One of the highest items on my list of things to do during this trip was to visit one of the last swaths of primeval forest in Europe. The Bialowieza Forest consists of 548 square miles of designated UNESCO-protected forest, … Read More
Long before we embarked on our [potentially] year-long adventure, Jenn had stumbled across a company called Oxalis Adventure Tours that does caving expeditions in Vietnam’s Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park. Oxalis has an exclusive license to operate in a number … Read More
Though we probably saw fewer colorful birds than we expected throughout Thailand, this was partly due to the intense heat and drought we were experiencing, which often drove the birds into deeper foliage. The one dedicated bird trip we did … Read More
We were beginning to discover that the national parks in Thailand were surprisingly difficult to visit independently. For one thing, traveling to the parks was often a multi-hour journey on aging roads that were frequently unmarked, and what signage existed … Read More
To escape the congestion of the city, we decided to head a few hours northeast of Bangkok, to Khao Yai National Park. Thailand’s oldest national park, it is part of a large UNESCO world heritage site which spans 230 kilometers … Read More
Just a quick wrap-up of the last few birds we saw in Australia before boarding our flight to Thailand! Not many interesting facts this time, but we did discover that the brahminy kite has very weak feet, so they can’t … Read More
When planning this trip, we had intended to spend about a month and a half in Australia, and then fly to Thailand to volunteer at an elephant sanctuary in mid-April. When we look at the sanctuary’s calendar in January, while … Read More
When determining how to best split up the remaining weeks of our trip, we had initially planned to spend a couple days in the Blue Mountains, a range of mountains west of Sydney. Upon discovering an inexpensive, little self-contained apartment, … Read More
Welcome to Volume 4 of the Birders’ Digest. A few brief facts before we get to the gallery: The restless flycatcher is also called the “scissors grinder” or “razor grinder” for the very odd, grating call that they have. You … Read More
A mere 70 miles southwest of Adelaide, and just 10 miles off the coast of South Australia, sits Kangaroo Island, a land of unspoiled wilderness and a haven for Australia’s wildlife. With more than one-third of the island designated as … Read More
