SUMMER 2026

Primary Feathers…

Check out this exciting fall 2026 tour…

Panama: Raptor Migration Spectacular, Plus Harpy and Crested Eagles

October 24-29, 2026 -- main tour, Canopy Camp

Oct 29-Nov 1, 2026 -- optional extension, Canopy Tower

Full Tour fee (8 nights): $3490

Canopy Camp only (5 nights, incl. 1 night in Panama City): $2395

Just a four-hour flight from Atlanta, where birds from North, Central, and South America mingle, Panama offers some of the world’s best birding, and Canopy Family’s renowned eco-lodges offer first-rate guides, delicious meals, comfortable lodging, and amazing birding in some of Panama’s most biodiverse areas.

Join Feathers with Furr for a small-group Panama adventure with Canopy Family. Not only does this carefully curated tour offer the special opportunity to see both Crested and Harpy Eagles, it is timed with peak migration through the region, when millions of birds funnel through this narrow corridor on the way south to their wintering grounds. Raptor migration can be particularly awe-inspiring when, on any given day, thousands of raptors may be streaming across the skies. Both Canopy Camp and especially Canopy Tower provide incredible opportunities to witness this extraordinary neotropical birding spectacle. In addition to our quest to see eagles and witness raptor migration, we have the chance to see well over 300 species of birds, including 25+ species of hummingbirds, along with other amazing wildlife including monkeys, sloths, anteaters, reptiles, amphibians, butterflies, moths, and more.

In the footsteps of Lewis and Clark…

In June, seven enthusiastic birders joined me for my first Off the Beaten Path in Magical Montana tour. From the towering Bitterroot Mountains to the sweeping plains around Great Falls, we tallied 152 bird species while enjoying beautiful landscapes, vibrant wildflowers, and abundant wildlife. Birding highlights for participants included memorable looks at American Dipper, Tundra Swan, Lewis’s Woodpecker, Upland Sandpipers (with chicks!), and Burrowing and Short-Eared Owls, to name a few, but we were also excited to encounter black bears, elk, badger, prairie dogs, and even a prairie rattlesnake.

While I didn’t plan the tour with the idea of incorporating the history of Lewis and Clark’s Corps of Discovery, I realized after reading Stephen Ambrose’s Undaunted Courage this spring that the tour route would overlay with several places that Lewis and Clark mentioned in their journals during their quest to reach the Pacific Ocean, places inhabited by indigenous Americans for thousands of years before American settlers arrived. The tour itinerary presented a unique opportunity to incorporate a bit of American history and for participants to consider what it would be like to travel across, or live in, these often harsh and unforgiving places without modern transportation and conveniences…

BIRDING BEYOND BARRIERS

For the past twelve years, I have had the honor to partner with Shepherd Center, Atlanta’s world renowned neurorehabilitation hospital, to provide birding classes and outings as part of the Health and Wellness program. For Shepherd clients, many of whom have experienced traumatic brain or spinal injury, stroke, or other complex neurological conditions that impacts their mobility, birding can be therapeutic and affirming. Not only does birding provide significant health benefits, it is also a uniquely accessible activity that can be enjoyed on many levels, no matter where you are or what your abilities.

This year, Feathers with Furr was excited to join a partnership between Shepherd Center and Georgia Department of Natural Resources (GA DNR) to offer accessible wildlife viewing clinics at Georgia State Parks as part of GA DNR’s Outdoors Beyond Barriers Program. During these clinics, outdoor enthusiasts with mobility challenges have the opportunity to use GA DNR’s All-Terrain Chairs and go birding on nature trails that are normally inaccessible to them. During our last outing at Red Top Mountain State Park, we wandered on wooded nature trails, and in July, we will head out to the Power of Flight grasslands at Panola Mountain. I’m excited to point out Purple Martins, Eastern Meadowlarks, and Indigo Buntings and grateful to be a part of this effort to remove barriers to the outdoors.

Check out this article in Smithsonian Magazine about how birding benefits the brain and may even protect it from aging!

Tours in the Works for 2027:

June 2027 - Vermont: Boreal Birds and Bicknell’s Thrush (1 week)

July-August 2027 - Solar Eclipse tour in Southern Spain and Morocco (10 days)

Make sure to follow Feathers with Furr on Facebook and Instagram for the latest updates on new trips and public events. Send me an email at featherswithfurr@gmail.com if you are interested in any of my 2027 tours, and I’ll make sure you get notified when registration opens.

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Until next time, good birding!