The birding world is opening up again to international trips and chances are, there is now a sister birder guide to welcome you when you hit the ground.

I write about four such country national women in South America in the March/April 22 issue of Bird Watcher’s Digest : Tati Pongiluppi of Brazil, Andrea Molina of Ecuador, Eliana Ardila Kramer from Colombia (she is based in Miami) and Florencia Ocampo of Uruguay. Each woman speaks in her own words to the experience of birding in her country, her style as a guide and how birding ecotourism is a critical piece of bird conservation where she lives. Read it here.

If you want to meet other women birding guides throughout the world, enjoy additional interviews on my site with Judith Mirembe in Uganda, Wendy Kim in Malaysia, Irene Dy in The Philippines, Regina Ribeiro in Brazil, Melissa Hafting in Canada and Mariel Abreu in Southern Florida.

As a side note, I’m sad to share that this issue of Bird Watcher’s Digest is its last—publisher Wendy Clark recently announced the closing of operations of this near five-decades-old imprint and the meaningful event, travel, podcast and optics ancillary businesses run with the magazine to promote birding domestically (in the US and Canada) and internationally. Bird Watcher’s Digest (BWD) brand presented a friendly, we-can-all-do-this together approach to birding for both beginners and experienced birders. The magazine featured writing by bird world notables like Katie Fallon, David Lindo, and Julie Zickefoose, as well as the contributions of readers (that “digest” name was literal). Past issues are full of conservation news, birding travel suggestions, photography how-tos, gear reviews, beautifully written personal essays of the birding life, and other topics covering wild birds and birding culture.

And it was still featuring original artwork on its covers up to its penultimate January/February issue (nowadays its photography that dominates birding visual media). As someone who actively advocates for birds in artwork, I appreciated this visible support of artists for nature.

So tip your hat to BWD as you read about the women propelling the future of birding travel, and here’s to a 2022 year dedicated to new possibilities in our birding community.