Avocet Tours
Richards Road V1X2X5 Kelowna, BC, Canada

This male California Quail has an interesting double top-knot, bobble, fascinator, or whatever you'd like to call it. I led a couple of friends on a private tour in the area of Kelowna, British Columbia yesterday. I only took two photos, one of a pygmy-owl, and this photo of a quail. Otherwise, we were too busy looking at birds. By the end of the day, I had detected over 100 species! We are very grateful to our customers, and thank you for supporting us at Avocet Tours.

If you want to support your local birding tour company, we have put some 'social distant' day trips in Southern British Columbia on our website. We, and all other tour companies have had to cancel all of our tours in the wake of the pandemic, but if you still want a guided experience during the pandemic, check out our website and see 'Avocet Tours Day Trips'. We've got some exciting late summer trips in the Southern Interior, and a day trip in Vancouver to look for shorebirds during migration. www.avocettours.ca

Lovely photo of a Western Screech-Owl taken last night, without the use of flash, on a private 'socially distant' owl tour in the South Okanagan. June 2020. Photo by Kathy Nuszdorfer.

Two of at least 11 fledgling Northern Saw-whet Owls we found on an evening owling trip in the South Okanagan last night. One family had 5 youngsters, the other 6. Photo was taken by Kathy Nuszdorfer without use of flash. June 2020.

A 'socially distant' private owling tour was quite a success last night in the South Okanagan. We managed to find (see or hear) 13 owls, including 11 baby Northern Saw-whet Owls, a Western Screech-Owl and a Great Horned Owl! You can read about the adventure on my blog at www.avocettours.wordpress.com

New Blog Post on our recent tour to Trinidad & Tobago. www.avocettours.wordpress.com

Some of the amazing hummingbirds of Trinidad & Tobago from our recent Trinidad & Tobago ~ Island Paradise tour. All photos March 2020 (C) Chris Charlesworth.

Check out this photo of a Trinidad Piping-Guan that Kathy Nuszdorfer, a client on our recent trip to Trinidad & Tobago, took of this endemic bird. March 2020 (C) Kathy Nuszdorfer.

Read trip report from our latest tour to the Rio Grande Valley in Texas, with Limosa Holidays. www.avocettours.wordpress.com

How about this cryptically colored Common Pauraque we had on our recent 'Limosa Holidays - Rio Grande Valley, TX' tour. Feb 2020, (c) Chris Charlesworth

The spectacular Green Jay, as seen on our recent 'Limosa Holidays - Rio Grande Valley, TX tour'. Feb 2020. (c) Chris Charlesworth

This Fall, join Chris Charlesworth on our Saskatchewan Tour, in search of the rare and endangered Whooping Crane. On our last tour, we saw a stunning 156 Whooping Cranes in one day! In addition to the Whooping Cranes, we’ll see massive flocks of Sandhill Cranes, as well as mind-boggling flocks of Snow Geese, as they make their way south across the Canadian prairies. A visit to Prince Albert may produce species like Spruce Grouse and Black-backed Woodpecker. The tour dates are September 30, to October 5, 2020. Check our website for more details and when you contact us, mention you saw it on Facebook and receive $150 off tour price. www.avocettours.ca

Our Okanagan Winter Weekend has now finished. In the end, we found 90 species over three days including some real highlight birds. We tallied 7 species of owls, as well as other goodies like Canyon Wren, Golden Eagles, Iceland Gulls, Cackling Goose, Chukar, Western Bluebirds, Red-breasted Merganser, Eared Grebe, American Dippers and much more. Photos: (c) Chris Charlesworth, Jan 2020.

Day 1 of our 'Okanagan Winter Tour' went very well. By the end of the day we had seen 5 species of owls, including the Western Screech-Owl pictured below. In addition to the screech, we saw Great Horned, Northern Pygmy, Barred and Short-eared owls!