Weekend only Birding trips abroad (1 Viewer)

Acanthis · Mar 8, 2017

Some questions for those out there that have maybe tried this.

Say you live within reach of 1 or more regional UK airports and you wish to travel to some far away destination, but you only have a weekend (possibly 3 or 4 days) available.
Where are the best destinations (cities, holiday resorts, etc) with the longest species lists achievable in such a short period of time?

Also I'm thinking about budget flights within Europe to target particular holes in the Lifelist eg. for my list Snowfinch amongst others.

lewis20126 · Mar 8, 2017

How about:

Gran Canaria: great 2-3 day trip for GC Blue Chaffinch
Tenerife: great 2-3 trip for 2 Pigeons, Tenerife Blue Chaffinch, Barolo Shearwater (in season)
Fuerteventura: Houbara Bustard & Chat
Romania: great weekend in winter for RB Geese flocks
Bulgaria: Semi-collared Flycatcher (May)
Marakesh: 1-2 days- African Crimson-winged Finch; with 4 days and if you don't mind driving you can do a few days in Merzouga (African Desert Warbler, Sandgrouse, Desert Sparrow, Egyptian Nightjar), via the Atlas (for Atlas Fly and Dupont's Lark) - I did this a few years ago over the early May bank holiday
Jordan: 2-3 days - Sinai Rosefinch, Syrian Serin

I think I'll probably do the Jordan option myself in the next year or two.

cheers, alan

Acanthis · Mar 8, 2017

Cheers Alan, some great suggestions there.

I've managed all the Canarian specialities in the past - though not surprisingly dipped on GC Blue Chaffinch.

Marrakesh and Jordan sound very tempting.

I suppose breaking it down into layers and removing as many complications as possible, direct flights from local airports, out and back would seem to be the first step.
For me in East Lothian it would be where I could reach from Edinburgh, Glasgow & Newcastle airports. Probably narrows the options down considerably.

Flights from say Edinburgh to a Eurohub like Schiphol would then expand the possibilities considerably.

In my head I can see straightforward possibilities such as Toronto for spring warbler migration in Ontario. All the way up to 'pie in the sky' stuff like Singapore or Perth, Australia.

Each city reachable by plane must have reasonable birding nearby. I can think of a few sites within easy reach of Edinburgh airport for anyone arriving with a day or two to spare.

delia todd · Mar 8, 2017

What about the Baltic states, Sandy. Some great woodpeckers and owls there amongst other niceties.

Andrew Whitehouse · Mar 8, 2017

Spring in the Baltic States or eastern Poland should be fairly easy and inexpensive to do. Would think Hungary and Iberia would be very good options too. Further afield the Gulf might be worth doing e.g. UAE or Oman. There's quite a lot to see within easy reach of Muscat for example.

lewis20126 · Mar 8, 2017

I've seen most of the Scandinavian specialities over two winter weekends in Finland a few years ago.

weekend 1: Azure Tit, Dusky Thrush (both vagrants), Great Grey & Ural Owls
weekend 2: Azure Tit (second bird!), Siberian Jay, Siberian Tit, Three-toed & Grey-headed Woodpeckers

These trips were on the (I think) now defunct flight on Ryanair, Stansted - Tampere and were very cheap.

Another easy one, which I actually did on a day trip, was Mallorca, for Balearic Warbler; but would be a nice weekend with Moustached Warbler, Eleonora's Falcon etc on offer.

cheers, alan

Andrew Whitehouse · Mar 8, 2017

Along similar lines to Alan's Mallorca suggestion, Corsica and Cyprus would probably be easy enough to do for the specialities, migrants etc.

Nutcracker · Mar 8, 2017

Environment / carbon costs?

Acanthis · Mar 8, 2017

Nutcracker said:
Environment / carbon costs?

Yeah I know, there's always that guilt in the background. :-C

I get your point. If you travelled abroad specifically to see birds over say a fortnight or three weeks, or if you had to travel on business maybe and had some time to spare, then there would be more justification.

With my current circumstances I just can't be away for a week or a fortnight. A long weekend is the maximum stretch I can manage.
I want to see new birds.

Tried twitching within a self-imposed 2 1/2 hour travel maximum radius. This last 6 months have been little short of disastrous - several painful dips. I can't read any bird magazine articles about last autumn without wincing!

And again last weekend. Pushed the travel radius out to 4 hours to try for Pine Bunting - dipped!
It occurred to me on the long drive home there may be better ways to see new birds than that soul-destroying sh*t

Acanthis · Mar 8, 2017

lewis20126 said:
I've seen most of the Scandinavian specialities over two winter weekends in Finland a few years ago.

weekend 1: Azure Tit, Dusky Thrush (both vagrants), Great Grey & Ural Owls
weekend 2: Azure Tit (second bird!), Siberian Jay, Siberian Tit, Three-toed & Grey-headed Woodpeckers

Sweet!!
I'll bet there are flights from Edinburgh to "Lapland" around Santa time.
That one's got definite possibilities :t:

Nutcracker · Mar 8, 2017

Acanthis said:
Tried twitching within a self-imposed 2 1/2 hour travel maximum radius. This last 6 months have been little short of disastrous - several painful dips. I can't read any bird magazine articles about last autumn without wincing!

Same here! Plus restriction to public transport (can't drive). At least there was a reasonably close Sib Acc in Sunderland I got!

Andrew Whitehouse · Mar 8, 2017

Acanthis said:
Sweet!!
I'll bet there are flights from Edinburgh to "Lapland" around Santa time.
That one's got definite possibilities :t:

Keep in mind that it'll be very dark at 'Santa time'.

Acanthis · Mar 8, 2017

delia todd said:
What about the Baltic states, Sandy. Some great woodpeckers and owls there amongst other niceties.

Andrew Whitehouse said:
Spring in the Baltic States or eastern Poland should be fairly easy and inexpensive to do. Would think Hungary and Iberia would be very good options too. Further afield the Gulf might be worth doing e.g. UAE or Oman. There's quite a lot to see within easy reach of Muscat for example.

Thanks guys, some great suggestions.
I suspect the best thing to do is plenty of research on trip reports and study EBird maps etc. Identify the sites nearest the airport and factor in accommodation, car hire, food.
Cultural differences, architecture, history are always worth seeking out but on a tight schedule probably best dropped.

Great discussion everyone!
It's a great help in deciding whether I should go for it or not

lewis20126 · Mar 8, 2017

Nutcracker said:
Environment / carbon costs?

The UK is ahead of its 2020 carbon target, so all British residents can fly abroad much more often until then. The 2025 target will be more of a challenge. :t:

cheers, alan

Acanthis · Mar 8, 2017

Nutcracker said:
Same here! Plus restriction to public transport (can't drive). At least there was a reasonably close Sib Acc in Sunderland I got!

Went for the one on Holy Island. Joined the other lost souls staring out at the empty, desolate, Acaena-ridden dunes.

Also went for the White's Thrush there. No joy. Had been seen that morning though, as a local cheerfully informed me.

And worst of all I was standing next to a bloke who got onto the Pine Bunting which then disappeared while the rest of scrambled with our optics!
Did nail Pacific Diver on the way down though the b**ger was sleeping and never once lifted it's bill out of it's back feathers.

I make all this sound bad but in fact I met some great folk along the way and enjoyed some good crack. Birdwise though it's been a waste of time and fuel

lewis20126 · Mar 8, 2017

I did Southern France (Rock Partridge, Pygmy Owl) and Corsica together on a week long trip but you can easily split that into two long weekends. Nice is the cheap gateway into SE France, via Easyjet (others?)

cheers, alan

wolfbirder · Mar 8, 2017

Acanthis said:
Went for the one on Holy Island. Joined the other lost souls staring out at the empty, desolate, Acaena-ridden dunes.

Also went for the White's Thrush there. No joy. Had been seen that morning though, as a local cheerfully informed me.

And worst of all I was standing next to a bloke who got onto the Pine Bunting which then disappeared while the rest of scrambled with our optics!
Did nail Pacific Diver on the way down though the b**ger was sleeping and never once lifted it's bill out of it's back feathers.

I make all this sound bad but in fact I met some great folk along the way and enjoyed some good crack. Birdwise though it's been a waste of time and fuel

Don't think the Holy Island White's Thrush was seen on the second morning was it? Just the first.

If you were one of the 2 chaps standing next to me on a recent Pine Bunting at Dunnington twitch, I am sorry it only showed for about 5 seconds. I tried to let people look through my scope but it had flitted down to the ground. I actually deprived myself of a decent look at this bird in an attempt to get others a view.

I ended up with a clear two-second view only. Of course that might not be the situation you were referring too.

Jhanlon · Mar 8, 2017

Years ago I looked for the cheapest flights options on Ryanair and built my weekends around those. Did a series of weekend trips to the Austrian Alps and a Swedish weekend (based in Stockholm). Wallcreeper, snowfinch, Alpine chough, crag martin, GH & WB woodpecker the highlights in the Alps and a few bits in Sweden included pygmy & E. eagle owl, moose, black woodpecker & hazelhen, though I had to return on a later trip to fly up north for Sibe tit & jay, ural & GG owl.

My next trip will be Spain - I hope - for Iberian lynx & assorted birds, probably around Extremadura. Should be doable in a few days and again, quite cheap.

With the internet resources we have available now, the possibilities (even in Europe alone) are endless!

Acanthis · Mar 9, 2017

wolfbirder said:
Don't think the Holy Island White's Thrush was seen on the second morning was it? Just the first.

By a local non-birder so unconfirmed.

wolfbirder said:
If you were one of the 2 chaps standing next to me on a recent Pine Bunting at Dunnington twitch, I am sorry it only showed for about 5 seconds. I tried to let people look through my scope but it had flitted down to the ground. I actually deprived myself of a decent look at this bird in an attempt to get others a view.

You selflessly tried to get the rest of us onto it. Had it been more cooperative we all would've enjoyed great views. Them's the breaks!
Thank you for trying Nick :t:

Acanthis · Mar 9, 2017

Jhanlon said:
Years ago I looked for the cheapest flights options on Ryanair and built my weekends around those. Did a series of weekend trips to the Austrian Alps and a Swedish weekend (based in Stockholm). Wallcreeper, snowfinch, Alpine chough, crag martin, GH & WB woodpecker the highlights in the Alps and a few bits in Sweden included pygmy & E. eagle owl, moose, black woodpecker & hazelhen, though I had to return on a later trip to fly up north for Sibe tit & jay, ural & GG owl.

My next trip will be Spain - I hope - for Iberian lynx & assorted birds, probably around Extremadura. Should be doable in a few days and again, quite cheap.

With the internet resources we have available now, the possibilities (even in Europe alone) are endless!

Good strategy James and good luck in Extremadura

Weekend only Birding trips abroad (1 Viewer)

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