Spring 2024 Big Year Highlights!

The 1st Texas record of Southern Lapwing was a great way to kick off our spring Rio Grande Valley tour this year! Photo by Alex Lamoreaux.

It is always a treat to see nightjars up-close during the day! This fiery orange Chuck-wills-widow was awesome to see in the Valley! Photo by Alex Lamoreaux.

For nearly 20 years Wildside Nature Tours has been leading private charters to Florida’s famous Dry Tortugas National Park during the peak of spring migration! In late April and early May the islands are an important resting and refueling place for thousands of northbound migrants, and they are also home to the continental US’s largest tropical seabird colony! We currently offer three 4-day charters to the Dry Tortugas led by Chris Brown in addition to a 10-day South Florida specialties and Dry Tortugas combo tour led by Alex Lamoreaux! The M/V Makai is our private vessel to the islands! With an experienced crew and licensed captains, the Makai sleeps 12 guests in four separate air conditioned cabins, along with two bathrooms with showers.

The Dry Tortugas are home to 80,000 nesting Sooty Terns! Photo by Alex Lamoreaux.

We’re still reeling from the excitement of an incredible 11-day visit to Alaska where Wildside guide Alex Lamoreaux and shorebird biologist Brad Winn led a partnership tour with Manomet to Utqiagvik (Barrow), Nome, Anchorage, and the Kenai Fjords! We enjoyed 160 bird species and over 20 mammal species during this whirlwind trip to ‘the last frontier’! We hope you will consider joining us in 2025 or beyond where this tour (plus St. Paul Island!) will be on the official Big Year calendar!

This female Red Phalarope – the larger and more boldy-marked of the two sexes were seen by the dozens while in Barrow, Alaska this past June! Photo by Alex Lamoreaux.

It’s not always about the birds – sometimes the local mammals steal the show! This is one of 6 Polar Bears seen in Barrow, Alaska on the Manomet partnership tour! Photo by Alex Lamoreaux.