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Birding Hot Spots

Natural History, Oct, 2000 by Seth Kornfeld

GET YOUR BIRD BOOK, BINOCULARS, AND CAMERA -- IT'S TIME FOR FALL BIRDING.

For many, birding is an exciting and rewarding pastime. One needs only to enter the great outdoors to feel a connection with mother nature. But to truly discover the world's wild side, take a birding adventure with an expert.

Victor Emanuel Nature Tours (VENT) offers several birding excursions around the world, with a team that excels at finding birds and showing them to others. VENT leaders have superb birding, people, and organization skills. They know that birding can be fun, as well as educational. VENT leaders focus on expanding each participant's knowledge of birds -- from spotting, appreciating detail, and observing interesting behavior to understanding each bird's life history and how it fits into its environment. Whether you're a new birder interested in increasing your skills or a seasoned old-timer, VENT has a birding tour for you.

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Have you ever wanted to visit India? VENT offers the Palace on Wheels, the first-ever tour designed to visit two of India's best-known tiger reserves: Kanha and Ranthambhor. Rated as one of the 10 best luxurious rail journeys in the world, the Palace on Wheels is an adventure like no other. In addition to luxury compartments, the train has a lounge with a bar, a library and two restaurants. While on board, you will see not only the large cats, but also deer, antelope, monkeys, and, of course, a wealth of birds. The adventure begins in the city of Delhi, home to more than 430 species of birds, including plum-headed parakeets, brown-headed and coppersmith barbets, yellow-crowned woodpeckers, bay-backed and long-tailed shrikes, and rufous treepies to name a few. And no tour of India would be complete without a visit to the magnificent Taj Mahal.

For a journey to Antarctica, South Georgia, and the Falkland Islands, VENT offers an 18-day cruise exclusively for birders. Victor Emanuel believes that filling an entire ship with birders will capture the camaraderie, enthusiasm, and fun that only a group of birders can share. In the isolated beauty of the Antarctic north, you will observe some of the best birding in the world. In the Antarctic wildlife, there are as many as five species of albatross, including the huge wandering and royal albatrosses, as well as several species of prions, stormpetrels, petrels, diving petrels, and shearwaters. Many of these seabirds actually follow the ship, allowing you a tremendous opportunity for close observation.

IF YOU WANT TO STAY A LITTLE CLOSER to home, check out domestic birding at its best in Maryland's Charles and Worcester Counties.

It's a sure sign of fall in Worcester County when lone kestrels appear on the horizon and the sky fills with Canada and snow geese. Over 350 species of birds have been recorded in Worcester Country, including pelicans and pewees, kingbirds and cuckoos, herons, harriers, and eagles. Along the coast, you can visit Assateague to observe innumerable migratory species, including peregrine falcons, merlins, and enormous flocks of tree swallows. Just offshore, northern gannets pass by the hundreds.

One of the best places in Worcester County for fall birding is the Pocomoke Sound, a mostly tidal marsh with a few acres of forest. In this area, ducks, wading birds, and shorebirds are awaiting your visit. Herons, egrets, and ducks can all be seen in the marsh, searching for food, or just playing. Ospreys, once declining in numbers in Maryland, have fully recovered and now nest on channel markers, which are visible from the shore. And from April to September, you can catch a glimpse of a barn owl on the marsh.

Charles County offers a tremendous opportunity for fall bird watching. With the second largest population of bald eagles in Maryland, along with 321 other species, this county is a birder's dream. The region includes many large and small lakes, ponds, and extensive wetlands.

One way to truly capture the beauty of Charles County is to visit the Myrtle Grove Wildlife Management Area, considered a great location for bird watching and nature photography. Once home to the Piscataway Indians, Myrtle Grove's 1,410 acres of forests, fields, and wetlands now present visitors with an ideal setting for enjoying the outdoors. Within Myrtle Grove, the forest along Mattawoman Creek is home to the barred owl, various songbirds, wood ducks, and other waterfowl. The Myrtle Grove WMA is located in Charles County about 5 miles west of LaPlata on MD 225.

BIRD WATCHING ALONG THE ALABAMA Gulf Coast during the fall migration can truly be a fantastic experience. You'll be treated to a variety of wading and shorebirds, hummingbirds, migratory neo-tropical songbirds, and indigenous Alabama birds in a diversity of habitats. Alabama's Gulf Coast extends over 32 miles of beaches along the Gulf of Mexico and inland areas of live oaks and pines, freshwater lakes, rivers, bayous, and coves, all showing an abundance of birds.

One of the treats of making the Alabama Gulf Coast your birding destination is the Alabama Coastal Birding Trail, where some of the most popular birding sites in the state are located. The trail is separated into six loops that can each take a half-day or more to complete. A 51-page booklet that introduces the trail, complete with maps, photographs, and directions, can be obtained from 800-745-SAND.

Birding Hot Spots

Natural History, Oct, 2000 by Seth Kornfeld

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