VENTURESBirdingTours
Putting the fun back into Birding!
Bird Watching and Natural History Tours
P.O. Box 1095, Skyland, North Carolina 28776
Phone: 1.866.253.4247 Email: Travel@Birdventures.com
VENTURES
BirdingTours
Putting the fun back into Birding!
Bird Watching and Natural History Tours
P.O. Box 1095, Skyland, North Carolina 28776
Phone: 1.866.253.4247 Email: Travel@Birdventures.com
Cape & Eastern South Africa
Sugarbirds, Rockjumpers and Hornbills!
Often considered one of the most scenic stretches of landscape in the world the Cape of South Africa ranks among Africa’s premier birding destinations. It provides easy access to a good selection of coastal and mountain specials, and some of the world’s best sites for such highly localized endemics as Knysna Warbler, Hottentot Buttonquail and Cape Siskin, and seabirds such as African Penguin. . . . Click Here for the full trip description.
Simon and Chris also own and operate the Asheville,
NC Wild Birds Unlimited Nature Shop. We stock an excellent selection
of feeders, seed and bird houses, along with birding and nature books and a
growing selection of art and gifts by Asheville and WNC nature artists. Please
drop by to say Hello.Welcome to the Ventures website. We have put together quite a varied selection of daytrips, weekend and longer Ventures both within North America and further afield. Take a look at our Calendar and you can find out more information on each of our upcoming birding and nature tours. You can enjoy watching warblers in the Carolinas, take a boat up the River Gambia, West Africa or enjoy watching seabirds on a pelagic trip off California. From the Danube Delta in Romania to the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina, we hope you can join us for one of our birding Ventures in the coming year.
Simon Thompson, Ventures Owner
Three-wattled
Bellbird!
If you click on the image to the left you will find a short video of Three-wattled Bellbird taken at Santa Elena Preserve in Costa Rica by Harvey Neal.
It is an .wmv movie and it is a large file so it may take a little time to download. HINT - it may be easier to "right click" on the bird, choose the "Save Target As", save it to your desktop and open it from there.
Ventures started 15 years ago under the auspices of Foothills Equestrian Nature Center (FENCE), Tryon, NC. In the summer of 1998, Ventures, Inc. became an independent entity under the ownership of Simon Thompson.
As we are based in the Carolinas, we will continue to offer a wide range of popular day and weekend trip throughout the Carolinas, with a unique blend of birds, butterflies and wildflowers. Because of our experience in birding and tour organization, we are also able to offer a wide range of tours both within the United States and many other countries.
We hope you are tempted by the wide variety of trips we have to offer, and that you will join us on one or more Ventures in the coming year.
Simon Thompson
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2010/2011 |
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For more information on the below Ventures, click here. |
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| Dates | Venture | Status |
| Sept 6-15, 2010 | Colombia: Cerulean & El Paujil Reserves | |
| Sept 11, 2010 | Photography Workshop with Todd arcos |
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| Sept 14-21, 2010 | Colombia: Piha Reserve, El Carmen and Yellow-eared Parrot Preserve |
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| Sep 18, 2010 | Birds/Butterflies - Grove Stone Quarry, Swannanoa, NC | |
| Sept 23, 2010 | Fall Migration: Ridge Junction Overlook, Asheville, NC | |
| Sept 29, 2010 | Jackson Park, Hendersonville, NC #1 | 4 Spaces Left! |
| Sept 30, 2010 | Fall Warbler Workshop, Hendersonville, NC | 7 Spaces Left! |
| Sept-Oct, 2010 | “River of Raptors” Veracruz, Mexico | |
| Oct 3, 2010 | Jackson Park, Hendersonville, NC #2 | |
| Oct 3-8, 2010 | Fall Migration: Snowbird Mountain Lodge | |
| Oct 7, 2010 | Cherohala Skyway, Graham County, NC | |
| Nov 14-25, 2010 | Costa Rica | |
| Dec 1, 2010 | Cleveland County, NC | |
| Dec 11-27, 2010 | South Africa - Cape & Durban to J'burg | Full! |
| March 3-14, 2011 | Jordan |
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| March 11-20, 2011 | San Isidro & Eastern Lowlands, Ecuador | |
| March 20-30, 2011 | Hummingbirds of Ecuador |
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| April 22-29, 2011 | Snowbird Lodge |
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| April 2011 | Bhutan's Himalayan Kingdom for Pheasants, Babblers and Flycatchers!! | |
| May 10-26, 2011 | Eastern Europe Explorer | |
| May 22- June 7, 2011 | Kazakhstan |
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| July 2011 | Northern Peru |
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| Oct 21 - Nov 5, 2011 | Oman |
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| Dec 13-28, 2011 | Ghana |
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NOTE:
Please confirm these dates by calling the Ventures office. Also
contact us for additional information or to reserve a space on any Venture
Simon Thompson
Originally from Suffolk, England, Simon has lived in North Carolina for over 10 years. He has lived in Lebanon, Kenya, Yemen, and Ghana, where his interest in birds and natural history began. In addition to traveling extensively in the United States, Simon spent six months in China studying the crane and bird of prey migration as a member of the British "China Crane Watch" expedition. As director and originator of Ventures Nature Travel program in Tryon, North Carolina, Simon has led many birding trips all over the world.
Gordon Mills
Gordon was born in Manchester, Northern England and has been a birder for over 20 years in Britain and Europe. He now lives in Cornwall in the far South West of England, where he works in his spare time with the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds leading local trips and working on such projects as helping to protect the newly established Choughs. He has also been involved with the annual Migration count and survey on Raptors and Storks over the Straits of Gibraltar. Although he has been birding in Africa, Asia and North America, Gordon's real passion is for Swallows and Bee-eaters and loves birding in the Mediterranean . He enjoys leading birdtrips and meeting people with the same interest.
Mark Welford
Mark Welford is originally from Bedford, England and has lived in the US for the past 25 years. He is married to Terry and lives in Statesboro, GA, where he is the Associate Professor in the Department of Geology and Geography at Georgia Southern University, Mark also studied in Illinois, Idaho and England, and as well as teaching, he spends time researching Geo-dynamics, Biogeography and Ecology of Tropical Montane Environments, Tropical Conservation and Geographic Education. He has also coordinated several squares for the Georgia Breeding Bird Atlas, participated in Operation Raleigh, done bird-banding in the US and South America and many other diverse projects. Mark has traveled to and birded in many countries in both eastern and western Europe including Hungary, Poland and the Czech Republic. He also has extensive birding experience in South America and has spent a lot of time in Ecuador and Peru, where tour leading has been part of his repertoire. Mark has led or co-led the following Ventures: Coastal Georgia (co-led 2005); Western Ecuador (co-led 2006; led 2007); Romania (co-led 2006); Southern Ecuador (co-led 2008), and NW Ecuador and the Choco (led 2008)..
Marilyn Westphal
Marilyn Westphal is a native of the mid-west, but has been living in North Carolina since 1992. She is an environmental scientist studying stream, river, and lake water quality for the Environmental Quality Institute at the University of North Carolina-Asheville. She caught the birding bug about 15 years ago and has been an avid birder ever since. She is currently the president of the Elisha Mitchell Audubon Society in Asheville, North Carolina and is coordinating the mountain section site descriptions for a new bird guide for North Carolina for the Carolina Bird Club. She is also working on an information guide on the birds of the southern Appalachians for the Elisha Mitchell Audubon Society.
VENTURES, INC.
Bird Watching & Natural History Tours