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#1 Bucket List locations (2 Viewers)

dandsblair

dandsblair

David and Sarah
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Just read the Travel Supplement with Birdwatch Magazine (UK). They have a top 10 Bucket List. With Sri Lanka listed as No.1.

I wonder what others have down on their must do list (we are actually doing well against Birdwatch list with only Japan in their top 10 not yet visited)

Our current top 5 are
Japan (hoping for Feb 16)
Ethiopa (possible Nov 16)
Columbia (2017)
Chile and Easter Island
Guyana
 
Funny, with the title being "#1 Bucket List locations" I was expecting a list of hotspots, not countries. Therefore, all small countries automatically are out.

Niels
 
I'd like to stick a vote in for Yellowstone (now off my bucket list but I wouldn't mind doing it again if cash was available!)

Kruger National Park

The Falkland Islands (small enough to be a location? Only the size of Wales I believe.)

Scilly, Shetland and North Norfolk

I've been to all of the above. There's an awful lot on my "to do" bucket list, here are six for starters:

Svalbard

Sri Lanka (especially Yala which I gather is awesome)

The Pantanal

Ethiopian Highlands

Western South Africa - I fancy Kalagadi and I also want Southern Right Whale and Great White Shark

Australia - I can't pick one place, but my first foray will be the Eastern side as Maz has relatives there.

John
 
Well, high on my list is a couple of places I fully expect to go to next year: Galapagos and a couple of lodges in Ecuador which I think will include Tandayapa.
More doubtful that I will actually go is Papua/New Guinea for the birds of paradise.
The fjords of Alaska is just about the only cruise I am contemplating.
Machu Picchu in Peru for the ruins but also for birdwatching

A couple of places I have been that I think should be on birdwatchers' bucketlist:
Asa Wright in Trinidad with excursions to other parts of the two islands (Tobago the other)
Costa Rica with for example Rancho Naturalista as a "must" stop
The area around the Canal in Panama
Western Panama for Quetzal (also available in Costa Rica, but this is where I saw it) and other great birds
Chile and especially Torres del Paine NP (this last one should be on the bucketlist for anyone who likes getting into spectacular nature).
Yucatan with lots of highlights, both birding and ruins
I didn't count, but I could probably add another 5-10 places easily.

Niels
 
Places I have visited that should be on any birder's bucket list:

Central Brazil: Pantanal, Cerrado, and Cristalino Lodge circuit in Mato Grosso
Southeast Brazil: Intervales!
Arizona: Desert, Sky Islands, and the Grand Canyon
Eastern Australia: Outback, Wet Tropics, Great Barrier Reef, and Wollongong Pelagics
Thailand: Pak Thale, Kaeng Krachen NP

Bucket wish list at the moment:

New Guinea
Japan (winter)
Bhutan
Borneo
Chile/Argentina (Patagonia/southern cone)
Colorado (lekking chickens)
 
csanchez7 said:
Places I have visited that should be on any birder's bucket list:

Central Brazil: Pantanal, Cerrado, and Cristalino Lodge circuit in Mato Grosso
Southeast Brazil: Intervales!
Arizona: Desert, Sky Islands, and the Grand Canyon
Eastern Australia: Outback, Wet Tropics, Great Barrier Reef, and Wollongong Pelagics
Thailand: Pak Thale, Kaeng Krachen NP

Bucket wish list at the moment:

New Guinea
Japan (winter)
Bhutan
Borneo
Chile/Argentina (Patagonia/southern cone)
Colorado (lekking chickens)
Click to expand...

Carlos,
I did really well with lekking chickens in New Mexico on a trip that also visited SE Arizona and some additional great sites in NM.

Niels
 
Whichever bit of Antartica happens to have some Emporer penguins on it. Ideally getting paid by the BBC to spend a decent amount of time with them and point a lens in their direction.
 
South Africa/Botswana - prefer south africa though (sharks).
Somewhere in Scandinavia - Norway looks best.
Alaska - more for scenery than for birds.
Somewhere in the Med not covered with buildings - cyprus/greece/sardinia/corsica/etc.
Somewhere in the UK - Scottish islands look best.
Maybe Russia - in the Urals.
Israel looks cool.
Maybe some other parts of Africa- towards the east.
Actually I'd like to do all of Europe to be honest.
 
New Guinea (top of the list but not gonna happen for a while)
Colombia
Himalayas
eastern Australia
Borneo
Hawaii
Kenya/Tanzania/Uganda
Cuba

also would like to get to the Arctic sometime

Places I've already been that were on my bucket list:
Ecuador
Peru (need to go back though, lots more to see!)
Pantanal
SE Brazil
South Africa
south Thailand
southern India
western Mexico
 
One more where I have been: If you have not spent a significant amount of time (at least a week) on Skagen (spring) or Falsterbo (fall) watching migration, then you must go. The good days for raptors can be truly spectacular. Combined with early mornings watching migrating loons and other seabirds, I have not yet experienced anything similar.

I have heard that Eilat (Israel) and the neighboring area of Jordan can be very good too, possibly with higher numbers but fewer species, so that is on my bucketlist. People also talk about Gibraltar and Istanbul, where I have less an idea about what to do.

Niels
 
Top 10 places we had on bucket but have now done

Papua New Guinea - expensive and difficult but really worth it for 20+ birds of paradise and endemic families.
Brazil - Pantanal and Atlantic Forest ( also to see Jaguar)
Svalsbard ( more for Polar Bears and Walrus than birds)
Ecuador and Galapagos
Uganda (including Gorilla)
Australia East Coast
Antarctica (including Falklands and South Georgia)
Philippines (still need to do Mindanao)
Borneo (saw a lot but going back next year)
Tanzania with Usambara Mountains and Pemba

I would recommend these places for birds and overall wildlife experiences

Sarah is screaming what about India (with Tigers), Peru, Trinidad and Tobago, or Costa Rica (that's off because I've still not seen resplendent quetzal, washed out in severe floods)
 
For me it's got to be -

New Guinea ( for some reason the Vogelkop Peninsula has always been lurking about in the darker recesses of my mind ).
Brazil ( particularly the Pantanal )
Ecuador
Iran ( the moment politicians stop playing silly buggers, I'm in :t: )
NE India
Polynesia ( I will get Tuamoto Sandpiper before I peg out. I will. )
New Caledonia, Bismarck Archipelago and Solomon's ( should be doable in one swoop - if I can blag a sabbatical ;) )
 
Places I'd dearly love to visit: Pantanal (hopefully next year), Madagascar, Uganda, Bhutan, Antarctica (might just be too prohibitively expensive), Galapagos.

Places I've been that were on my bucket list: Alaska, Svalbard, Namibia, Kenya (only a small part -will have to go back), India.

Places that were better than expected on visiting: Kruger NP, Baja California (more for the whale watching).

Andrea
 
Definitely India for me in terms of wildlife, I'd love to do a trip across the country starting or finishing in the Himalayas - though admittedly the prospect of Tigers or Snow Leopards would be more exciting to me than any one specific bird there that I can think of.

Second choice would be a similar format but South America, doing a nice cross section of environments from the Amazon through to the Andes.
 
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