Naturalist Journeys and Caligo Ventures are pleased to announce our 2018 celebrity tour to the Asa Wright Nature Centre with author of Guide to the Birds of Honduras, Robert Gallardo. Join Robert for a fantastic week at the Centre and enjoy a fast-track study of butterfly identification, behavior, and ecology, complemented by the Centre’s top-rate birding. All participants will receive a laminated butterfly guide produced by Rainforest Publications in 2015.
Enjoy world-famous birdwatching opportunities, and learn new skills discovering other winged gems — the butterflies. We plan outings to a wide variety of habitats, from montane forests to mangroves, and wetlands to working agricultural areas to find a wide variety of species. Robert shares his expertise through field time, skills, workshops, and presentations. Robert is currently working on a butterfly field guide and loves nothing more than exploring with a fine eye for detail. (Some butterflies are as tiny as your pinky nail!) With honed field skills and over two decades experience leading tours, Robert is an amazing person to spend time with.
Many birders have turned to butterfly watching as a stunning enrichment to their field time. There are many hours, particularly mid-day, when birds are resting and difficult to find. Insects are active, fun to photograph, and fascinating to watch and observe with complex behaviors that few notice. Their close relationship to plants is complex and revealing. Our Centre naturalists know where to find many of the butterfly food and host plants and help the group in the field. With some luck we may even find larvae, which are equally fascinating. We hope to have experts from the University of the West Indies join us for specific outings as well.
Tour Highlights on Trinidad
- Spend time with experts! Expand your horizons, increase your skills and learn
- Watch birds from the Asa Wright Nature Centre’s famed verandah and trails
- Unpack just once for a full week at one of the world’s leading ecolodges
- Enjoy a behind the scenes tour of the Centre’s gardens, great for butterfly watching
- Explore Caroni National Park by boat and witness scores of Scarlet Ibis returning to roost
- Visit the University of the West Indies campus; at the Angostura Distillery see the Barcant Butterfly collection
- Search for elusive birds: Little Tinamou, White-bearded Bellbird, Cocoa and Plain-Brown Woodcreepers, White-bellied Antbird, and Black-faced Antthrush on the Centre’s trails
- Join Citizen Science efforts to catalog information on butterflies and birds
- Learn about various tropical butterfly ecology topics during interesting lectures
