Birdfinders

Birdfinders is a UK-based birdwatching tour operator founded in 1993 by Vaughan Ashby, who started the business organising fundraising trips for the Blackmore Vale RSPB members group before going full-time in January 1996. The company is based in Cheselbourne, Dorset, and describes itself as 'run by birders for birders', with a focus on value-oriented, comprehensive itineraries that include estimated flight costs and ATOL financial protection. The operation runs tours across roughly 80 countries spanning the Western Palearctic, Asia, sub-Saharan Africa, the Americas, the Caribbean and Australasia, with signature destinations including Brazil, Angola, Borneo, Ghana, Kenya and various parts of China. In Hungary, tours target the great plain and forest mosaic of the Kiskunság and Hortobágy regions, looking for specialities like Great Bustard, Eastern Imperial Eagle and nine species of woodpecker. Leaders are supported by long-serving collaborators including Svetlana of Kazakhstan Birdtours (who joined in 2002) and a roster of volunteer leaders. Birdfinders maintains an extensive audio library of over 26,000 recordings, uses Zeiss and Swarovski optics in the field, and provides annually-updated IOC checklists and tour photography to clients.