With 77 Ontario species in the bag by the end of January, followed by a three week Colombia trip, 2020 was shaping up to be a particularly good birding year.

And then came the pandemic…

One by one my planned excursions, both local and international, fell off the schedule and I was left during the lockdown with only virtual birding.

So it was a good opportunity to catch up on birding homework. My Covid projects have included tagging and organizing all my bird photos across several platforms, converting my life list to taxonomic order, and setting up a secure backup process for the images. All very geeky stuff but it has helped fill the birding void.

Going through my photos and records did cause me to remember some of great birding experiences I have had and the great places I have been privileged to visit. So I thought I might share the best of them in a series of short posts so that other birders can be inspired to plan their own visits.

To be clear, this is not a list of the top ten sites in the world. To begin with there are some legendary places that still remain on my wish list: the Okavango Delta, Cape May, Stewart Island, the south Texas coast, Iguazu Falls, South Georgia and coastal Chennai just to name a few. Rather, these are the top ten sites that I have visited, all of which I hope to re-visit in the future.

Great Birding Sites

What makes a great birding site? Great birds, evidently. Great quality or great quantity, or both if possible. If it is located in an area of natural beauty so much the better. Given a choice I would prefer rustic and rudimentary over comfortable and commercial. Crowded places will never be my favourites (hello, Point Pelee). If the site is remote, then basic but decent accommodation and good local food options are desirable. But really, it’s all about the birds.

The List

I would be hard pressed to decide among these sites which is the best, so here they are in alphabetical order:

• Cape St Mary’s, Newfoundland, Canada

• Fair Isle, Scotland

• Hato la Aurora, Casanare district, Colombia

• Lake Manyara, Tanzania

• Cerro Montezuma, Risaralda district, Colombia

• Presqu’ile Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada

• Prince Edward Point National Wildlife Area, Ontario, Canada

• Pueblo Nuevo, Vaupes district, Colombia

• Skomer, Pembrokeshire, Wales

• Soatá, Boyaca district, Colombia

Coming up shortly – Cape St Mary’s. Stay tuned! 😊