Greetings Birders,
It's that time of year, when we traditionally send out a review of Sunrise Birding's adventures and accomplishments.

In 2025, Sunrise Birding LLC celebrated 20 YEARS of providing birding and wildlife tours around the world!!!

Thank you all for being a part of our journey. I am so grateful for all of the experiences we've shared and wonderful wildlife we've seen. You can see what we've done this year as well as since our beginnings in 2005 by checking our Trip Reports.

Rather than repeat what is already on our website, I decided that it might be fun to review 2025 - The Year in Owls.

Photos by me (Gina Nichol) unless otherwise noted. Enjoy!

2025 - The Year in Owls

In January, Frank Gallo and David Mathieu took an intrepid group of birders to Texas in a quest for winter specialties. Along with MANY fantastic sightings, they saw Mottled Owl (the first chaseable US record!), "McCall's" Eastern Screech-Owl (Megascops asio mccallii, a subspecies found in Southern Texas and Northern Mexico), got great looks at Burrowing Owl, American Barn Owl, and Great Horned Owl. It's always an owlapalooza with Frank!
More on this trip, report pdf>

In the meantime, some of the Sunrise Birding team along with our colleagues at Bird's Wildlife and Nature (BWN) scouted a new birding hotspot in the middle east, Oman. Oman offers some very special birds and owls including Omani Owl (rediscovered in 2013, story here>), Arabian Eagle-Owl, Pallid Scops Owls, and Desert Owl (Hume's Owl). All of these owls would be very exciting to see and I was particularly interested in seeing pale, desert adapted"Lilith" form of one of my favorite owls, Little Owl.

After spending the day at Barr al-Hikman, a remote peninsula on Oman's central coast, we were driving back toward Muscat when I spotted a lump on a rocky outcrop.

We turned around and went back to find this beautiful Lilith Owl sitting out on the rocks. More about our Oman trip>

In February, we met up with long time friend Frank Nicoletti to visit Sax Zim Bog and experience its winter delights.

On our way from Duluth, Frank brought us to see this Long-eared 0wl.

Great Gray Owls put on an amazing show. Boreal Owl and Northern Hawk Owl were highlights too!

In March, Steve and Gina took a group to Morocco where the nest of a Pharaoh Eagle Owl with chicks (Photo below: Steve Bird) was the Strigiformes highlight along with Bald Ibis, Sandgrouse and many others.

Later in the month, Gina & Steve assisted Jose Pablo Castillo with the Costa Rica Toucans & Tanagers tour where we had a very confiding Central American Pygmy Owl at point blank range. Photo below © Gina Nichol.

And, we had lovely views of a Striped Owl with a well grown chick.

We also had nice looks at a Ferruginous Pygmy Owl. Photo above © Steve Bird.

Jose went on with a group to look for Hummingbirds & Quetzals which yielded Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl, American Barn Owl, Crested Owl, and Tropical Screech-Owl in addition to many other colorful birds.

In April, Gina and Steve took a group to the Kingdom of Bhutan. There were so many highlights of this tour including Red Panda (!), Blood Pheasant, Satyr Tragopan, Himalayan Monal, White-bellied Heron, Rufous-necked Hornbill... but I digress. Owl highlights here were Tawny Fish Owl, Spotted Owlet, Oriental Scops Owl and

Spot-bellied Eagle Owl. See the masterpiece trip report here>. We're headed back to Bhutan in 2027>. Join us!

Going to Bhutan meant we had to miss our annual Lesvos tour but Stylianos Zanettos and Paul Manning were there to treat our clients to the charming avian delights of this beautiful island. Owl-wise, European Scops Owl and Long-eared Owl were in the grounds of the hotel and Western Barn Owl was seen in the fishing village. See what happened here>

April in Connecticut is well into owl nesting season. This Great Horned Owl was incubating eggs early in the month.

This young Great Horned Owl had already left its nest by the end of the month.

In May, Julian Hough took a group to Finland and Norway for breeding owls, seabirds, grouse, shorebirds, and more. Owl highlights were MANY including Eurasian Eagle-Owl, Northern Hawk Owl, Eurasian Pygmy-Owl, Ural Owl, Great Gray Owl, Short-eared Owl, and Boreal/Tengmalm's Owl. Report here> We're heading back to Finland and Norway in 2026> There are a few spots left! Don't miss it!

In June, Charlie Roberto, along with Gina and Steve led our inaugural tour to Canada's Gaspe Peninsula. Short-eared Owl was our owl here along with a spectacular visit to the Bonaventure Gannet colony. Spruce Grouse, breeding Warblers, Pine and Evening Grosbeaks, and Charlie's cooking were highlights!

Also in June, Matthew Young showed a small group the orchids of the Finger Lakes as well as the breeding warblers. No owls were seen on that trip but the 20 species of orchids and 20 species of warblers were splendid.

In August, Diego Calderon led a trip to Panama. The Black-and-white Owl at Canopy Lodge (Photo above: Diego Calderon-Franco) was a stunning highlight and the group had roosting Tropical Screech-Owl, Choco Screech-Owl, Crested Owl, and Mottled Owl. Other highlights included the MOST OBLIGING Black-crowned Pittasoma/Antpitta ever and great views of a Harpy Eagle at Canopy Camp. We're heading to Panama in 2026> Don't miss this great tour!

In September, Gina and Steve were off to West Papua where we saw an amazing selections of birds but only one owl, the Papuan Boobook.

We had Feline Owlet Nightjar and Mountain Owlet Nightjar, do they count?

Gina and Steve went on to meet Tom Bird of BWN to scout Sumatra for a future trip. Pheasants and Sumatran Ground Cuckoos were stunning and owls added there included Oriental Bay-Owl (Photo, right by Tom Bird), Sunda Scops-Owl, Sunda Owlet, Reddish Scops-Owl, and Eastern Barn Owl.

In October, Juan Carlos Crespo led a small group to the Jocotoco Lodges in southern Ecuador. Owls on their list included Peruvian Pygmy-Owl, Black-and-white Owl, and Black-banded Owl. The full eBird report is posted here>

 

 

 

 

 

In late October, it was off to South Africa on our Cape, Garden Route, and Kruger trip.

A Spotted Eagle-Owl with a large chick was a hit in in Kirstenbosch Gardens. Verreaux's Eagle-Owl was seen in Kruger as was Pearl-spotted Owlet on a night drive and more Spotted Eagle-Owls.

In November, Gina gave her presentation entitled, "There's Something About Owls" for Ashlar Village in Wallingford, Connecticut.

December is catch up time with breaks to look for owls locally. The Great Horned Owls are already courting in the woods near the office.

And this Great Horned Owl was quite confiding at a local hotspot last week.

Thank you again for all of your support this year and over the past 20 years. We love our clients and are eternally grateful to our guides, lodges, drivers, and providers around the world.

Best wishes for a happy, healthy holiday season and new year. We'll see you out on the birding trail!

Kindest regards,
Gina and the Sunrise Birding team