresh Recent Photos gallery with 100+ pics from our recent tours; news about our upcoming return to Trinidad & Tobago; two great videos by our guides from recent tours to Vietnam and Southeast Brazil; open spaces on upcoming tours; numerous recent triplists and updated itineraries; and vignettes about our Southern Africa Spectacular and two departures to different areas of the Amazon Basin.

Our February 2023 Field Guides emailing

Check out the latest in our February 2023 monthly emailing…our fresh Recent Photos gallery with 100+ pics from our recent tours; added fall 2023 departures for Suriname and Guyana; two great videos by our guides from recent tours to Mexico’s Oaxaca Valley and Arizona’s Second Spring; a link to a free video about the Tambopata region in Peru from our OutBirding series; open spaces on upcoming tours; numerous recent triplists and updated itineraries; and a fun short video from guides Micah Riegner and Bret Whitney in Mexico.

Our January 2023 Field Guides emailing

Check out the latest in our January 2023 monthly emailing…our fresh Recent Photos gallery with 100+ pics from our recent tours; a special gallery of our “Best of 2022” photos from participants and guides; open spaces on upcoming tours; numerous recent triplists and updated itineraries; and a fun short video from guides Micah Riegner and Bret Whitney in Mexico.

Our December 2022 Field Guides emailing

Check out the latest in our December monthly emailing…our fresh Recent Photos gallery with 100+ pics from our recent tours; open spaces on upcoming tours; numerous recent triplists and updated itineraries; a feature on our new and returning tours for 2023 and 2024; and a fun short video from our 2022 Bolivia’s Avian Riches tour.

Our October 2022 Field Guides emailing

Check out the latest in our October monthly emailing ...our fresh Recent Photos gallery with 100+ pics from our recent tours, open spaces on upcoming tours; numerous recent triplists and updated itineraries; and more.

June 12, 2022: CDC eliminates COVID testing requirement for air travelers flying to the U.S.!

As of June 12, 2022, the CDC has rescinded its requirement that all air travelers flying to the U.S. undergo COVID testing pre-flight. This is happy news for anyone who has been hesitant to travel for fear of being stranded abroad at the end of a trip due to a positive COVID test. You can read the CDC news release here. That’s one more bit of uncertainty resolved. We look forward to seeing you on tour soon!

Special Note: Joe Grosel, 1966-2021

We are deeply saddened to note that Joe Grosel passed away on August 14 from complications of a COVID-19 infection he contracted in late July. Joe had been scheduled to receive his first vaccine dose in August.

We had the good fortune to begin working with Joe as a guide and, with his wife, Lisa, as logistical organizer for our South Africa tours in 2013, and Joe’s role expanded to guiding additional Field Guides tours to other Africa destinations in 2018. In 2019, Joe designed two new Field Guides tours to southern Africa featuring birds, wines, and wildflowers in one, and visits to Victoria Falls, Chobe, and Kruger in the other. Due to the pandemic, we had not yet been able to operate either one with Joe. In addition to his work with Field Guides, Joe operated a small consulting business that helped in local guide training and bush tracking, and Joe continued to publish ornithological papers including The Conservation of the Short-clawed Lark (Certhilauda chuana).

Joe was an excellent guide, fun, seemingly always in good spirts, extremely knowledgeable, and a team player. He made friends easily with our office staff and our other guides who were lucky enough to work with him, and we were delighted to see our working relationship growing. We will miss him greatly.

Joe was 55 and leaves behind his wife and business partner, Lisa, and three daughters.

We include here links to two videos of Joe, the first video hosted by Rose Ann Rowlett with Joe and Terry Stevenson recorded after a South Africa tour several years ago, the second video an interview of Joe hosted by Jesse Fagan in June 2020 as part of our OutBirding video series. If you did not have the chance to travel with Joe, these videos will help give you a sense of the wonderful person he was.

Our July 2021 Field Guides emailing

Check out the latest in our July monthly emailing…lots of news from added departures to open spaces on upcoming tours, recent triplists, updated itineraries, and some cool bird news from around the world.

The latest from the OutBirding video series

The OutBirding with Field Guides series continues to grow, now with nearly 60 videos available. The videos range widely across topics of interest to all birders, and all videos remain permanently in the library for subscriber access at any time. Have a look at some trailers on our OutBirding Blog — there are fun recent ones on Cape May Big Day (with Jesse, Tom, and Doug), Sage Brush Sparrows(Arizona), Dancing Greater Sage-Grouse (Colorado), and a cool nesting video in Black Vulture Bungalow. Not a member yet? Grab a subscription for yourself via the options on our OutBirding home page or as a gift for someone in the OutBirding Store. Subscribers receive complete access to all videos for just $15 per month (or $10/month if paid annually), and we offer a “Lifer” subscription as well.

New Mexico tour for October 2021: Veracruz’s River of Raptors

We’ve added another exciting new itinerary to our fall schedule for this year, October 1-10 with Doug Gochfeld and Jorge Montejo-Diaz guiding. The amazing spectacle of huge numbers of migrating raptors combined with some highland birding and cultural highlights. Find out more on our new tour page.

New US tour for October 2021: Mid-Atlantic Migration Magic

We’ve added a new itinerary to our fall schedule for this year, October 1-10 with Eric Hynes guiding: A master class on fall migration on the East Coast, from Kiptopeke to the Kittatinny, with an emphasis on raptors as they stream down the Eastern Seaboard. Find out more on our new tour page.

Our “Take a break with us…” video archive from 2020

While we were missing being out in the field with you—and before we launched our OutBirding video series in September 2020, we put together a web page where we posted short videos from our own guides and staff we thought you’d enjoy as a break. We had lots of great response from many of you who found these to be a welcome respite from the news cycle as well as a fun way to share a little time with our various guides while they’re at home. Check it out at this link.

Tour video: Central Mexico & Baja—Birds, Butterflies & Whales

Guide Micah Riegner assembled a fun video run through our inaugural tour for Mexican endemics, Monarch butterflies, and Gray Whales and Whale Sharks…come watch, it’s a lot of fun!

You can also visit our web page for more info.

Tour video: Brazil’s Japura & Tefe Rivers

Have a look at Bret Whitney and Micah Riegner’s December 2019 tour to remote Amazonia in this fun video from Bret filled with great visuals and drone footage!

You can also see our full 2019 triplist or visit our web page for more info.

Click the image below to view a PDF of our November newsletter featuring lots of images from recent tours in our Fresh From The Field section, a special InFocus section about our Asia tours (a great way for you to select one just right for your birding style), a tribute to Abbie Rowlett (our star newsletter and catalog producer for 20 years who retired in 2019), and a cool Bird Buzz piece from a recent Peru tour, where there was an amazing chase of a Gray-bellied Hawk after an Undulated Tinamou (no spoiler here!). Enjoy reading! Our next newsletter will hit mailboxes in early 2020. If you don’t already receive our quarterly newsletters but would like to, join our mailing list by clicking this link.