![[Dividing Line Image]](div.gif){kind=small}
BIRDING & Nature Tours in 2014
by RV Caravan
North America 2014
| Birder's Reunion: Lower Rio Grande Valley, Texas | 10 days | March 25 to April 3, 2014 |
| Coastal Texas Spring Migration | 24 days | April 6 to April 29, 2014 |
| The Road Not (Yet) Traveled: Quebec 389 and Trans-Labrador Highway | 26 days | June 1 to June 25, 2014 |
| Newfoundland Birding & Nature Tour | 26 days | June 25 to July 20, 2014 |
March 25 – April 3, 2014 Click here for details and itinerary.
Join others for a week of birding in one of North America’s best birding spots. Our Welcome Dinner and home base will be Mission-McAllen, one mile north of the Mexico border, just outside Bentsen Rio Grande Valley State Park. From here we will make day trips up and down the Rio Grande Valley, picking up local specialties such as Plain Chachalaca, Common Pauraque, Green Kingfisher, Green Parakeet, Northern Beardless Tyrannulet, Green Jay, and Altamira Oriole. We may be in time for the arrival of nesting Elf Owls and Groove-billed Anis. Undoubtedly, a few rarities will make an appearance, such as Roadside Hawk, Rose-throated Becard, Crimson-collared Grosbeak, or Blue Bunting. Enjoy a Mexican Fiesta and a riverboat cruise on the Rio Grande. Price includes camping fees, cruise, social activities, and birding guide. Contact us if you would prefer motel accommodations in lieu of camping. 9 nights. Price $1190 per rig for two persons.
April 6-29, 2014 Click here for details and itinerary.
There is no better place to enjoy spring migration than the Texas coast. We’ll explore it all, from South Padre Island near Mexico through the Central Coast at Corpus Christi–the birdiest city in the United States–to the Upper Texas Coast at High Island. Combined with the preceding Birder’s Reunion, these two tours should bring us 300+ species, including 30 warblers. Enjoy birding with Bert Frenz, long-time Texas resident, birding guide, Texas Ornithological Society Director, and subregional editor for North American Birds. Price includes camping fees, entrance fees, social activities, birding guide, birding talks and presentations, and more. 23 nights. Price $2490 per rig for two persons.
June 1 – June 25, 2014 Click here for details and itinerary.
For those who seek the road not traveled, here is an adventure to your liking. Completed only in spring 2010, the overland route from Quebec City to Labrador City traverses wilderness known only to a few. We’ll rendezvous at a mountain in southern Quebec where we can find Bicknell’s Thrush, then head to historic Quebec City. We’ll bird along the north shore of the St. Lawrence’s Seaway–a haven for ducks, geese and spring migrants–before arriving at Baie Comeau, the start of Quebec 389. Heading north, we first traverse tall forests and diminutive mountains, then leave wooded terrain and cross through the taiga of short Black Spruce, lichens and mosses. En route are the Manic dams, the huge Manicougan Reservoir, Groulx Mountains, Mount Wright iron mine, and many small lakes with deserted sandy beaches. A prime attraction is the SILENCE of wilderness. Leaving Quebec Province, we continue east from Labrador City on the Trans-Labrador Highway, the two highways together comprising 500 miles of well-maintained gravel road, with easy curves and gentle hills for the most part. We can tour the iron mines and visit the Churchill Falls generating station, 1000 feet underground. So few birders have traveled this road, who knows what species we will find, but the extinct Labrador Duck will not be one of them. Descending from the central Labrador plateau, we reenter tall trees and continue to Goose Bay and then take the most recent addition to the highway: Goose Bay to Cartwright on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean. After exploring this more populated area of Labrador and its small fishing villages, we cross the Strait of Belle Isle from Blanc Sabion to Newfoundland. Price includes campsites, social activities, naturalist guide, ferry, and tours. 24 nights. Tentative price $1590 per rig for two persons.
June 25 – July 20, 2014 Click here for details and itinerary.
Newfoundland has the picturesque allure of Alaska, the quiet remoteness of an island, and the friendly–often comical–culture of nowhere else. Entering from Labrador at St. Barbe we will visit L’Anse aux Meadows, the 1000-year-old Viking site, and then to St. Anthony to view the sculptured icebergs floating in the bay. We will explore Gros Morne National Park and its colorful array of spring flowers in marshlands. At Terra Nova National Park we have found Black-backed Woodpecker on prior trips. Witless Bay boat excursions will take us close to Atlantic Puffins, Razorbills and Humpback Whales. At Cape St. Mary’s, we will get amazingly close views of a colony of 11,000 pairs of Northern Gannets on the cliffs overhanging the Atlantic Ocean and among thousands of Common Murres, we will pick out a few Thick-billed Murres. We will see much more of Newfoundland and then end our trip here, giving you the freedom to explore more on your own and take the homeward-bound ferry to Nova Scotia at your leisure. Price includes campsites, social activities, naturalist guide, tours, and ferry transport from Port aux Basques to the mainland at North Sydney. 26 nights. Tentative price $3290 per rig for two persons.
For further information concerning these tours, contact Bert Frenz