Dear Tweeters,
Quite a few Tweeters responded to my request a few weeks ago, in regard to recommendations for birding tour guide services. Several birders suggested that I make the results public; some also asked that I keep it anonymous, so I have summarized the comments in a little table. One hopes that the table (created in MS Word) will not blow up the Tweeters computers.
Almost all of the comments were from Tweeters or from other birding friends of mine. A very few are my own ratings of guides of whose services I have availed myself on past trips--so, please do not shoot the messenger.
Yours truly,
Gary Bletsch
Birding Tour Companies Rated by Birders, Compiled byGary Bletsch, February 2018 

| Company Name | # of "Excellent" ratings | # of "good" ratings | # of "Fair" ratings | # of "poor" ratings | comments |

| Across Bhutan | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |  Gary Bletsch's rating |

| Avian Journeys | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | Website lacked list of current tours, seems to need update; one respondent likes guide Gary Rosenberg |

| Bird Tour Asia | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Recommended guides include Mike Nelson, Rob Hutchinson, James Easton. |

| Birding 2 Asia | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |   |

| Birding Ecotours/BirdTrek | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Chris Lotz is a recommended guide. |

| Birdquest | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | One US birder said they were very good; he did a Tibet tour with them, and excellent European birders were on the trip, but the same US birder says that some Brits don't like Birdquest, saying "overpriced crock." |

| Borderland Tours | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | Only one respondent commented, but complained about guide Rick Taylor. |

| Bustamante, Elvis [in Belize] | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |  Gary Bletsch's rating |

| Cheesemans | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |  One birder thinks he recalled hearing good things about them from a friend who used them years ago. |

| Crawford, Chook | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Highly recommended as a guide in Australia by one respondent |

| Eagle Eye Tours | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | One Tweeter said that "they might be good" (he knows their guides and esteems them). |

| Field Guides | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | One Tweeter considers Field Guides to be the number one choice. |

| Finch, Brian [Nairobi, Kenya] | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Gary Bletsch considers Brian Finch to be the best birding guide he's yet encountered, for all-round superb knowledge of avifauna, jolliness, and knowledge beyond just birds. |

| High Lonesome | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |   |

| Joint Adventures [in India] | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |   |

| Kolibri Expeditions | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |   |

| Legacy Tours | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Michael Carmody comes highly recommended by the one respondent. |

| Naturalist Journeys/Caligo Ventures | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |   |

| Mongolia Quest | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | Fairly relaxed; excellent in terms of comfort and logistics; bird knowledge fair. |

| Neblina Forest | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |   |

| PIB | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |   |

| Remote Rivers Expeditions | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | Adequate at best (Madagascar) |

| Rockjumper | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 | Recommended guides include Rich Linde; all respondents liked Rockjumper, with one strident exception. |

| Swordbilled Expeditions | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |   |

| Tien, Bui Duc ["Mr. Tien," words out of Cuc Phuong Nat'l Park, Vietnam] | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | Good to excellent, per Gary Bletsch |

| Trong, Henry ["Mr. Trong," works out of Cat Tien Nat'l Park, Vietnam, and environs] | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |  Very good guide, per Gary Bletsch |

| Tropical Birding | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | One respondent complained about poor value; others gave more or less glowing reviews. Guide Sam Woods comes recommended by one Tweeter. |

| Tut, Fernando [in Belize] | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |  Very good, per Gary Bletsch |

| VENT | 2 |   | 0 | 4 | Serious birders tend to disrecommend VENT. Comments include "upscale, way overpriced, too laid back, for rich retirees and the infirm," and so forth. To be fair, VENT sounds like it might be quite nice for people who are not serious twitchers, and who like to be pampered. |

| Ventures Birding Tours | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |   |

| Waanders, Peter [sp?] | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Highly recommended as a guide in Australia by one respondent |

| Wildside | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Guide Adrian Binns comes recommended by one birder. One birder said that Wildside is very good, but expensive. |

| Wings | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | Guides recommended by various birders included Paul Holt, Steeve Rook [sp?], Brian Finch, James Lidster [latter said to be birding with other company now, based in Netherlands]. One birder reported negative experience with guide Rod Cassidy on a tour in Africa, but this guide is said to have left Wings for another company. |

|  Naiu, Abhi                         |  1     |  0 |  0 |  0 |  Local birding guide in Goa, India, highly recommended by Gary Bletsch |

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