ABOUT ZUGUNRUHE BIRDING TOURS

I’m sure you have many questions about Zugunruhe Birding Tours. The first two are probably “How do you pronounce ‘Zugunruhe’?” and “What’s Zugunruhe?” Zugunruhe is migratory restlessness. It’s a German word, pronounced more or less as “tsook-oon-roo-heh”. Yes, it’s a bit difficult to say, so you can do what I do and just refer to it as “Z”.

I like the name not just because of my interest in bird migration but also because it seemed like a natural fit for a birding tour business, despite the pronunciation difficulties. Just as birds experience migratory restlessness, so do birders. My only problem is I first thought it would be easy to come up with a slogan based on the name, something like “When you’re feeling restless, let Zugunruhe help you migrate”, but I think I can do better than that. I’ll keep working on it.

While it’s a new company, Zugunruhe still has experience. I’m the primary guide on most of our tours, and for 5 years, I’ve been leading tours for Bird Treks (and as you can see from our schedule, I still work with them). No other guide has as much experience on Adak. Many of our tours already have been run multiple times.

About our tours – What to expect

You can find specific information about each tour, such as weather we’re likely to encounter and the amount of walking to expect, on the itineraries. On most tours, we stay at mid-priced hotels, usually a “chain” brand like Best Western, though we also stay at “independents” that I trust. I have a similar approach to restaurants. I like to have dinner at unique, local restaurants that I know well whenever possible. Otherwise, we’ll dine at a chain restaurant. Breakfast is often at the hotel. Lunch is our most flexible meal. It may be at a sit-down restaurant, a quick stop at a sandwich shop, or a picnic lunch during a break in the birding. It just depends on our available options, the weather, and how good the birding is that day.

I try to keep group sizes small, often six or fewer, whenever possible. Smaller groups generally provide for a better experience for all involved. I will allow for larger groups for a few tours for which the quality will not be affected. For example, on the Adak tours, the more eyes we have looking for Asian vagrants, the better. There will be a second guide on tours with more than six participants.

John Puschock, owner of Zugunruhe Birding Tours

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