Birding Tours – International

International Tour General Information

Reservation Deposits

10% deposit is required to reserve your space.

50% is due 120 days prior to start of tour.

100% is due 90 days prior to start of tour.

SINGLE SUPPLEMENT IS $500.00 UNLESS STATED OTHERWISE

Refunds and Cancellations

100% Refund 120 or more prior to start of tour.

50% Refund of total tour cost 90-119 days prior to start of tour*

25% Refund of total tour cost 60-89 days prior to start of tour*

*If total cost for tour has not been paid in full refund may not be applicable

NO REFUNDS LESS THAN  60 DAYS PRIOR TO START OF TOUR UNLESS SPOT CAN BE FILLED IN WHICH A 25% REFUND WILL BE ISSUED.

Trips DO NOT include airfare, food, drinks, tips, or other expenses not specifically mentioned in the tour description.

CDC and Local Guidelines for Covid-19 will be followed.

Oklawaha Valley Audubon Birding and Wildlife Tour of Grand Bahama Island

We have a Caribbean adventure waiting for you this February, 2022! What better time of the year to escape and end up in a tropical paradise? We’ll be staying at the luxurious Island Seas Resort featuring two restaurants on the property, a bar, hot tub, and it’s own private beach. The resort is centrally located in Freeport, Grande Bahamas. This tour will not have any strenuous hiking. Instead relax in the beautiful Garden of the Groves where wintering Blackpoll Warblers abound. Other frequent avian visitors to the garden include Loggerhead Kingbird, Gray Kingbird, Cuban Pewee, Greater Antillean Bullfinch, Least Grebe, Cuban Emerald, Smooth-billed Ani, Thick-billed Vireo, and many wintering warblers. Bahama Mockingbird is sometimes seen around the island from the cruise port to Paradise cove and established populations of Peach-faced Lovebird can be seen in the market square. The eastern side of the island will produce Bahama Warbler, Western Spindalis, Red-legged Thrush, and Olive-capped Warbler. Here is a breakdown of the daily activities for this tour:

February 10th- Carpool and drive to south Florida and stay overnight at the Rodeway Inn & Suites Fort Lauderdale with cruise port shuttle

February 11th- Begin from Fort Lauderdale at 9am and take the ferry to Grand Bahama island. It arrives at 1pm. We’ll get to the market square in Freeport and have lunch and look for the Rosy-faced Lovebirds that live at the market. Then arrive at Island Seas resort and have dinner at the local $2 Bar.

February 12th- The Garden of the Groves. A beautiful botanical garden complete with butterfly garden and literature on the birds of the garden. It’s a great location to get familiarized with the more common bird species of the Bahamas. We should see Red-legged Thrush, Hairy Woodpecker, La Sagre’s Flycatcher, Ringed Teal, Greater Antillean Bullfinch, Black-whiskered Vireo, Smooth-billed Ani, White-crowned Pigeon, Cape May Warbler, Cuban Emerald, Western Spindalis, Northern Waterthrush, Black-throated Blue Warbler, Yellow-throated Warbler, Least Grebe, Loggerhead Kingbird, and Thick-billed Vireo. Eat lunch at the gardens. 

February 13th- Eastern Pine forest. Olive-capped Warbler, Pine Warbler, Bahama Warbler, and Black-faced Grassquit

In the afternoon, we’ll visit the Emerald golf course for White-cheeked Pintail and other waterfowl species. Then by evening, we’ll stop by the Bahamas Birder’s Bnb for the Bahama Woodstar 

February 14th- Explore the island to look for Bahama Yellowthroat, White-cheeked Pintail, and Bahama Mockingbird. Stop at the Sands brewery for tour and tasting of Bahamian local beers. International bazaar for lunch.

February 15th- Explore the island for Bahama Woodstar during the day. We may find them at Erika Gates’ garden. Plenty of time to enjoy the beach in the afternoon or stop at the marketplace for shopping. Return home to Fort Lauderdale Tuesday evening. We’ll plan to spend another night at the Rodeway Inn and Suites since the boat gets in very late.

February 16th- Wednesday morning on our drive back north, we’ll stop at Green Cay wetlands for waterbirds, American/Least Bitterns, Gray-headed Swamphen and the Atala butterfly. Excellent location for up-close viewing and photography of birds. Green Cay has a raised boardwalk trail over the wetlands for easy walking. After our morning at the park, we’ll eat lunch and continue our drive back up north to Lake county.

Anyone interested in nature will fall in love with the Bahamas if you have never been here before. There is so much natural habitat, the people are so welcoming, and the food is amazing! Vegetarians will enjoy a common Bahamian dish of pigeon peas and rice and seafood lovers will appreciate the fried conch. Price for this tour will be $2145 per person/double occupancy ($500 singles supplement). This price includes resort stay, speed boat trip out to the island from Fort Lauderdale, transportation around the islands, entry fees to parks and gardens, professional guides, and daily ebird checklists. It does not include your transportation to Fort Lauderdale, food/drinks, or tips. Please email archaeopteryxtours@gmail.com or call 609-553-0757 for more information.

Join Archaeopteryx Birding & Nature Tours as we explore the 5 habitats of Costa Rica for the largest diversity of bird species you can find in the country. We’ll be staying 3 nights in the Pacific lowlands at Playa Hermosa, Puntarenas, 2 nights in the cloud forest of the Quetzal Valley, and 2 nights in Vara Blanca, Alajuela. The 5 habitats we are set to explore are the Pacific slope, the Atlantic slope, the mangroves, the dry forest, and the cloud forest. Our accommodations will be natural, but comfortable ecolodges off the beaten path of most tourism. Here is the tentative itinerary for the tour:

3/2- Arrive in San Jose and travel to Playa Hermosa that evening. We’ll have dinner and light birding around the property of our lodge and begin birding early the next morning 

3/3- Calle Conga Hill. We’ll be spending our first morning walking around the Calle Conga rural neighborhood. Here we will be looking for Scarlet Macaws, Fiery-billed Aracari, Great Kiskadee, Streaked Flycatcher, Tropical Kingbird, Montezuma Oropendola, Lesson’s and Turquoise-browed Motmot, Palm Tanager, Red-legged Honeycreeper, Inca Dove, Bare-throated Tiger Heron, Black-striped Sparrow, Bright-rumped Attila, Yellow-crowned Euphonia, Gray-headed Chachalaca, and Masked Tityra. Later, we’ll do some driving around town for additional bird species not seen in the neighborhood and stop at the Puddlefish Brewery in the evening. 

3/4- Jaco Mamedales Quebrada Bonita wetlands- Red-breasted Meadowlark, Grayish Saltator, Variable Seedeater, Morlet’s Seedeater, Scarlett-rumped Tanager, Blue-black Grassquit, Thick-billed Seed-finch, Common Black Hawk, Northern Jacana, Scissor-tailed, Willow, and Social Flycatchers, Green-breasted Mango, Southern Lapwing, Brown Jay, Rose-throated Becard, Boat-billed Heron, Blue-gray Tanager, Rufous-naped Wren, Crested Guan, Amazon Kingfisher, Crimson-fronted Parakeet, and Mangrove Swallow. This is a large area where we’ll be doing some walking and some driving in order to see the entire wetlands area and make our way to the beach. 

3/5- Mangrove boat tour- Green and Ringed Kingfishers, Yellow-headed Caracara, Yellow-naped Parrot, Mangrove subspecies of the Yellow Warbler, Mangrove Vireo, Double-striped Thick-knee, Lesser Nighthawk, Collared Plover, Ruddy Ground Dove, Hoffman’s Woodpecker, Cocoa Woodcreeper, Common Tody-Flycatcher, Squirrel Cuckoo, Black-headed Trogon, White-fronted Parrot, Orange-fronted Parakeet, Rufous-browed Peppershrike, and Neotropic Cormorant. We’ll then drive to the Quetzal Valley area and check into an ecolodge.

3/6- Parque Nacional Los Quetzales- White-collared Swift, Acorn Woodpecker, Flame-colored Tanager, Lesser Violetear, Blue-and-white Swallow, Band-tailed Pigeon, Volcano, Stripe-tailed, and Talamanca Hummingbird, Black-faced Solitaire, Spotted Wood-Quail, Yellowish and Black-capped Flycatchers, Ochraceous Wren, Resplendent Quetzal, Northern Emerald-Toucanet, Spot-crowned Woodcreeper, Thick-breasted Treehunter, Torrent and Mistletoe Tyrannulet, Long-tailed Silky-Flycatcher, Golden-browed Chlorophonia, Yellow-bellied Siskin, Large-footed Finch, and Flame-throated Warbler 

3/7- Plan to leave Quetzal Valley very early in the morning and head to Braulio Carrillo National Park & El Tapir- Carmiol’s and Tawny-crested Tanagers, Pale-vented Thrush, Olive-backed Euphonia, Speckled Tanager, White-necked Jacobin, Green Hermit, Black-throated Trogon, Streak-crowned Antvireo, Gray-rumped  and Vaux’s Swift, Black-faced Grosbeak, Crowned Woodnymph, White-shouldered, Dusky-faced, Black-and-yellow, and Silver-throated Tanagers, Short-billed Pigeon, Violet-headed Hummingbird, Great Tinamou, Black-eared Wood-Quail, Olive-backed Quail-Dove, Green Shrike-vireo, Ashy-throated Chlorospingus, Hepatic Tanager, Black-and-yellow Tanager, Snowcap, Mealy Parrot, Stripe-breasted Wren, Black-headed Nightingale-Thrush, Chestnut-headed Oropendola, Pale-billed Woodpecker, and Green Thorntail. After a half-day of birding, we’ll check into our ecolodge in Alajuela.

3/8- La Paz Waterfall Gardens. Bananaquit, Brown-headed Parrot, Green-crowned Brilliant, Black-bellied, Scintillant, and Rufous-tailed Hummingbirds, Slaty Flowerpiercer, Violet Sabrewing, Common Chlorospingus, Sooty Thrush, Chestnut-capped Brushfinch, Sooty-faced Finch, Melodious Blackbird, and Slate-throated Redstart. 

3/9- Birding in the hummingbird garden of the lodge in the morning and return to the airport for flights home

The cost for this tour will be $1930.00 per person shared occupancy. A meal plan for our initial 3 days is available upon request with full dinners including an appetizer and dessert and lunch for $35/day. Breakfast is included from 3/3-3/5.

December 5th- December 10th, 2021- Winter in Cape May Birding Tour
January 2nd-January 8th, 2022- A Birding and Photography Tour of Thailand
February 5th-February 11th, 2022- Island Hopping Birding Tour of the Bahamas
March 18th-March 23rd, 2022- Birding Tour of Coastal Maine
May 12th- May 17th, 2022- Raptor/Hawkwatch Migration in Denmark
June 4th-June 11th, 2022- Springtime in the Alps- A Birding Tour in Austria
July 10th-July 15th, 2022- Birds, Butterflies, and Wildflowers of Colorado
August 5th-August 15th, 2022- Exploratory Birding Tour to Brisbane, Australia
September 2nd-September 9th, 2022- Endemic Birds of the Big Island, Hawaii

Keep checking back for other tours…