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Bird Watching Holidays

Our holidays can take you to some of the world’s best birdwatching destinations – whether you’re on a quest for a kiwi in New Zealand or want to take a peek at puffins in Iceland. Choose from self-drive holidays, stopping whenever you feel the urge to whip out your binoculars, or opt for an escorted holiday with an expert guide.

In Iceland, our self-drive holidays feature top birding spots, such as Lake Myvatn and the wild peninsulas of the north coast. Top ticks range from puffin, fulmar and guillemot to red-throated diver, gyrfalcon and eider duck. Our 22-day Wildlife Encounters self-drive in New Zealand, meanwhile, includes a night-time kiwi-spotting tour and a safari to the Cape Kidnappers gannet colony.

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To witness one of the world’s most impressive birding spectacles, join one of our expedition-style voyages to the sub-Antarctic island of South Georgia where some 400,000 breeding pairs of king penguin gather between November and March. An Antarctic voyage can also provide incredible encounters with other species of penguins (from chinstrap to Adelie), as well as other birds like wandering albatross and Antarctic prion. Alternatively, choose an island-hopping trip to see the Wildlife of the Falklands, tracking down penguins, albatrosses and rare endemic species.

The Arctic also promises spectacular birdwatching. Board a small-ship voyage to circumnavigate Spitsbergen – the largest of Svalbard’s islands – to see hundreds of thousands of little auks and guillemots nesting on towering sea cliffs.

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  • Stellers jay, Tongass National Forest
  • new zealand wildlife kea on a car arthurs pass istk
  • Bald eagle

An adventure cruise between Juneau and Ketchikan in Southeast Alaska will give you an excellent chance to spot bald eagle, tufted puffin, Stellar’s jay, great blue heron and marbled murrelet, while a visit to Eastern Finland’s ancient taiga forest can be rewarded with sightings of capercaillie, black grouse, parrot crossbill, Siberian jay and various woodpeckers.

Visit New Zealand for penguins, albatross and endemic birds. The shy tendencies of the national bird, the kiwi are counterbalanced by the extravert antics of the kea. The largest of the parrot species, this highly intelligent alpine bird nicknamed the ‘mountain monkey’.