Our Latest News

Our February 2023 emailing is out!

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 emailing is out!

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 emailing is out!

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 emailing is out!

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As of June 12, 2022, the CDC has rescinded its requirement that all air travelers flying to the U.S. undergo COVID testing pre-flight.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 emailing is out!

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.

The new online Field Guides Store!

We’ve just set up a new online store on our website. As of this writing, two items are available: a beautiful 2021 wall calendar and a set of 12 note cards, each based on a dozen watercolors of birds by our guide-artists Dan Lane and Micah Riegner. Visit our store for a slideshow and lots more info, and to purchase these new items…they make great holiday gifts, too!

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.