10 days to go and fame at last!

As WQ day crunches ever closer and the adrenalin courses through our veins, we also get increasingly nervous about the whole thing. The day cannot come quickly enough for us, but every day we have some reason to be pleased with the way things are developing.

Today we received notice that the The National newspaper in the UAE has published a short article about our impending visit there in November it can be read at:
http://www.thenational.ae/news/uae-news/world-wade-quest-by-lovers-of-rare-plovers
In the UAE we will be ably assisted by none other than the UAE bird recorder Tommy Pedersen, no-one will have a better idea of what is about then him for sure, and he is giving his time and knowledge generously to WQ.

We have also booked our flights to the USA now, starting in Florida on the 29th of November, flying on to Los Angeles on the 4th of December and then driving up and down the west coast in search of waders, (or should I call them shorebirds over there?) ending in San Diego from where we will be flying home on the 14th of December. In California we are lucky to be able to count on the help and advice of two great birders, Garry George of Audubon California and Gary Nunn who lives and works in San Diego. Without the input of these two tremendous birders and great guys the trip would be far more worrying, but their local knowledge and contacts will ensure a fruitful and effective trip.

This will be an exciting leg of WQ as it will involve three different flyways. The Atlantic American, the  Mississippi American and the Pacific American flyways, and of course we all know what that means! Lots of lovely waders!!!

Rock Sandpiper photo: Tommy Pedersen