VENTflash #87 November 08, 2007
Posted by Victor Emanuel
Victor Emanuel
Victor Emanuel started birding in Texas 63 years ago at the age of eight. His travels have taken him to all the continents, with his areas of concentration being Texas, Ari...Dear Friends:
In the last edition of VENTFLASH, I told you of my desire to occasionally highlight several less-known tours or regions of the world that I know you would enjoy hearing about. The tours or regions I speak of are special in that they tend to receive little promotion, yet offer some of the finest travel experiences in our entire repertoire of tours. Most recently you learned of Venezuela. In this edition I want to tell you about two special European tours we will run in 2008: Winter Birding in Bulgaria & Holland, and Southern Britain: Birds & History. Each of these trips capitalizes on some of Europe’s finest regions for birding at the best times of the year. Both of these trips will be led by longtime VENT leader, Peter Roberts. Based in Scotland, Peter is an expert on European birds and has, for many years, designed our high-quality program of European tours.
In this issue:
WINTER BIRDING IN BULGARIA & HOLLAND
SOUTHERN BRITAIN: BIRDS & HISTORY
TWO SPECIAL EUROPEAN TOURS
I have always felt that Europe is highly underrated as a birding destination. While it may not provide the bounty of colorful tropical birds found in Southeast Asia or the American Tropics, it does boast, among other things, fantastic migrations of hawks, shorebirds, and songbirds; breeding sites for many species not easily found outside the region; and some of the world’s most dramatic winter birding spectacles. For birders who love history and culture, Europe is without peer, home to Roman ruins, medieval castles and cathedrals, and thriving modern cities.
Every year VENT offers a handful of European tours. Our trips include a variety of themes. Some are focused birding tours while others combine birding activities with visits to famous historical sites. In 2008 we will operate two special European tours, in addition to other exciting departures to Spain and Scotland.
Our Winter Holland and Bulgaria tour is a first-time offering that includes travel to two very different areas of Europe in a quest to see all of the continent’s geese species, in addition to an extensive array of other first-class winter birds. Our Southern Britain tour, meanwhile, is a lovely exploration of southern England encompassing two major themes: birding and history. This tour was added following the recent publication of our annual catalog of tours.
WINTER BIRDING IN BULGARIA & HOLLAND
Sometimes, when looking at birds in a field guide or in a zoo, a particular bird catches your eye that becomes one of the species you most want to see. That’s the way I feel about two of the most striking waterfowl in the world, the Smew and the Red-breasted Goose. The male Smew is surely among the most elegant of all birds?mostly white with exquisite black lines. The diminutive Red-breasted Goose is one of the rarest geese in the world and also one of the most beautiful.
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Male Smew — Photo: Bob de Lange/VIREO |
Our Winter Birding in Bulgaria & Holland tour offers the opportunity to encounter both of these marvelous birds, plus a lot of other waterfowl, raptors, and winter birds. This departure represents the first for this tour and we are very excited about it. Though winter may not register as a prime time to visit either Holland (The Netherlands) or Bulgaria, both of these countries hold fabulous wintertime birding. The aim of this tour is simple: to show you all the European geese in the best locations. In so doing, you’ll also see a superb array of other wintering species you are unlikely to see on visits to Europe at other times of the year.
The star attraction will hopefully be watching some of the largest concentrations of the fantastic Red-breasted Goose. This species is almost impossible to see on its Siberian breeding grounds and regularly winters only in the southeastern corner of Europe in the Danube wetlands of Bulgaria and Romania.
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Red-breasted Goose — Photo: Peter Roberts |
In Bulgaria we should see thousands of Red-breasted Geese (over 50,000 some winters!), along with smaller numbers of Greylag Geese and the globally-threatened Lesser White-fronted Goose. All sorts of other birds are possible: Pygmy Cormorant, Dalmatian Pelican, Whooper Swan, White-headed Duck, Red-crested and Ferruginous pochards, White-tailed Eagle, Long-legged Buzzard, Eurasian Eagle-Owl, Eurasian Nutcracker, and Hawfinch.
To complement and complete this winter “goose chase,” we’ll spend several days along the north coast of Holland, where further immense numbers of waterfowl winter. Huge flocks of Barnacle Geese are assured, along with Brant, and Pink-footed and Bean geese. For raptor enthusiasts, the marshes and fields support a terrific blend of wintering hawks and eagles. Western Marsh-Harrier, Common Buzzard, Eurasian Kestrel, Eurasian Sparrowhawk, White-tailed Eagle, and Rough-legged Hawk are among the many possibilities. Other winter birds of interest could include Arctic Loon, Great Bittern, Water Rail, European Golden-Plover, Northern Lapwing, Pied Avocet, Eurasian Curlew, Black-tailed Godwit, and maybe Jack Snipe or Eurasian Woodcock.
Participants may choose to spend a day or two in Amsterdam prior to joining the tour or stay a couple of days in Bulgaria after the tour to visit museums, historical sites, and other cultural attractions. The wintertime is a great time for these types of activities, as the notorious summer crowds have long since disappeared.
Our WINTER BIRDING IN BULGARIA & HOLLAND tour, February 10-23, 2008, will be led by Peter Roberts. The fee is now $4,495 (original price was $5,995) from Amsterdam. This tour is limited to 10 participants.
SOUTHERN BRITAIN: BIRDS & HISTORY
This is an exciting and different tour aimed at birders who love history, or who may be traveling with a non-birding spouse. Southern Britain is excellent for its summertime birding, and its assemblage of fascinating historical sites is incomparable. We expect to finish with a good list of birds seen, but also aim to give you a tour filled with many memorable experiences and journeys into Britain’s colorful past. Peter Roberts has led this trip for VENT for over a decade and it continually receives rave reviews.
Kent, known as the “Garden of England,” will be our base for this tour, which combines exciting birding with visits to prime historical sites spanning Roman times to the present. The tour is based at a comfortable, well-appointed country hotel, allowing flexibility for each day’s itinerary to suit individual preferences and birding opportunities that may arise.
The Southeast of England is the richest birding area in Britain. Many species from the continent reach their limits here and are not found farther north. The area’s coastal features and geographical position on the western seaboard of Europe make it a great focus for often impressive migrations in spring and fall. Your tour leader, Peter Roberts, knows this part of England in great detail. His knowledge of the special birding sites and local contacts has been accumulated over many years. We will go “all-out” to show you an extensive range of birds, and to experience the excitement of avian migration through Europe. We will visit excellent nature reserves with large comfortable blinds and easy walking trails. Access to a private bird-banding station should provide an unprecedented and privileged close-up view of resident, breeding, and migrant species. The birding telephone hotline and personal contacts will keep us aware of any rarities that may be present. It is an exciting time of year, and with this tour being based out of a single location, we can remain flexible and maximize our birding options.
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Canterbury Cathedral — Photo: Peter Roberts |
Much of Britain’s most essential history is found in this part of England. The seat of government and church has always been based in the southeast at London and Canterbury. The various invasions?from Saxons and Romans to the Normans?were centered here, and the area’s strategic position close to the European continent has maintained its importance right up to the 20th century and through two world wars. A visit here gives an excellent overview and feel for the thousands of years of history that have shaped Britain. There are countless castles, stately homes, museums, and links with every era from the Stone Age to the present. Rather than flit randomly through the past, we will explore particular themes: Chaucer’s medieval Britain; British Naval Glories in centuries past; King Henry VIII; Invasions and Conquests through the ages; Dickens and Darwin; the sites of London; and a mixed birding/cultural visit across the English Channel to France.
Our SOUTHERN BRITAIN: BIRDS & HISTORY tour, August 3-14, 2008, will also be led by Peter Roberts. The tour fee is $4,195 from London (Heathrow). This tour is currently limited to 7 people and 1 leader. A second leader will be added if tour size warrants, with a limit of 14 participants.
INTRODUCING PETER ROBERTS
For the first time in a number of years, I had the pleasure of co-leading a tour with Peter Roberts this summer to the Dalmatian Coast in the former Yugoslavia. I was reminded of what a quality tour leader Peter is. He is well-organized, charming, and an excellent birder. I know our tour participants enjoyed traveling with him. I am very pleased to have Peter as a member of our staff. Living in Scotland, Peter anchors our European program of tours. Over the years he has led trips to all parts of the continent, including England, Scotland, Finland, Bulgaria, Spain, Hungary, and the Czech Republic. Peter’s interests are not just limited to birding, as he has also designed several trips that include strong emphasis on history. These trips have proven very popular.
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Peter Roberts |
Peter has been a keen naturalist since his childhood in London. While birds remain his main interest, close contenders include whale-watching, the big game animals of Africa, snorkeling, and the study of insects. A varied, lifelong career has included conservation and wildlife related work from nature reserve management and teaching wildlife field courses to ornithological survey and research, environmental consulting, and work for the United Kingdom government’s Department of the Environment. Wardening the bird-banding station on the Welsh island of Bardsey for seven years, and a year managing the Aldabra Research Station in the Indian Ocean, stimulated a passion for seabirds and islands. His work has taken him to archipelagos worldwide from Antarctica, the Falklands, Juan Fernandez, the Galapagos, Hawaii, the Seychelles, and Sao Tome north to the Shetlands, Pribilofs, and Aleutians. Peter has an MSc in woodland invertebrate ecology. He has published research on various subjects from the feeding ecology of fruit bats to bird migration, identification, and behavior to ecology of seabirds and Red-billed Choughs. Tour-leading for over 30 years has now become virtually full-time and resulted in travel to over 75 countries on all seven continents, concentrating in particular on the birds, history, and wildlife of Europe and Africa.
I am confident that should you participate on one of Peter’s tours, you will enjoy a rich and rewarding travel experience.
FINAL THOUGHTS
As a result of the record-breaking summer rains in much of Texas, we are having an incredible fall for butterflies. Participants on our SOUTH TEXAS BIRDS AND BUTTERFLIES tour, November 11-16, 2007, are in for a great time. This tour will be co-led by Michael O’Brien and Louise Zemaitis, who will be making their debut as VENT leaders since joining our team earlier this year.
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Zebra Longwing — Photo: Greg Lasley |
One of the joys of this late summer and early fall in Austin has been the record numbers of zebra longwings, a gorgeous black and yellow tropical butterfly that reaches its northern limit here in Austin. We have them right around the VENT office. We also have a gray fox that visits our office several times a week to eat sunflower seeds that have fallen from our bird feeder onto the ground. It is always a treat to see the fox make an appearance in the middle of a work day.
I hope you are enjoying a good fall season.