Here's the teaser trailer for an upcoming episode of OutBirding: Winter Invasion 2020 with Tom Johnson and Douglas Gochfeld. 

The final months of 2020 blanketed eastern North America with a huge irruptive flight of Red-breasted Nuthatches, Blue Jays, Red-bellied Woodpeckers, finches (including Red Crossbills, Pine Siskins, Evening Grosbeaks), Bohemian Waxwings, and more. We followed the major players during this "superflight" and will bring you some great video, sound, and adventure from New Jersey, New York, Vermont, and New Hampshire.

Watch the short episode trailer for a first look at the newest release from OutBirding with Field Guides.

In this episode from his own backyard, Tom Johnson shares four vignettes from spring migration at Cape May, New Jersey. First, we experience a spring landbird morning flight at Cape May Point, highlighted by Red-headed and Red-bellied Woodpeckers. Then, Tom switches into workshop mode to discuss flight ID of nocturnal herons and immature raptors. And to wrap things up, we meet the vagabond Heermann's Gull that has been wandering the Atlantic Coast of the US in recent months.

Please enjoy this short trailer for our new episode of OutBirding with Field Guides.

The Upper Texas Coast is world famous as a mecca for migration, and John Coons has been guiding Field Guides tours there for more than 30 years.  Bret Whitney joined John and a small group of tour participants on the first tour Field Guides has operated in over a year, as they visited the Longleaf Pine forest for Red-cockaded Woodpeckers before heading to The Big Thicket for breeding Worm-eating, Swainson’s, Kentucky, Yellow-throated and Prairie warblers. The tour centered on the High Island-Bolivar Peninsula region, where the group racked up an impressive roster of migrant landbirds as well as marsh- and shorebirds.  All agreed that it was great to be back on tour after a long hiatus, and the birding was properly rewarding!

Check out the trailer for a first look at our new episode. For full episodes, please subscribe to OutBirding with Field Guides.

Species Profile: Northern Gannet

Northern Gannets are amazing—these streamlined seabirds summer on remote, windswept breeding cliffs shrouded in mist, and spend the rest of their lives on the open ocean. During this look inside the lives of Northern Gannets with Doug Gochfeld, you’ll see some exciting footage of these birds and learn about their breeding, migration, and feeding habits and habitats. 

Watch the trailer for a first look at our new episode.

Interview: Willy Pérez

After growing up in Ecuador and working several jobs before becoming involved with Spectacled Bear conservation and birding, Willy Pérez joined Field Guides as a tour leader in 2011. In this wide-ranging conversation, Jesse Fagan talks with Willy about growing up in Ecuador, birds, bears, conservation, and Willy’s current life at home with his family in England. Willy’s life story is a great study in the transformative powers of conservation and ecotourism.

Franklin’s Gull – On the Move

During late autumn in the northern hemisphere, hundreds of thousands of Franklin’s Gulls arrive on their wintering grounds along the Pacific Coast of South America. In this Bonus Birds video, Jesse Fagan talks about the long-distance migration of the “prairie dove” and shares video of the large flocks that recently descended upon the coastline near his home...

Watch our episode trailer for a sample of this week's OutBirding offerings:

Camp Kitchen: Evolution of the Field Guides Picnic

Picnics in the field have been a hallmark of Field Guides birding tours since our beginning in 1985. On this edition of the Camp Kitchen, John Coons and Dave Stejskal create one of their famous chicken salads while out in northern Arizona. Along the way, they share some great stories of eventful picnic meals from tours past.

Northern Wheatear Migration Bonus

Northern Wheatears are rare fall migrants in the eastern United States, so one that appeared at Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge in New Jersey in Fall 2020 caused quite a stir among local birders. Doug Gochfeld shares some lovely imagery of this wayward traveler and demonstrates how wheatears from different parts of the expansive breeding range migrate to their African wintering grounds.