NMOS Fund-raising Trips
The New Mexico Ornithological Society (NMOS) will be offering irregular fund-raising field trips to select birding destinations in the next few years. Our goal is to raise additional monies for our General Fund as well as for our Research Grant programs. These trips will be competitively priced and will include expert local leaders as well as an NMOS leader familiar with the area to be visited. A small amount of the total cost of the trip will be deposited into one or both of the NMOS programs to further our knowledge of ornithology in New Mexico. Information about trips will be posted on this webpage as it becomes available, so make sure to check the website regularly for your opportunity to contribute to NMOS as well as to travel to fabulous foreign and domestic birding locales.
El Triunfo, Chiapas, Mexico (March 2014)
We are pleased to announce that NMOS will be offering a two-week trip to Chiapas and to the spectacular El Triunfo Biosphere Reserve from March 20 - April 1, 2014. This field trip will concentrate on some of the most diverse and spectacular habitats that Chiapas has to offer. Participants will meet in the capital Tuxtla Gutierrez. We will explore the forests on the Atlantic Slope to search for the highly localized and endangered Nava’s Wren, and then journey to spectacular Sumidero Canyon and San Cristobal for a wide variety of dry forest and higher elevation specialities such as Belted Flycatcher, Mountain Trogon and Pink-headed Warbler. Then it is on to Jaltenango where we will meet up with representatives from Pronatura Chiapas for the next leg of the trip. We will have our gear hauled to the rustic camp within El Triunfo Biosphere Reserve by mules and caballeros and so this 7 1/2 mile hike will require only carrying a daypack with food and water so that we can bird the entire way. Once within the Reserve, all meals are cooked for us by cooks while we explore the trails with a skilled local guide. Our many targets will include Fulvous Owl, the outrageous Horned Guan, White-faced Quail-Dove, and the exquisite Resplendent Quetzal. Our exit will be by hiking portions of four days down the Pacific Slope of the mountains, with mules, caballeros and cooks carrying our gear and doing the cooking (we bring our own tents and sleeping bags). Here our primary target is the elusive and highly endemic Azure-rumped Tanager which can reliably be found on the Pacific Slope at mid-elevations. At the conclusion of the hike, we will be picked up and transported by van to Tapachula where the trip will conclude. In 2004, on a trip with a similar itinerary, we recorded well over 300 species including scores of endemics, 28 species of hummingbirds, both Solitary Eagle and Black Hawk-Eagle, and five species of motmot.
We are estimating that the total cost of the trip will be roughly $3900, which includes a donation to NMOS. This total will cover the cost of van rental, gasoline, entrance fees to parks, hotels (shared rooms), guide fees, all meals, snacks and water, cost of entrance to the Reserve, cooks and mule transport by cabelleros. This does NOT include airline costs or costs of items of a personal nature (participant responsibility). The trip will be limited to ten NMOS participants and two leaders (David MacKay - Solipaso Birding Tours) and Dave Krueper (NMOS President).
Reservations will begin to be accepted at noon Mountain Time on 1 July 2013. Trip will fill on a first-come first-served basis,with a waiting list maintained for those not making the first cut. Send an email indicating your interest to Dave Krueper (dkrueper@comcast.net) on 1 July 2013 starting at noon. Reservations will not be accepted prior to this date and time! The Cuba reservations filled in less than a day so be forewarned.
Spring Migration in Ohio: Warblers, Woodlands, and More! (May 2013)
The secret is getting out about the incredible birding northern Ohio has to offer. Spring migration here is fast, furious, and full of color. Join Ashli Gorbet for a birding tour that will take in some of the premiere hotspots northern Ohio has to offer, including the world renowned and Globally Important Magee Marsh Wildlife Area. These bird rich areas are Ashli’s natal birding grounds, and her intimate knowledge of the area’s plants, wildlife, and birding areas are sure to make the trip a memorable experience. This will be an NMOS sponsored fundraising trip, so you can feel good about birding like mad in northern Ohio, while at the same time, helping to support your society.
Though we’ll be focusing on building an extensive list of migrant and resident woodpeckers, flycatchers, thrushes, sparrows and more, we’ll be especially focused on ticking as many species of warblers we can find. Thirty species will be our goal and we hope to add Blue-winged, Golden-winged, Cerulean, and Louisiana Waterthrush to the numerous Magnolia, Bay-breasted, Black-throated Blue, and Palm Warblers we should encounter. Along the way, we’ll be seeing and studying five species each of Empidonax flycatchers and brown-backed thrushes, dodging Tufted Titmouse, Northern Cardinals, and Blue Jays, and gawking at Scarlet Tanagers, Rose-breasted Grosbeaks, and Baltimore Orioles. We’ll even get out into the grasslands, marshes, and onto the shore of Lake Erie to see what sparrows, shorebirds, and waterbirds we can dig up.
The dates for the trip are planned for May 16 to 22, 2013. This will afford five full days of birding with two travel days on either side. For information about costs or itinerary click on the announcement link below. For additional information or to register for this trip, contact Ashli Gorbet at antelope916@hotmail.com.
Cuba Trip (November 2012)
Our first foreign trip under this program, the November 5-17, 2012 NMOS-sponsored Field Trip to Cuba was a smashing success. There were fourteen participants. The group met in Miami the night before the flight to Havana. Upon arrival in Havana, the group met the local Havanatur guide Raydalie Perez O’Farrill, birding guide Giraldo Alayon, and overall tour organizer Gary Markowski (Caribbean Conservation Trust, Inc.).
During the next 13 days the group birded in 10 of 15 Cuban provinces and explored the western two-thirds of the country by comfortable bus transport. Destinations and birding locations included: Havana, San Diego de los Banos, Guanahacabibes National Park, La Guira National Park, Zapata Peninsula and Zapata Swamp, Bermejas, La Turba, Las Salinas Wildlife Refuge, Camaguey, Najasa, Sierra Cubitas, and then back to Havana. Avian relative abundance and distributional information was gathered at national parks, biosphere reserves and other locations that have been visited by other birding groups during the previous 12+ years. This information will be deposited in the Natural History Museum in Havana and also with the Rouge River Bird Observatory in Michigan. See the attached Daily Log and Annotated Species List for avian highlights. In summary, the group recorded 48 avian families and 157 species total, including 21 of 25 possible endemic bird species. Two mammal species, 6 reptile and amphibians species, and 40 butterfly, 2 moth, and 7 dragonfly species were also observed.
Cuba Trip - November 2012 - Daily Log and Annotated Species List