Top 5 birding sites per "continent"? (1 Viewer)

[John Cantelo]

Would that be Varanger in Norway?

Yours,

Mr geography pedant

Corrected! As a paid up pedant myself I know it's Norway. Thanks for keeping me on track Andrew!

John

 

[Alan G]

There's lot of people chosing Titchwell.

Its all down to personal tastes but there's too many human (sp) there for me.

The North Norfolk coast in general gets my vote but I personally prefer areas North of the border, not least Ardnamurchan & Mull for the scenery & tranquility.

 

[John Cantelo]

The big plus for the North Norfolk coast are several excellent places to buy bird books & new optics ....

John

 

[Nick-on]

fantastic birds and fantastic places - tried to keep it to 'sites' as much as possible


Europe:
Monfrague National Park
Demirkazik, Turkey
Erg Chebbi dunes near Merzouga
Tagdilt track, Morocco
Bay of Biscay
and East Norfolk of course.

etc

Tim

Not being too pedantic, but wouldn't Erg Chebbi and Tagdilt track come under Africa, and being a bit more pedantic shouldn't Demirkazik be under Asia?

My own 5 for Europe would be:-

Monfrague
Hotobagy
Ardnamurchan
Lesvos (wonder if that is technically Europe since it's only 3 miles from Turkey?)
Pyrenees (Valle de Hecho area if had to name a site)


Nick

 

[Farnboro John]

I personally prefer areas North of the border, not least Ardnamurchan & Mull for the scenery & tranquility.

Hear hear, so all you good people out there, don't pay any attention to our preferences! Mull and Ardnamurchan, nonononononono

John

 

[chowchilla]

Not being too pedantic, but wouldn't Erg Chebbi and Tagdilt track come under Africa, and being a bit more pedantic shouldn't Demirkazik be under Asia?

My own 5 for Europe would be:-

Monfrague
Hotobagy
Ardnamurchan
Lesvos (wonder if that is technically Europe since it's only 3 miles from Turkey?)
Pyrenees (Valle de Hecho area if had to name a site)


Nick

I suppose it depends if you divide the world according to political boundaries or biogeographical regions. So long as we know where these places are I guess it doesn't really matter.

I'll add to my list Europe:
1) Shetland.
2) Rhum.
3) Pyrenees.
4) Lake Skadar, Montenegro.
5) Daglari Mts, Turkey (OK, that's sort of Asia...)

 

[johnraven]

There is clearly a market for a book covering top world birding sites, distributed sensibly around the world, by someone not so America focused. The problem with the 'where to watch' books is that there is no personal touch, one cannot even be sure the author has been there, and they cover too many sites. I guess the people who have the best experience - birding tour guides - also have every reason not to write such a tome as it may encourage people to go independent.

Probably best be written by a combination of authors, who can then have actually been to the site recently, without being a tour guide. Or may be just encourage people to write more detailed trip reports?

 

[Sir William]

Unfortunately I'm still a lowly graduate student so I haven't traveled much...but here are a few North American nominations:

(1) Cape May (NJ)
(2) Everglades (FL)
(3) Alaska
(4) SE Arizona

 

[BobTag]

Hi John,

What a great idea!

Especially as the editorial bias of the “50 places” book was embarrassing to say the least…

Based on my experiences, here are my nominations as a kick-off:

North America – Cape May (NJ)
The Salton Sea (CA)

Europe – Cley Marshes & the North Norfolk Coast (England)
The Isles of Scilly (England)
Speyside (Scotland)
Monfrague NP & surrounding steppe, Extremadura (Spain)
La Brenne (France)

Asia (non-tropical) – Eilat (Israel)
Mai Po (Hong Kong)

Asia (tropical) - Taman Negara (Peninsular Malaysia)

Oz & NZ - Kaikoura (NZ)
Stewart Island (NZ)


Cheers, BT

Woops, missed of Northern India when I wrote this last night. I absolutely loved birding in the Himalayan foothills (Golden Bush Robin & Sibe Rubythroat together at Sat Tal stands out), but for an individual site I'd go for KNP, Bharatpur.

I also forgot Africa; favourite site for birding is Tarangire NP, northern Tanzania, even better than the famed Ngorongoro crater nearby.

 

[Jim M.]

More nominations (several not mentioned above):

North America:

Dry Tortugas, Florida
Southeast Arizona (Madeira Canyon)
Gaspé Peninsula, Nova Scotia
Plum Island and Vicinity, Massachusetts
Southern Tip of Texas (Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge and vicinity)

Oceania:

The Island of Hawaii

Jim

 

[Bubbs]

Best places I've been to...

Europe:
1. Lesvos
2. Bialowieza forest
3. Titchwell-Cley North Norfolk coast
4. Scillies in October

Africa:
1. Bwindi impentrable forest, Uganda
2. Rift valley lakes, Kenya
3. Kruger NP, South Africa

Australia/NZ
1. Kaikoura seabird trip, NZ
2. Tiritiri Matangi island, NZ
3. Kakadu NP, NT, Australia
4. Atherton tablelands, QU, Australia

South America:
1. Amazonia down river from Coca, Ecuador
2. Mindo, Ecuador
3. Apa Apa Cloud Forest, Bolivia
4. Esteros del Ibera, Argentina
5. Mata Atlantica, e.g. REGUA, SE Brazil

Asia
1. Langtang Valley, Nepal
2. Perivar NP, Kerala, India
3. Royal Chitwan NP, Nepal

Central America
1. Monteverde, Costa Rica
2. La Selva biological reserve, Costa Rica
3. Palo Verde NP, Costa Rica
(I've only been to Costa Rica in CA!)

North America
1. Cape May in late September

You must be a teacher....

 

[Surreybirder]

I've not birded as many places as most of you but my 'best' places would include
North America
San Fransisco Bay area
Vancouver Island
Creston, British Columbia
Asia
Bharatpur
Africa
I've only been to Nigeria so I'd have to say Lagos
Europe
Paphos area (Cyprus)
North Cornwall coast (just to be different)
Southern tip of Spain (Gibraltar to Algeciras)
Australia:
Cairns
Adelaide salt pans
Ferry between N and S island of New Zealand (after a storm)

 

[Jeff Hopkins]

Of the places I've been:

N. America
SE Arizona
Rio Grande Valley, TX
Dry Tortugas, FL
Nome, AK
Cape May, NJ

Latin America
Podocarpus NP, Ecuador
Crooked Tree, Belize
Tikal, Guatemala
Carara NP, Costa Rica

Europe
Danube Delta, Romania
Hortobagy, Hungary

Africa
Rift Valley (esp. Baringo), Kenya
Okavango, Botswana

Asia
Sungei Buloh, Singapore

 

[Xenospiza]

North America: Veracruz in autumn (surely beats Texas raptor totals).
I've never been to Mexico, but surely the birding must be better than the marginal neotropics of Santa Ana NWR (where I have been) and Arizona (where I haven't been)?
In Venezuela, Mérida and Boconó in the Venezuelan Andes and the Serranía de San Luis were great, and they're not even the best places in the country.
Spring migration in China must be awesome, shame they are destroying the coast...
Tari (Papua New Guinea) is probably the best known site there (and it's great, also for its people), but I'd love to spend another huge amount of money to go to Kikori and see that huge rail.

 

[Jim M.]

North America: Veracruz in autumn (surely beats Texas raptor totals).
I've never been to Mexico, but surely the birding must be better than the marginal neotropics of Santa Ana NWR (where I have been) and Arizona (where I haven't been)?

American birders (including the American Birding Association, American Ornithologists Union, etc.) always consider North America to consist of Canada and the U.S., Mexico is treated as being part of Central America (of course this is different from ordinary geography). Part of the excitement of Texas and Arizona is that American birders can see (and add to their North American life lists) birds found nowhere else in (ornithological) North America, and there is always the possibility of seeing a rare straggler from across the border. That said, I have been to Mexico, and the scenery in southeast Arizona, as well as the variety of birds from multiple biomes, rivals or exceeds much of what is found in northern Mexico;. Though if you go significantly south you will of course encounter many more tropical species.

But if you do not care whether you are seeing a bird in North America or Mexico (an idea foreign to an American birder), I can understand that Santa Ana might not seem that special to you.

Jim

 

[PaulD]

Can I put in a mention for the Farne Islands. Last year I spoke to visitors from Holland and Spain whilst on the islands and they were raving about how good they were and how they wished they had something similar back home.

I can't think of anywhere I've been in Europe which gives you better views of breeding seabirds and is so readily accessible.

 

[Carlos Davies]

Here's a few of my favourites:

UK:
Dunwhich-Minsmere-Sizewell (England) - can't believe no-one's picked this one yet.
Dinas and Gwenffrwd (Wales)
Abernethy-Cairngorm (Scotland)
Fetlar (Scotland)

Lake Kerkini (Greece)
Dadia Forest (Greece)
Marchegg (Austria)
Tatra Mountains (Slovakia)
Ronda area (Spain)
Beit She'an (Israel)
Ein Gedi (Israel)
Oued Massa (Morocco)
India generally (didn't visit specific reserves, just birded between general back-packing around)
Mission Beach (Australia)
Alice Springs-Uluru area (Australia) - yes, I know they're miles apart, but fairly local by Aussie distances.
Phillip Island (Australia)
Kapiti Island-Foxton estuary (NZ)
Jamaica Bay, NY (USA)
Adirondak Mountains, NY (USA)

Also another vote for some already mentioned:
Cairns (Australia)
Kaikoura pelagic (NZ)
Tiritiri Matangi (NZ)
Stewart Island (NZ)
Myvatn (Iceland)
Tagdilt Track (Morocco)

Never been to South or Central America, Antarctica, Sub-Saharan Africa and huge swathes of Asia.

 

[jurek]

Europe:
1. Coto Donana & Brazo De L'Este is a sort of accepted best site
2. La Serena (this km XX,X track) for steppes
3. Bialowieza for forest
4. Mykines, Faroes for seabird cliffs
5. something for raptors - maybe Montfrague or Dadia Forest, Greece?

5a. Pick any: Danube Delta, Volga Delta (anyone been?), Camargue, Hortobagy, Varanger

6. No, folks, forget any dumb coast with vagrants on sheep manure heaps.

 

[tomjenner]

Central America and the Caribbean (even though there are loads of places I've never visited)

1. Tikal, Guatemala
2. Pipeline Road, Panama (never been, but it sounds great)
3. La Selva, Costa Rica
4. Rio Platano Biosphere Reserve, Honduras
5. Monteverde/Santa Elena, Costa Rica

I'm sure there are plenty of Caribbean sites that I don't know of, but I guess that most places with really big numbers of birds will be on the mainland.

Tom

 

[halftwo]

You would be ill-advised to make too big a thing about this in Armenia, however.

John,
I'm afraid Dr.W. is correct. From the road north of Dogubayazit, long before you cross the border, it is on your right from the Ishak Pass. The border to the east is in the valley to the mountain's east.
Unless the border has been re-arranged since I went there!
H
Ultimate geography pedant!