A Cruise: Valparaiso to Los Angeles
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Overview
Highlights
- Visit the tropical dry forest of Montibelli Nature Reserve
- We’ll drive south to visit some coastal wetlands and agricultural fields full of new species
- First opportunity to see Inca Tern, Humboldt Penguin, Guanay Cormorant, Peruvian Booby, and Peruvian Diving-Petrel
- Chile, have a long drive to the remote Frey Jorge National Park
- Fabulous birding around Pisco, Peru, a place mostly known for the eponymous Peruvian national drink, pisco, a grape brandy produced in the area
- Visit Atacama/Sechura Desert, one of the driest places in the world
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Trip includes
- The price for tours includes all travel as noted in the itinerary,
- Lodging in comfortable hotels/motels or their equivalent unless otherwise indicated
- All meals unless otherwise noted
- Tour materials, and the services of the leader(s).
- Routine tips for included meals
- Porters, drivers, and other service providers are also included.
- Gratuities for WINGS/Sunbird leaders are at your discretion.
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Itinerary
We’ll meet for boarding our ship this afternoon in Valparaiso, Chile. As our ship departs in the evening, our birding experience will begin: we’ll have our first opportunity to see Inca Tern, Humboldt Penguin, Guanay Cormorant, Peruvian Booby, and Peruvian Diving-Petr...
We’ll leave the ship as soon as it arrives in the harbor of Coquimbo, Chile, as we have a long drive to the remote Frey Jorge National Park. The lowest part of the park is covered by semiarid scrubland, where many of the Chilean endemics are quite common, including Ch...
We’ll have two full days at sea on the Humboldt Current, from Coquimbo to Pisco, Peru. The incredible productivity of the Humboldt Current attracts amazing numbers of seabirds, some of them breeding as far away as New Zealand, Antarctica, and Alaska. During these two ...
Today we’ll be birding around Pisco, Peru, a place mostly known for the eponymous Peruvian national drink, pisco, a grape brandy produced in the area. The morning will be spent at the Ballestas Islands, which were formerly colonized by hundreds of thousands of Peruvia...
Arriving in Callao, Peru, we’ll drive south to visit some coastal wetlands and agricultural fields full of new species. The diversity and abundance of waterbirds here is amazing, and species include White-cheeked Pintail, Great Grebe, Little Blue Heron, Puna Ibis, Sla...
After a night back on board in the Callao harbor we’ll leave early for the Lomas de Lachay National Reserve. Located in the extremely arid Atacama/Sechura Desert, one of the driest places in the world, the reserve features a unique mist-fed ecosystem. During the humid...
We’ll have three full days at sea on the way to Puntarenas, Costa Rica. No fewer than eight species of storm-petrel are possible: Hornby’s, Markham’s, White-bellied, White-faced, Elliot’s, Band-rumped (two different populations, likely full species), Wedge-rumped, and...
After arrival in Puntarenas, Costa Rica, we’ll drive toward Carara National Park to enjoy some tropical forest birding, quite a contrast after three days at sea. Birds we’ll be seeking here include Scarlet Macaw, Orange-collared Manakin, Baird’s and Black-headed Trogo...
After arriving at San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua, we’ll visit the tropical dry forest of Montibelli Nature Reserve. Among many new species possible here we’ll be looking for Plain Chachalaca, Stripe-throated Hermit, Cinnamon Hummingbird, Turquoise-browed Motmot, Hoffmann’s Woodpecker, and the handsome Long-tailed Manakin.
We’ll have three full days at sea, between Nicaragua and Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, at the tip of Baja California, the longest peninsula in the world. As with other waters we’ve traveled through, very few birders have explored this part of the Pacific, so the potential f...
We’ll have a full morning exploring the desert and marshes near Cabo San Lucas. We should find some of the Baja endemics, including Gray Thrasher, the endangered and highly localized Belding’s Yellowthroat, and with luck the stunning Xantus’s Hummingbird. Others species here include Pyrrhuloxia, Gilded Flicker, California Gnatcatcher, Cactus Wren, and even Greater Roadrunner.
This will be our last full day at sea, sailing north toward Los Angeles, California. New pelagic species we may add during this last stretch of our remarkable pelagic transit include Black-vented Shearwater, the recently split Scripps’s and Guadalupe Murrelets, Cassin’s Auklet, and even Black-footed and Laysan Albatrosses.
We’ll arrive at the port of Los Angeles in the early morning, disembarking in time to catch flights home.
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Dates & Availability
Check Current Availability, prices, specials with Wings Birding Tours.
The total tour cost includes the tour price (regular or promotional) and the compulsory local payment. The promotional price is subject to change. Check directly with the operator for the latest price offer. The tour operator requires you to pay only the tour price to purchase your travel. The compulsory local payment will be paid when you join the trip. All prices are based on double, twin or triple share occupancy. Solo passengers will be accommodated in a double, twin or triple room according to availability with a passenger(s) of the same gender. Single supplement only needs to be paid if the passenger does not want to share and requests their own room. Discounts can only be applied at the time of booking and cannot be added at a later date, regardless of any changes made to the original booking.
Prices may vary due to local taxes and trip seasonality. Click "Request Info" to inquire directly with the tour operator for the final trip price.
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We began in 1973 when Davis Finch and Will Russell formed Northeast Birding, an organization offering tours under their own leadership to the northeastern United States and adjacent Canada. After some exploratory ventures, our program was gradually enlarged to include tours to Alaska, Mexico, Central and South America, Europe, and Asia. Rich Stallcup joined the company in 1977, giving us broader knowledge and better geographical balance, and the range of our tours continued to expand.
Our tours are planned as ones that we ourselves would like to go on, so they are very strongly oriented toward birds. All WINGS leaders have varied interests in natural history and other related fields, but the timing and itinerary of our tours is dictated almost entirely by ornithological considerations. A few tours combine serious birdwatching with other activities appropriate to the area, or even with simple relaxation, and these are clearly indicated.
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Logistics
What's excluded
- Intrenational / Domestic airfare
- Personal expenses
- Passport and visa fees
In case of cancellation by WINGS, all deposits and other payments for the tour or tour extension will be refunded. Participants should note that the cancellation of a tour’s pre-tour or post-tour extension does not affect their rights and obligations with respect to the main portion of the same tour. Please note as well that WINGS reserves the right to cancel all or part of a tour at any time if we feel that the health and/or safety of our participants is at risk. For more details on refunds
WINGS is pleased to offer our clients travel insurance from Travelex. Just click on the link for a quote. Travel insurance offers welcome protection to those for whom a health-related trip cancellation is a concern. Travel insurance also usually protects you if you fall ill while on the tour (for example, it may get you back home). Please note that most travel insurance companies require insurance to be purchased within a certain amount of time after initial deposit(s) are sent to the travel company. Please check with your preferred carrier to determine this time limit.
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