Best Owl Trips (1 Viewer)

[Killip]

Hi all,

I’m in the very early stages creating a plan to see as many of the Owls in the world as I can.

Can anyone offer advice on current trips that offer good ‘bang for buck’ number of owls?

As I get more into it I’ll look to hire private guides. But for now I just want to keep it as simple as I can with prearranged trips.

I’ll be staring with Finland for all the European Owls. After that I don’t know which trips get good numbers of owls.

Thanks in advance. Paul!

 

[foresttwitcher]

Using Finnature in Finland is the way to go for a great start on guided owling. For more adventurous independent trips use the search function to look for posts by Iain Tomlinson in the Vacational Trip Reports forum - eye opening reading.

 

[lgonz1008]

Any of the following trips can help you see 5 species of owls or more (some of these places have pretty widespread species):

• Southeast Arizona in May to match their breeding season (up to 10 species)
• Philippines with lots of island hopping (up to 20 species)
• Guatemala (up to 10 species, including some easier to find species than in Arizona)
• Sao Paulo (up to 15 species, including a few endemics and difficult widespread species)
• Sabah, Borneo (up to 10 species, many being widespread but difficult to find elsewhere) and the number can go up to 15 if you include Peninsular Malaysia/Singapore
• Kenya (up to 10 species, night birding is not allowed, but many local guides have known roost sites for some widespread African owls, along with the endemic Sokoke Scops-Owl)

There's plenty more, but these are great starting points.

 

[Killip]

Any of the following trips can help you see 5 species of owls or more (some of these places have pretty widespread species):

• Southeast Arizona in May to match their breeding season (up to 10 species)
• Philippines with lots of island hopping (up to 20 species)
• Guatemala (up to 10 species, including some easier to find species than in Arizona)
• Sao Paulo (up to 15 species, including a few endemics and difficult widespread species)
• Sabah, Borneo (up to 10 species, many being widespread but difficult to find elsewhere) and the number can go up to 15 if you include Peninsular Malaysia/Singapore
• Kenya (up to 10 species, night birding is not allowed, but many local guides have known roost sites for some widespread African owls, along with the endemic Sokoke Scops-Owl)

There's plenty more, but these are great starting points.

Marvellous advice. Thank you. Any particular tourism agencies? I’ll check all of these out.

 

[DMW]

Some good suggestions here. I would add Western Mexico (most of the Arizona owls can be seen here plus several endemics), and to a lesser extent perhaps southern Mexico.
Another really good country for owls is India - an advantage here is that a lot of owls are staked-out at day roosts in popular birding locations, most species are pretty easy to see, and logistics are easier than Indonesia or the Philippines.

 

[lgonz1008]

Marvellous advice. Thank you. Any particular tourism agencies? I’ll check all of these out.

Hard to pick for all places, since I haven't been lucky to bird some regions yet, but these regions I can advice. From guides I've birded with or received good feedback from friends:

• Southeast Arizona (solo or Arizona Birding Guides)
• Guatemala (Guatemala Birding Adventures)
• Sao Paulo (Demis Bucci or Marcos Eugenio)
• Kenya (Cisticola Birding Tours)