Domestic and International Travel
To Register: 303-973-9530 or info@denveraudubon.org
Sandhill Crane Festival, Monte Vista, Colorado
Friday, Saturday and Sunday, March 9 – 11, 2012
Experience one of Colorado’s most impressive wildlife spectacles against the backdrop of the snow-capped Sangre de Cristo mountains. See 20,000 Sandhill Cranes feeding on Monte Vista Wildlife Refuge, flying in at dusk and out at dawn, and young cranes dancing to attract their life-long mate. Between dawn and dusk we’ll bird the area lakes and roads for waterfowl, wintering eagles and raptors. After a community pancake breakfast on Saturday, the Crane Festival presents various short workshops and lectures of interest to naturalists, and a local craft fair. Following the Sunday fly-out, return to Denver – the leader will stop at feeders and wildlife areas along the route.
Leader: Audubon Master Birder, Harriet Stratton
Registration: $250/per Friends member (double occupancy) $290/Single; nonmembers add $40 each. Includes lodging for two nights at the Pecosa Inn, fortified continental breakfasts, dinner Saturday night and a tax-deductible donation to ASGD. Be prepared to buy Friday dinner and Saturday-Sunday lunches. Register by phone with credit card at ASGD 303-973-9530 or mail fee total to ASGD by March 1.
Details: Meet at the Pecosa Inn, Monte Vista, on Friday at 4pm for the evening fly-in. Participants will provide their own transportation to Monte Vista. Audubon can help coordinate carpooling. Monte Vista is a scenic 4 hour drive from Denver.
The Spring Dance in Southeast Colorado
Saturday-Sunday, April 21-22, 2012
Marvel at the ancient, springtime courting ritual of Lesser Prairie-Chickens, Sunday morning, April 22 at a lek on private property east of Lamar, CO. Watch as the males flaunt their feathers and throat air sacs while running and jumping to, hopefully, attract a partner.
Trip leaves Denver 8am Saturday, April 21, by car caravan. Along the way, we stop at Fountain Creek (south of CO Springs), Pueblo Resevoir or City Park, and John Martin Resevoir. Arrive at Blue Spruce Motel in Lamar about 5pm. Dinner in Lamar and early to bed for 3:30am wake-up and continental breakfast at motel. Leave motel 4am to meet school bus (which also serves as our blind) in Granada at 4:30am. Arrive at lek before sunrise and observe the “dancing” ritual until approx. 7am. Return to Granada (bathrooms!) and drive our cars 6 miles to the home of tour operators, Fred & Norma Dorenkamp, for a chuck-wagon breakfast. Return to motel 9:30am & check out. Bird the Lamar Community College trail (Northern Cardinal) before returning to Denver.
Leaders: Audubon Master Birder, Harriet Stratton and Arena Dust Tours
Registration: $200/per Friends member (double occupancy) $220/Single; non-members add $25 each. Price includes guide services, dinner and one night lodging in Lamar, early continental breakfast and later chuck-wagon breakfast, and a tax-deductible donation to ASGD. Limited to 15 participants. Questions: Harriet Stratton 303-798-9924. Register by phone with credit card at ASGD 303-973-9530 or mail deposit to ASGD.
Deposit Due: $100 due at registration and balance due by March 22
Details: Bring sack lunch for Saturday. Audubon can help coordinate carpooling.
Physical Requirements: Easy terrain. Travelers should be prepared to spend time outdoors and on the bus (viewing time) in cold temperatures. Bus does Not have a bathroom and all must remain on the bus for approx 3 hours.
Cape May in Spring
May 5-11, 2012
Every spring, as waters warm and full moons cause tides to grow high, horseshoe crabs leave the ocean floor and make their way to shores and estuaries along the Atlantic coast to spawn. Delaware Bay is home to the world’s largest population of horseshoe crabs. The eggs left on beaches during crab spawning are an important food source for migratory shorebirds, including Red Knots. This trip has been scheduled to correspond to May’s full moon and spring migration. We will be targeting migratory birding hotspots on both the Delaware Bay and Atlantic Ocean sides of the Cape May Peninsula. Each day may find us back at some of the locations we’ve already visited, as new birds could have arrived overnight. This exciting adventure provides ample opportunities to see, first-hand, what makes the local ecology of this region so special.
Leaders: David Trently of Partnership for International Birding and Sheridan Samano of Reefs to Rockies
Registration: $1495/per Friends member (double occupancy) $1,970/Single; non-members add $75 each. Price includes guide services, six nights lodging in historic Cape May, New Jersey; all meals, transportation in rental vehicles from Philadelphia airport, entrance fees, two boat tours: whales, birds & dolphins and a final night sunset cruise, and a tax-deductible donation to ASGD. Limited to 14 participants.
Questions: Sheridan Samano 303-860-6045. Register by phone with credit card at ASGD 303-973-9530 or mail deposit to ASGD.
Deposit Due: $500 due at registration and balance due by March 28
Details: The trip starts and ends in Philadelphia. The group will use rental cars to move between locations.
Physical requirements: Easy to Moderate. This trip will include hikes over uneven terrain. Travelers should be prepared to spend time outdoors.
Kayak the Niobrara in Nebraska
July 24 – 27, 2012
The Niobrara River flows through a unique ecosystem in the sandhill area of the northwest part of Nebraska. The river canyon, with many lovely waterfalls, contains remnants of the eastern deciduous forest and the northern boreal forest. This part of the Niobrara is an easy float in single person, recreational kayaks (more stable and comfortable than canoes), moving with the current at about 7 miles per hour. Most of the river waters are about hip deep. We will listen and look for birds along the river, at the cabins, and during our other stops along the way. Wild Turkeys are usually seen.
This will be the sixth time Audubon has done this trip. The trip is limited to 18 participants and usually fills early. We will stay in two cabins at the Niobrara River Ranch, located just north of Smith Falls State Park. The cabins have an expansive view of the river valley and sandhills. The trip is scheduled for Tuesday, July 24 through Friday, July 27, 2012.
Tuesday is a travel day in personal cars from Denver to the Niobrara River Ranch, stopping early for breakfast. We then stop for lunch at Buffalo Bill Cody Park in North Platte, and enjoy dinner in Valentine.
Wednesday is a river day, kayaking about 12.5 miles from the Cornell Bridge put in to the Smith Falls State Park take out.
Thursday we will visit The Nature Conservancy Niobrara Preserve, Fort Niobrara National Wildlife Refuge and Smith Falls.
Friday morning we will kayak the other 12.5 miles of river taking out at Sunny Brook Camp. By mid-afternoon Friday, folks will head back to Denver.
The trip fee includes all meals from Wednesday morning through Friday lunch, park fees, river fees, a donation to Nature Conservancy, shuttles, and single recreational kayak rentals for two days on the river. You pay for your breakfast on Tuesday, bring your lunch for that day, and pay for your dinner in Valentine. Children over the age of 10 who are able to handle their own kayaks are welcome.
Kayak rentals, transfers, and people shuttles for the river will be handled by Sunny Brook Camp Outfitters. Each participant is expected to join in group plans and help our super chef prepare at least one meal and help clean up after one meal. The weight limit for single person kayaks is 250 to 275 lbs.. A free kayak practice time in Denver before the trip can be arranged. We travel in private cars. If you want to car pool, ASGD can provide trip contacts.
The fee is $550.00 per person for Friends of the Audubon Society of Greater Denver, $580.00 for non Friends members. Single room supplement is $180.00. A $275 nonrefundable deposit is due May 14, with the balance due by June 18.
To register call ASGD at 303-973-9530. For more information about the trip, please call volunteer trip leader Ann Bonnell at 303-979-6211.
Bird Brazil
August 4-l9, 2012
Hyacinth macaws, hoatzins, greater rheas, southern screamers, jabirus, toco toucans, white woodpeckers and bare-faced curassows are only a few of the many birds we’ll see on this trip to the southern Amazon Basin and Pantanal. In the Amazon, we stay at the superb Cristalino Lodge which is surrounded by 5.5 million acres of primary rainforest and where over 570 bird species have been recorded. The lodge’s l50 foot tower gives us access to the forest canopy where we may see the black-girdled barbet, red-fan parrot, Amazonian pygmy-owl and white-whiskered spider monkey.
The Pantanal is the world’s largest freshwater wetlands – about the size of New York state. Among the birds we’ll seek here are the sungrebe, maguari stork, golden-collared macaw, black-collared and savanna hawks, Chaco chachalaca, red-billed scythebill and numerous species of herons, egrets, ibises and kingfishers. Mammals we may encounter include the giant otter, capybara (the world’s largest rodent), Brazilian tapir, black howler monkey, crab-eating fox, puma, and the elusive jaguar.
We’ll also be visiting Chapada dos Guimaraes, an area of mesas and deep canyons with waterfalls and home to birds such as the blue-winged macaw, collared crescent-chest, Chapada flycatcher, and white-eared puffbird. Our trip ends at Serra das Araras where we have a chance to see the harpy eagle.
The tour leaders will be Brazilian guide Paulo Boute, who has included Roger Tory Peterson among his clients, and ASGD’s Bill Turner.
The physical requirements of this trip are easy to moderate. There will be some walking over uneven, but mainly level, terrain in warm to hot conditions and also some travel in small boats in the Amazon and Pantanal. Most land travel will be in an air-conditioned coach.
Based on current exchange rates, the land cost is $5295 per person double occupancy from Cuiaba, Brazil. Add $75 per person for non-Friends members. The land cost also includes flights from Cuiaba to Alta Floresta and return. Roundtrip airfare Denver/Cuiaba is estimated to be about $l600. The land cost price is based on a group size of 8. With fewer people, a small group surcharge will apply. Maximum group size is l0.
For a detailed itinerary and any questions, please contact Bill Turner at (303) 795-5128 or e-mail toursbyturner@aol.com.
