Bob's Travels
Here you'll find some descriptions of birding trips, with references to field guides, site guides, restaurants places to stay, along with some personal comments on what we saw, where we went, and who we met. Also, there are usually a few photographs or links to a photo site. Hopefully it's useful to others for planning their own birding trips.
2009 Trips
Panama — February
This photo-focused trip was organized by Exotic Birding. Our guide was Jacobo Ortega - friendly, knowledgeable of birds, locations and birdsong. We birded the Panama City area, including Pipeline Road; the Colon area; and flew to David. The group was just 4 - Hanno and I and two friends, one an excellent photographer. We were accompanied by the tour organizer, Laura Fellows. After the tour we stayed 3 days at Canopy Lodge, which was excellent for bird photography, with good guides and wonderful accomodations.
View photo gallery.
Belize — February
The trip was sponsored by Golden Gate Audubon and organized by Mark Pretti Nature Tours. We visited Crooked Tree, Lamanai, Pook's Hill and Hidden Valley. Mark is one of our favorite guides, and Pook's Hill was probably our favorite place on the tour. We stayed a few days on our own at Bird's-Eye View Lodge at Crooked Tree before the start of the tour - lots of trails, nice people and good food.
View photo gallery.
Florida — March
From March 17 - 26, three of us flew to Fort Myers, Florida, and spent 9 days photographing birds in the Everglades (especially the Anhinga Trail, Paurotis Pond and Shark Valley), Ding Darling, the Venice Rookery, Corkscrew Swamp (the lettuce ponds were great) and a few other areas. Weather was excellent, light was good, and birds were cooperative.
View photo gallery. Read Trip Report.
Oregon — May
Between May 9 - 14, Hanno and I spent 3 nights at the French Glen Hotel in Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, in Eastern Oregon. We birded and photographed Yellow-breasted Chat, Long-eared Owl and Pronghorn, as well as other birds and animals. Some of the normally wet areas were dry because of a prolonged drought.
View photo gallery.
Brazil's Mato Grosso State — June
June 27 - July 12, we visited Mato Grosso, covering the Pantanal, the southern Amazon near Alta Floresta at Cristalino Jungle Lodge, and Chapada dos Guimaraes. Our starting point was the city of Cuiabá, and the tour was sponsored by Golden Gate Audubon with Mark Pretti Nature Tours. Although not a photo trip, we still managed to get some good bird and animal images.
View photo gallery.
Panama Photography Class — August
August 8 - 17; an Instructional Photo Tour with Arthur Morris of "BirdsasArt" and Linda Robbins, the Hummingbird Queen. We stayed at the Canopy Tower and Canopy Lodge, and photographed at several nearby locations. Learning to set up for hummingbird photography was great fun, with some neat images.
View Photo Gallery for all Panama trips
SE Arizona - Photo trip — November
Nov. 7 - 15; Fascinated by hummingbird photography, I acquired all the equipment and needed a place to test it out. Friends Dick Spight and Judith Fortney offered their Portal, AZ home, and Hanno and I, along with Obie Gilkerson, boarded SW Airline (bags fly free!) with a ton of equipment. Although the hummers aren't really numerous this time of year, there were enough to show the equipment worked. Next stop, Ecuador!
View Photo Gallery