Oriole Birding

The latest edition of our new ‘Birding Insights’ Vlog is now online! https://youtu.be/IfiEQn2BMWA

This stunning Black-crested Coquette was the parting shot on our 2019 Costa Rica tour. What a dazzling hummingbird this is!

This confiding Turquoise-browed Motmot was looking fine in the early morning sunlight at La Ensenada, Costa Rica today

Two exciting encounters after dinner on our Costa Rica tour - Spectacled Owl and Common Paraque! Both right outside our cabins!

This stunning male Resplendent Quetzal was the undoubted highlight on our Costa Rica tour today. What a dazzlingly beautiful bird!

Our new Vlog aims to provide some tips and insights from in the field during the course of the birding year. You can leave us comments on our YouTube channel and suggestions for future Vlog topics! Thanks for watching! https://youtu.be/E11qbpAXKLE

There are many flycatchers in various families in the neotropics, but this little chap has one of the best names. The Scale-crested Pygmy-tyrant never sits still for long!

We’ve seen some brilliantly gaudy and spectacular birds on our Panama tour so far, but often the most rewarding are the most difficult to see. The Black-crowned Antpitta is a denizen of the dark forest interior, moving ninja-like through tangled vegetation without detection. Getting any sort of view is a challenge, so we have a happy group today after this!

It’s not just birds which the Canopy Tower is good for - we have so far seen Mantled Howler, White-faced Capuchin and these delightful Geoffrey’s Tamarin Monkeys, Central American Wooly Oppssum, Agouti, White-nosed Coati, Collared Peccary, Capybara, Olangito and both Two and Three-toed Sloths too!

This lovely Green Kingfisher was one of four species (the others being Ringed, Amazon and American Pygmy) seen on our Panama tour today

Giant Kingfisher at Koto bridge, The Gambia this evening

A great day for owls on our tour to The Gambia. African Wood Owl, Greyish Eagle Owl and Verraux’s Eagle Owl all seen peering out of their daytime roosts. Saw a Barn Owl too!

One of the highlights of our Norfolk ‘Winter Thrushes & Eastern Vagrants’ Tour this week has been watching some of our winter visitors arriving in number, including these Brambling at Lynford yesterday, foraging on Beech mast among autumn leaves. More here https://www.oriolebirding.com/birding-dia ry-news-4.html

Our Cornwall autumn birding tour is going well - yesterday we saw Britain’s second Grey Catbird, today we found a Little Bunting in the morning and saw Wryneck and Rose-coloured Starling, then found a ‘flock’ of three Ring-necked Ducks in the afternoon!

Just back from a fantastic week in Batumi, Georgia, where we enjoyed the Batumi Birdwatching Festival immensely! The birding around Adjara was superb, with the raptor migration through the 'Batumi Bottleneck' was at times totally unbelievable.
Our biggest highlights were a single days passage of over 60,000 Honey Buzzards, the superb daily raptor variety including Pallid Harriers, Lesser Spotted Eagles and Levants Sparrowhawks, and finding a rare Caspian Plover at the Kolkhe...ti Delta.
Many thanks to the people who made this trip possible and run so smoothly, with particular thanks to Johannes Jansen, who was a star throughout. A destination we may feature in the near future, so watch this space!
#BRC11 #batumibirdfest
See More

Our Scilly Pelagic weekend has been a fantastic success, with some truly memorable seabird encounters. Particularly thrilling were the prolonged close views of a Wilsons Storm Petrel on Friday, and an equally confiding Great Shearwater on Sunday. Here is a selection of photos from the trip. Many thanks to Robert Flood, Joseph Pender and the whole MV Sapphire team!

This stunning adult Lesser Yellowlegs has been at RSPB Titchwell for the past few days and showed really well for our group this afternoon. This was our fourth in Norfolk on tour, but the first since one at Cley in 2011. A superb bird and really confiding - often feeding just a few metres away by the West Bank path.

Holly Blue - one of many butterfly highlights at Bentley Wood in Wiltshire, including Purple Emperor, White Admiral & Silver-washed Fritillary