Each birding tour might be an unimaginable expertise. There are lots of birds, cool interactions, and attention-grabbing species—every single day is completely different. Listed here are just a few underrated, distinctive hen experiences to try to see.
Wader Spectacle – Snettisham, England
Snettisham is a little bit village on the west coast of Norfolk, England. Simply exterior city is the Snettisham RSPB reserve that sits alongside The Wash, a big estuary. The reserve protects necessary lagoons and has a number of hides to view the birds. Snettisham has a novel geological nature that draws thousands and thousands of migratory birds to feed within the protected bay. One of many first situations of shorebird banding in England occurred in The Wash – so it should have good shorebirds!
The Wader Spectacular is a pure occasion through which the incoming tides push birds off the mudflats. The huge, expansive mudflats present a premium foraging habitat stuffed with shellfish and worms. It doesn’t sound that spectacular, however the tide is available in very quick over the mudflats and forces among the bigger waders, like Eurasian Oystercatchers, to run from the incoming water, and smaller birds, like Purple Knots, take off in big flocks in the direction of security. The noise and chaos of thousands and thousands of birds escaping the water is an unimaginable sight to behold.
Extra details about this unimaginable occasion might be discovered right here, 2025 dates needs to be posted quickly: https://group.rspb.org.uk/placestovisit/titchwellmarsh/b/titchwellmarsh-blog/posts/snettisham-spectacles-2024-dates-times
Scissor-tailed Kites Roost – Kaolack, Senegal
Raptors are sometimes seen in low numbers as they’re on the prime of the meals chain, and their prey objects could also be sparser throughout their habitat. So, whenever you see a big group of birds of prey – it’s a actual showstopper.
Exterior of Kaolack, Senegal in West Africa is a roost web site in Forêt Classée de Kousmar. If you happen to go to this location within the evenings from October to March, you possibly can see a spectacular scene of over 2,500 Scissor-tailed Kites coming into roost for the night time. This stunning species inhabits the arid savannahs of the Sahel area, the place they feed on lizards, snakes, rodents, and arthropods. Because the solar goes down and it begins to chill for the night, the kites land on the branches of bushes alongside the waterway, wanting like small Christmas ornaments with the glow of orange behind them.
Learn extra about this expertise: https://www.10000birds.com/birding-senegal-costco-ads-and-scissor-tailed-kites.htm
Vaux’s Swifts – Portland, Oregon, USA
Few birds seem like they take pleasure in flying as a lot as swifts and swallows. They make flying look easy. Within the household Apodidae, swifts have tiny toes and can’t perch – nevertheless, they cling to surfaces like bushes and chimneys. People constructed buildings (like chimneys) inside their vary; Vaux’s Swifts have taken to them.
Within the fall, they take part giant flocks emigrate south to Central America and Venezuela. Portland, Oregon, is immediately on the trail. In northwest Portland, the Chapman Elementary Faculty has a sexy chimney through which most of the 35,000 swifts that journey by means of could roost.
These birds transfer by means of in September, which has change into a preferred occasion for birders and non-birders within the space. So, if you happen to get an opportunity, trek down within the night earlier than sundown, and you’ll be handled to a present of Vaux’s Swifts, who swirl by means of the sky in big flocks and finally make their method into the chimney.
Right here is extra info: https://birdallianceoregon.org/our-work/rehabilitate-wildlife/having-a-wildlife-problem/vauxs-swifts/
Snow Geese – Merced, California, USA
Giant teams of birds can simply entice a crowd, like with the swifts, however are much more spectacular when they’re larger birds. Merced Nationwide Wildlife Refuge (NWR) is alongside the Pacific Flyway and gives a secure stopover level for a lot of species from Alaska to Patagonia. This NWR includes 10,000 acres of wetlands as a part of the San Luis Nationwide Wildlife Refuge and attracts wintering waterfowl for foraging to assist shield close by farmland from damaging crops. As many as 60,000 geese will cross by means of or overwinter at this web site.
Go to between December and March, and you will notice 1000’s of Snow Geese foraging, honking, and withdrawing all through the wetlands. The congregation of so many birds is deafening and mind-boggling if you happen to attempt to get an correct rely.
Study extra right here: https://www.fws.gov/refuge/merced/species
Guianan Cock-of-the-rock lek – Amazonas, Brazil
Think about wandering by means of a terra firme forest and seeing a fluorescent orange hen hopping round low within the bushes—it looks like one thing straight out of Nationwide Geographic, proper? The Guianan Cock-of-the-rock is seen round rocky caves and big boulders and is sought out for its unimaginable show at lek websites. This species might be present in components of Colombia, Venezuela, and Brazil.
I used to be fortunate sufficient to see a number of males at a lek web site at Aldeia Marí Marí exterior of Presidente Figueiredo in Brazil, and it was actually wonderful. Seven vivid orange males explored the lek web site for over an hour, ready for a feminine to swing by and see what they needed to provide. Sitting on the leaf-strewn flooring, it felt like I had been transported into the scene of a nature documentary, and it was a tremendous expertise.
Each time I’m going exterior, I see one thing distinctive. Whether or not it’s migrating birds arriving in my neck of the woods or a novel interplay between species, you don’t have to go a lot additional than your yard to see one thing exceptional. Nonetheless, there are additionally wonderful issues to see all over the world!
Remark with an unimaginable birding expertise that stands out in your reminiscence!
