Best birding trip you ever went on (1 Viewer)

[JoeGBirder]

I've only gone on a couple actual trips, y'know, because I'm not really old enough to drive myself around yet... but, I have gone on many amazing birdwatching walks! So, here it is!
Date: 4/5/21
Temperature: 89 F
Place: The Celery Fields, Sarasota, FL
Equipment: The Peterson Guide to Ornithology, LEUPOLD Binoculars, Bug Spray, Notepad, Pencil
Birds seen: Two Black Vultures, Nothern Flicker, Red-Bellied Woodpecker, White-Eyed Vireo, Two Northern Cardinals, Northern Parula, A lot of House Sparrows, 3 Song Sparrows, Bald Eagle, Great Blue Heron, 4 Wood Ducks, Indigo Bunting

• Indigo Bunting was a lifer
• It was my first birding walk with more than one other person
• A bald eagle flew just around 20 feet above us!

What was yours?

 

[Mysticete]

Well certainly last week's adventure in Panama must take the cake as single best birding trip, although hopefully sooner than later I will have a better sample of international birding trips to choose from.

Within the ABA, my first spring birding trip to Arizona must count, with my second trip to South Texas also being up there.

 

[foresttwitcher]

15 days in Japan in the second half of February 2020.

 

[MJB]

Iron Range, Cape York, Queensland, Australia... by a country 1.60934 kilometres...
MJB

 

[Welsh Peregrine]

Peru. Over 600 species, so many of them top rate. First Hoatzin, Sunbittern, Sungrebe that I had seen. Inca Tern. Potoos, Macaws. Bonus mammals like Giant Otter. Junin Grebe, Diademed Sandpiper-Plover. Marvellous Spatuletail. And a totally unexpected bird of the trip - Pale-billed Antpitta.

 

[Nightjar61]

Actually every birding trip I have been on has been great, but the best was Yemen (including Socotra) and Djibouti. I had the chance to go on a privately arranged trip in 2007. Those are countries I never thought I’d visit in my wildest dreams. The desert scenery in each country is spectacular, especially on Socotra, which is like another world.

Although nowhere as birdy as the tropics, the region has many endemics and regional specialties. The highlight, albeit one among many, was seeing the extremely rare and range-restricted Djibouti Spurfowl.

This was during the Iraq war, and I was nervous about whether there would be any hostility towards an American. However, the people were very hospitable and welcoming and I never felt any hostility.

Unfortunately, given the current political situation, it may be a long time before birders can return there.

Dave

 

[KC Foggin]

Mine would have to be the Cayman Islands. So, so many birds especially water birds.

 

[Lerxst]

Recent 25 day trip to Brazil with >600 species and the three best guides we ever worked with.

 

[qwerty5]

I've never been on a real birding trip either, but my best day was May 2, 2021 in the 16 acre woods on my dad's property. I identified 40 species with 3 lifers. I don't carry a field guide, so it was just me, my Vortex Diamondback binoculars, and a notebook and pencil. Here's the list (lowercase=heard only, ALL CAPS=lifer):

May 2, 2021 3:30 p.m.-7:00 p.m.
Cloudy 80° Moderate wind
40 species, 3 lifers​

Blackbird, Red-winged
Bunting, Indigo: 1 male singing
Cardinal, Northern
Catbird, Gray: 1
Chickadee, Carolina
Cowbird, Brown-headed
Crow, American: 1
Dove, Mourning
Flicker, Northern
Flycatcher, Great-crested: at least 1
Goldfinch, American
Grackle, Common
Hummingbird, Ruby-throated: 1
Jay, Blue
Kinglet, Ruby-crowned: 1-2
Nuthatch, White-breasted
Oriole, Baltimore: at least 1 male
Robin, American
Sparrow, Chipping: 2-3
Sparrow, Field: 3-4
Sparrow, Song
Swallow, Barn: 2
Swift, Chimney: 2
Thrasher, Brown: 1-2
Thrush, Wood: 2 males singing, likely others
Titmouse, Tufted
Towhee, Eastern: 1-2 males, 1 female
Vireo, Warbling: 1 along creek
VIREO, YELLOW-THROATED: 1 feeding in mid-levels
Vulture, Turkey
WARBLER, ORANGE-CROWNED: 1-2 with chickadees
Warbler, Palm: 2-3
Warbler, Yellow-rumped: small flock throughout woods
WATERTHRUSH, NORTHERN: Feeding and preening in creek. Underparts and face tinged yellowish, with streaked throat and eyebrow narrowing behind eye.
Woodpecker, Downy
Woodpecker, Hairy
Woodpecker, Red-bellied
Woodpecker, Red-headed: 1
Wren, Carolina: 1-2
wren, house

 

[Euan Buchan]

Had so many great trips but ones that stick out are trips to Bass Rock, St Kilda, Staffa & Cuba.

 

[Mysticete]

Recent 25 day trip to Brazil with >600 species and the three best guides we ever worked with.

Who did you go with? was it a private tour or through a company?

 

[opisska]

25 days in Southern Africa - 8 countries, 373 species (303 lifers). It wasn't even a "birding" trip as it was mainly planned around mammals (and our friend's obsession with listing visited countries), but it was still the best birding trip due to the sheer ease of watching birds, which were jumping on us from every corner.

 

[qwerty5]

Recent 25 day trip to Brazil with >600 species and the three best guides we ever worked with.

600 species. . . dang. That would increase my life list by 5.5x. I'd be in heaven

 

[lgonz1008]

If it's a local trip, probably one I guided to my Audubon Chapter to the Everglades, we saw 80+ species in one day, including all of the Everglades specialties except for Snail Kite (which is only seen in the northern part of the Everglades).

In the US, it's a two way tie between a tour I took through Oregon, which did give me more lifers back in 2019, 188 species in total. But having just returned from a week in Montana and doing both Glacier and Yellowstone NP, I'd say this trip is better even if I missed most of my big targets, but still got to see 131 bird species and 16 mammal species (trip report on this is coming because it was a unique experience).

If I go outside of the US, my long weekend in Panama in 2019 is probably my best trip by far with over 90% of the 175 species seen being lifers. But in a month I'll spend a weekend in the Yucatan and my trip for next year has been changed from Northern Ecuador to Guyana, so who knows how much they will change my top location in just one year! (my money is on Guyana since it's guaranteed with sightings of South American megas like Harpy Eagle, Guianan Cock-of-the-Rock, Capuchinbird and Hoatzin).

 

[Lerxst]

Who did you go with? was it a private tour or through a company?

Brazil Birding Experts. Specifically Gabriel Leite in Manaus, Caio Brito in Sao Paulo, and Ciro Albano in the northeast. It was a customized tour for just me and my wife, which they helped us set up. It was not cheap, but it was money well spent. They are all biologists, and Ciro in particular has been and is involved with various conservation efforts.