Good topic. All depends on time of year. For me warblers in texas in april is a great trip. Florida in dec or jan is amazing. Gambia in jan is fantastic. On a cheaper budget watching all the raptors migrating to africa from southern spain in late sept is superb. Also slightly further north to donana national park is a good day out while there. Personally im dreamimg of a trip down the florida keys to the dry tortugas in april
To many places to dream about. Magee marsh the last within few weeks in ohio has been dripping with warblers.
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Did you see it? It was small and brown and flew that way.........................
I'd love to spend a week or two every year just pure birding in the UK. Maybe Inverness to Kent taking in every coastal hotspot along the way. Or spend my birthday on Scilly. It's right in the middle of October so would be perfect.
A trip abroad for my bucket list would be Texas I think to try and take in one of the amazing "fall-outs" of warblers and others that happens from time to time. No guarantee of it happening while you're there though unfortunately, but if money was no object, that would just mean a return trip was necessary!
Hi Craig, If you've never done the trip before Extremadura would merit consideration; - especially good for raptors, bustards and sandgrouse amongst many others species; early to mid June is a good time to visit, and much can be seen in a week here, for far less in terms of cost than either Finland or Sweden.
John Rayner submitted a report available on Manchester Birding covering our Extremadura 2004 April/ May trip; (is it already 10 years ago?!).
It was so good that I went back again some 3 weeks later with my wife, staying in the parador at Trujillo as our more "up market" base to do much the same again, but with the addition of a few more migrant species not yet arrived on the earlier trip.
It's an easy undertaking; Liverpool to Madrid on EasyJet, car hire from Barajas (Madrid ) Airport, accommodation based on Torrejon el Rubio, and the site guide by John Muddeman "A Birdwatching Guide to Extremadura" makes getting around pretty easy.
(I admit I'm rather biased though due to my connections/affinities with Madrid).
Another trip well worthy of consideration is the extensive and impressive Po Delta in N. Italy, easily taken in by hire car out of Treviso Airport (near Venice; I think from memory, we did it with Ryanair out of Stanstead), with the side benefit of excellent food generally available.
Regards, Mike P.
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Challenges are inevitable, but failure is optional.
I'd fancy a long road trip. Though it obviously wouldn't be a week of a job the Pan American Highway would be a good one. The route doesn't exist as such and isn't fully possible by vehicle, so plenty of scope for flexibility too. Don't suppose I'll get around to it though. Doing it by Sean Sweeney's birding/jogging combo would be a real challenge!!
I started thinking the other day about all the things I'd like to do in my 'birding career'. There are, unfortunately far far too many things I'd like to do that are extremely unlikely to happen due mainly to cost (and things like the fact I don't get on well with boats so an Antarctic voyage is a definite no no). I'll hold out for my long fantasised trip to central and South America to see resplendent quetzal!
However, there are quite a few more achievable trips to think about. One being a pure birding trip (eg not a family holiday) somewhere in Europe or around the med/N Africa. There are some obvious places like Eilat, Finland for the Owls, etc etc or the more specific places like Falstebo Bird Observatory or the Biawatsit (cant spell it) called Marsh in Poland. So, given a choice, where would you spend a week of your valuable time and cash?
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