Our birding travels (click map to enlarge)

Off the beaten path.

That’s likely the most over-used expression in travel writing. But I get it. I get how going places that are not touristy can help you. As Robert Frost wrote, “…take the road less traveled.”

Becoming a birder has helped direct me in taking the road less traveled as it has dramatically changed how I travel.

Before I met my husband (the real birder in the household), my travel bucket list was a bit random and unfocused.  Don’t get me wrong, dreams of vacationing in Tuscany or hiking the Alps are worthy trips, but usually when I’d travel I would just stay at the usual touristy spots that were highlighted in guidebooks and kept it safe.  Going to Rome? I’d get a hotel near the Trevi Fountain and go visit all the usual sites listed in the guidebook. Going on a Mediterranean cruise? I’d stick to the list of shore excursions provided by the cruise line. But was I changed? Oh, a little bit. Travel generally changes people, but did I challenge myself or really pull back the curtains to get a full view of the country?

I look really patient in this photo, right?

Now my travels take me to birding spots, which are largely influenced by my husband, and I’m grateful for that. He tends to think more broadly and adventurous and to be quite frank, is better schooled in where to go to find the birds.  (We’re also lucky that a lot of the tropical locations for great birding are super scuba diving spots as well since we’re both divers.)  Birding abroad also enables us to really get to know the locals of an area, as we are fond of hiring local guides (plus, we like helping the economy in the area we’re visiting). And birding in my own country—sometimes just in Utah where I live now–also opens my mind.

While there are those who visit museums (I’m not knocking museums—I love them.  The Musee d’Orsay is my favorite museum, in fact) the jungle, marshes, and birds are my museum. And the artwork often changes daily—Ask any guide who traverses the same spot day after day.

1000 Foot Falls

Stopping for a photo at 1000 Foot Falls while birding in Belize

We are indeed lucky that we can travel to see birds and try to fit in at least one big birding adventure abroad a year while trying to squeeze in other birding trips in the U.S. in between.  I’ve encountered (actually looked for) army ants, hiked in jungles, canoed while birding, required armed guards in sketchy areas, met fantastic local guides—some who will be friends for life—and been to remote areas that tourists generally miss all because of the birds.

Below are the places we’ve traveled to and the stories/blogs I’ve written and I will make sure to keep this updated as I post new blogs related to the places we travel. I hope it inspires you and helps if you ever journey to any of these wonderful places on our planet.

I say, “Let the birds take you to places you’ve never been to before.”

Belize

Ecuador

  • Coming soon! (Trip planned Spring 2013)

Guatemala

Panama

Mexico

Canada

Ontario

United States

Arizona
California
Hawaii
New Mexico
Oregon
Utah

Costa Rica