Birding Travel

Some Birds Don't
Come to You

There are birds you can see from your backyard and birds that require a passport. Schwan Travel Group plans birding travel for enthusiasts who are ready to go find the ones worth flying for, from a first expedition to a lifelong list.

All Journeys
The Idea

Birding That Goes Where the Birds Are

Serious birders know the feeling: you've worked your local patches, added everything realistic to your regional list, and you're ready for the birds that only exist somewhere else. The Resplendent Quetzal in a Costa Rican cloud forest. Puffins launching from an Icelandic sea cliff. A colony of King Penguins on South Georgia. These aren't backyard birds. They're destinations.

Schwan Travel Group plans birding trips for individual travelers, couples, and birding clubs alike. Whether you're chasing a target species, timing a migration, or building an itinerary around a life list, we handle the logistics so you can stay focused on what you came to see.

Binoculars resting on an open field guide showing illustrated owls
Where to Go

The Destinations Your Life List Demands

From tropical hotspots with 900 species to remote sub-Antarctic islands reached only by expedition ship, these are the places serious birders build trips around.

Wildlife photographer with telephoto lens tracking birds in flight over tropical wetlands
Central America
The Neotropical Standard

With more than 900 recorded species in a country smaller than West Virginia, Costa Rica remains the benchmark for birding travel. Cloud forests hold quetzals and emerald toucanets; mangroves shelter roseate spoonbills and tiger herons; Pacific slopes erupt with tanagers and hummingbirds. The infrastructure for serious birding is world-class, with specialist lodges, expert local guides, and ecosystems diverse enough to reward a first visit or a fifteenth.

Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve, Corcovado National Park, Arenal Volcano area, Osa Peninsula, La Selva Biological Station

Atlantic puffin in flight above two puffins floating on the open ocean
North Atlantic
Puffins, Seabirds & Midnight Sun

Iceland concentrates some of the world's most spectacular seabird colonies into landscapes that are extraordinary even when no birds are present. Látrabjarg hosts millions of puffins, razorbills, and guillemots during summer. Snæfellsnes offers gyrfalcons and snow buntings in dramatic coastal settings. The midnight sun means birding hours that simply don't exist anywhere else, and every hour is worth using.

Látrabjarg cliffs, Lake Mývatn, Snæfellsnes Peninsula, Westfjords, Þórsmörk valley, Vestmannaeyjar islands

King penguins queued on rocky coastal ledge above turquoise water with snowy mountains behind
Sub-Antarctic & Antarctica
Penguins, Albatrosses & the End of the World

South Georgia alone may be the most densely bird-filled place on earth: 300,000 King Penguins at St. Andrews Bay, Wandering Albatrosses with twelve-foot wingspans nesting at Prion Island, and Light-mantled Sooty Albatrosses tracing the ridgelines. The Antarctic Peninsula adds Adélie, Chinstrap, and Gentoo penguins alongside Snow Petrels and Wilson's Storm Petrels. Expedition voyages here require careful planning and reward it completely.

South Georgia Island, Falkland Islands, Antarctic Peninsula, Deception Island, South Orkney Islands

Birder scanning a forest trail with binoculars among tall pines
East Africa
Safari Birding at Its Finest

The Serengeti and Masai Mara are famous for the mammals, but serious birders know the real story: East Africa has over 1,000 species in accessible, well-developed safari circuits. Lake Nakuru hosts hundreds of thousands of flamingos. Kenya's Rift Valley lakes draw globally rare species and Indian Ocean seabirds. Tanzania's forests hold endemic sunbirds and weavers found nowhere else on earth. A birding safari operates in parallel with everything else East Africa has to offer, and loses nothing in the comparison.

Lake Nakuru, Masai Mara, Serengeti, Ngorongoro Crater, Arabuko-Sokoke Forest, Lake Bogoria

Who Goes on Birding Trips

Built for People Who Take the Birds Seriously

Birding travel works best when the logistics are invisible and the itinerary is built around what you actually came to see. We plan these trips for groups like these.

Birding Clubs & Societies

Take the Club Somewhere New

From Audubon chapters to local birding societies, we plan group trips for clubs of any size. Specialist guides at each destination, itineraries that balance serious listing time with group meals and downtime, and logistics that keep everyone, from the competitive lister to the casual enthusiast, fully engaged throughout.

Serious Listers & Species Chasers

One More Bird, One More Destination

If your decisions are driven by a life list, a world list, or a simple need to see a particular species in its habitat, we plan around those priorities. We know the specialist guides, the right seasons, and the logistics of getting you to exactly the right place at exactly the right time, with enough flexibility to follow a sighting when it presents itself.

Couples & Mixed Groups

Not Everyone Has to Be a Birder

The best birding destinations are extraordinary places to travel for any reason. We build itineraries where birders get what they came for and non-birding travel partners have equally compelling days. Costa Rica, Iceland, and East Africa reward everyone who shows up, regardless of whether they brought a field guide.

Vivid red Northern Cardinal perched on a bare winter branch
What We Handle

All You Need to Focus On Is the Bird in the Scope

Birding travel has logistics that general travel agents rarely understand: migration timing, specialist guide access, lodge proximity to key habitats, and the flexibility to follow a sighting when it appears. We've done this before and handle all of it.

  • Specialist naturalist guide bookings at each destination
  • Lodge and accommodation selection based on habitat access
  • Migration and breeding season timing for target species
  • Group transport between birding sites and reserves
  • Itinerary flexibility built in for unexpected sightings
  • Optics and equipment guidance for first-time travelers
  • Activity planning for non-birding travel companions
  • Flights, transfers, and on-trip support throughout

Tell Us What's on Your List.

Whether you're chasing a single species or planning a full expedition, we'll build an itinerary around what you want to see. Tell us your targets and we'll take it from there.