Montana audubon tours
Montana Audubon is known for its birding tours to great destinations, and the upcoming season promises adventures close to home and at exotic locations outside the country. See below for 2013 tour schedule. To pique your interest, see the trip report and photos from our tour to The Gambia, led by Jeff Marks. If you are curious about other trips, check out our 2011 tour offerings. We may repeat these trip soon!
All tours are on a first come, first served basis. Complete trip itineraries and bird species lists are available upon request. Total cost includes a tax-deductible donation to Montana Audubon.
THE 2013 tours and DATES
- Costa Rica Birding: March 12 - 20, 2013 (this has filled -- wait list only)
- Southwest Montana Sage-Grouse Lek Tour: May 3 - 5, 2013
- Eastern Montana Prairies and Wetlands: May 22 - 31, 2013
- Alaska: Denali National Park and the Kenai Peninsula: Cancelled
- Kevin Rim Important Bird Area - Northcentral Montana: July 19 - 21, 2013
- The Gambia: December 3 - 17, 2013
Please call the Montana Audubon office (443-3949) for information about all tours.
Costa Rica Birding: March 12–20, 2013
This trip was a great success!
Costa Rica has earned its well deserved reputation as being one of the premier destinations for bird watchers and others seeking ecologically responsible types of eco-tourism. We are offering a 9-day natural history excursion to this tropical paradise, with a major focus on seeing the wide variety birds and other wildlife that inhabit the many habitats we visit. We’ll lodge at several outstanding sites, each of which caters to nature enthusiasts, and we will be led by local bird guide extraordinaire, Orlando Vargas, who is very broadly trained in all aspects of Costa Rican natural history and culture.
Past participants of Montana Audubon’s international tours led by professor Jack Kirkley will attest to the fact that these tours offer a wide spectrum of experiences…. including its foods, native markets, archaeological history, and its people. Also co-leading this tour will be our Executive Director, Steve Hoffman, a seasoned birdwatcher whose strong background in tropical birding will greatly enhance our field experience. Costa Rica is a “must see” destination for anyone who loves the Central American tropics, and our tour promises to be an outstanding introduction to this fascinating country.
The cost of this tour is $2500/person for double occupancy lodging (single supplement is $400 extra), which includes all meals, entrance fees and transportation from San Jose, Costa Rica. Participants are responsible for making their own international travel arrangements. A $500 deposit is due upon reservation, with the balance due by Feb. 1, 2013
View the Trip Itinery. A Bird Checklist coming soon.
Southwest Montana Sage-Grouse lek tour. may 3-5, 2013
This tour is full. Please call to be placed on the waiting list.
Early May is the best time to view the spectacular dawn displays of male Greater Sage-Grouse at their breeding leks. We'll get up early to visit a lek known to host 50 or more booming grouse! The Greater Sage-Grouse is North America's largest native grouse species and is a candidate for federal listing as “threatened” under the Endangered Species Act. This weekend adventure will also explore the sagebrush hills surrounding Montana’s historic Bannack State Park ghost town, plus the wetlands and grasslands adjacent to Clark Canyon Reservoir and in the Beaverhead Valley near Dillon. In this area we will search for Sage Thrashers, Long-billed Curlews, Ferruginous and Swainson’s Hawks, Burrowing Owls, Prairie & Peregrine Falcons, and various passerines. We plan to view (from a distance) several active raptor nest sites, possibly both Golden and Bald Eagles. Waterbird migration will be in full swing at this time, and we are likely to find good numbers and varieties of diving and dabbling ducks, an array of shorebirds, aswell as loons, pelicans, waders and marsh birds.
Tour leaders include sage-grouse expert and Adopt-a-Lek Coordinator Ben Deeble and our Executive Director Steve Hoffman.
The cost is $485/person which includes double occupancy lodging (single supplement $100), meals, and transportation from Bozeman, Helena, or possibly Missoula. A $150/person deposit reserves your place.
View the Trip Itinerary.
Eastern Montana Prairies and Wetlands: may 22 - 31, 2013
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Montana Audubon is proud to offer a tour of Montana’s easternprairies and wetlands—two ofthe world’s most threatened ecosystems. This tour shares with you the magnificence of these areas along with a wealth of wildlife. The tour is timed to catch the northbound migration of many species of birds. Some of these avian travelers are bound for the boreal forests of Canada, others for the distant tundra of the Arctic. Montana is an important staging area for many of these species. Weather at this time of year can be quite variable, be it cold rains, snow squalls or warm, sunny days. Like the changeable winds, the birds encountered may be the expected species, or they might be real surprises that simply blow you away! Come explore and share an experience that only too few know.
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This tour will be led by Ed Harper. Ed, through his company Sandpiper Journeys, has been leading many birding and natural history tours over the past decade to various locations, with Montana being the most frequent destination. Pictures of the American Avocets (above) and Mountain Plover (right) were both taken by Ed.
The cost of this 9-day tour is $1,685/person for double occupancy lodging for 9 nights (single supplement is $350 extra), which includes all meals and drinks (excepting alcoholic beverages), entrance fees and guide fees, and transportation from Billings, Montana. A $400/person deposit is due upon reservation, with the balance due by May 1, 2013.
View the Trip Itinerary.
ALASKA - DENALI National Park/KENAI PENINSULA: Cancelled
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| Horned Puffin. Photo by Bob Martinka. |
Explore the amazing diversity of birds and wildlife on this scenic Alaska tour!
From Anchorage we will travel through miles of alpine tundra searching for Arctic Warblers, Lapland Longspurs and other tundra birds as we travel the Old Denali Highway. Next will be a visit to Denali National Park to view Dall sheep, Toklat grizzlies, Alaska moose, wolves, and caribou in this vast wilderness area.
Another highlight will be the Kenai Fjords tour, leaving from Seward, as we look for dolphins, whales, sea lions, otters, and seabirds, including Tufted and Horned Puffins, Common and Thick-billed Murres, and Red-faced Cormorants. Near Homer we will bird in Katchemak Bay and visit Black-legged Kittiwake and Common Murre breeding colonies. This trip has something for everyone, and your expert guides will be Lou Bruno and Ken Tarbox.
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| Dall Sheep. Photo by Jon Nickles, USFWS |
The cost is $3200/person (includes double occupancy lodging [single supplement $500], meals, and transportation from Anchorage). A deposit of $750/person reserves your place.
View the Trip Itinerary.
KEVIN RIM IMPORTANT BIRD AREA - NORTHCENTRAL MONTANA: JULY 19 – 21, 2013
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| Kevin Rim scenery. Photo by Kristi DuBois. |
Kevin Rim Important Bird Area (IBA) is known to have many nesting raptors. Join us for this weekend adventure to explore the rims, where young raptors should be still in their nests—or nearby. We will also visit the wind farm that became operational at this site in November 2012.
Kevin Rim IBA has the highest density of Ferruginous Hawks nesting in Montana. We should also see Swainson’s Hawks, Prairie Falcons, Golden Eagles, American Kestrels, Red-tailed Hawks, Northern Harriers, and more. The area is known for its prominent sandstone cliffs and outcrops, associated with steep, eroded hillsides.
The rims tower over the surrounding prairie. This trip will focus on viewing raptors, but we will
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| Ferruginous Hawk nest. Photo by Kristi DuBois. |
also bird in the pothole wetlands west of the IBA where we should uncover several varieties of ducks, as well as waders and marsh birds. In addition, prairie and sage-brush species will also be on our list. Your guides will include Montana Audubon’s Executive Director, Steve Hoffman, who is an expert on raptor identification, and Janet Ellis, Program Director, who spent much time in the last year working to keep wind turbines as far away as possible from raptor nests.
The cost is $485/person which includes double occupancy lodging (single supplement $100), meals, and transportation from Great Falls. A $150/person deposit reserves your place.
An itinerary for this tour will be posted in the early spring, 2013.
The Gambia Birding: December 3 – 17, 2013
This tour is full. Please call to be placed on the waiting list.
The Gambia is terra incognita to many North American birders. Yet, this fascinating country is the safest and easiest place to observe a high diversity of bird species in West Africa. What's more, many Gambians are keenly aware of the value of birds to their economy, and the government and several nonprofit conservation groups have made a valiant effort to encourage birding and to protect the remnants of habitat that are so crucial to maintaining avian biodiversity in this region.
Our tour is led by Jeff Marks, formerly Montana Audubon's Director of Bird Conservation and a professional ornithologist, and excellent local guides who possess a wealth of knowledge about where to find their country's birds. Participants will spend two weeks birding in the tiny West African country's savannas, mangrove swamps, and lush forests along the River Gambia. Our tour raises funds for Montana Audubon's Birds of Montana, our state's first bird book.
Jeff led five tours to The Gambia between 2001 and 2011. His tours typically find about 300 bird species, including sought-after species such as African Finfoot, White-backed Night-Heron, Egyptian Plover, Northern White-faced Owl, Savile's Bustard, and Abyssinian Ground-Hornbill. We are likely to see more than 30 species of diurnal raptors, seven species of bee-eaters, five species of woodpeckers, 10 species of sunbirds, and the "usual" assortment of turacos, hornbills, rollers, woodhoopoes, kingfishers, doves, weavers, waxbills, and Palearctic migrants.
The cost of this tour is $3,650/person, double occupancy. A deposit of $300 is due within two weeks of committing to the trip, and the balance of $3,350 will be due by 1 August 2013. The single supplement is $350. Approximately $800 of your fee will be a tax-deductible donation to Montana Audubon. The tour fee includes return charter flights between London Gatwick and Yundum (Banjul) airports, in-country accommodation in hotels and lodges, all meals, safe transport within The Gambia, entrance fees to parks and reserves, two boat trips on the River Gambia, and services of the two local guides plus Jeff Marks. Minimum number for tour to go ahead is 8; maximum group size is 12.
The tour fee DOES NOT include international air fare between the US and London Gatwick, lodging near Gatwick for the nights of 2 and 17 December (approx. $75/night), tips for local guides and drivers (approx. $50 per person), alcoholic or other beverages beyond the beverages provided with our meals, tourist visa from The Gambia ($100), and trip insurance.
View the 2011 Trip Report: http://mtaudubon.org/birdwatching/tours.gambia.html
Contact Jeff Marks (503-774-4783; jeff17_marks@msn.com) for a checklist from past trips, information on weather and health concerns, and any general questions.