We hope these Yellowbilled Tours client testimonials will inspire you to join one of our excursions! See what people are saying about us below. Most recent reviews for each trip will be displayed at the top:
Tropical Birding Trip: Belize & Guatemala Testimonials
Katy and I enjoyed Belize. We agree that it was a successful trip – good birds and entertaining company. I’m working my way through the ebird lists you sent me, thank you for supplying the check list so quickly. The woodcreepers/tanagers at the army ant column was one of many birding highlights and we enjoyed our conversations with Santiago and Dominic at the ranch.
John Davis, March 2020
Beautiful birds, bumpy roads, and a daily intake of Belikin beer. Our group witnessed 240+ species and were greeted with smiles and familiarity along the way. From the back ponds of a Belize City shrimp farm to a local guide calling out “Yellowbilled Tours!” at the Guatemalan border; Yellowbilled Tours gave us a sense of comfort in knowing their way around the local geography and economies. A few pointers if you are reading this in advance of going: bring some bug spray and sunscreen, and pack light clothes with long sleeves and legs.
Adam, March 2020
I really enjoyed the March 3rd, 2020 Belize trip with Yellow Billed tours. I have been on three trips with Rich so far and each one has widened my Photography and Birding experiences. Rich really has a talent for enabling the small group to ebb and flow with excitement and communicate the birds location so I can get many photos. I especially enjoyed our visits to Crooked Tree, Cockscomb and Tikal. I am primarily a Photographer so Rich acknowledges that the group might move on a bit as I capture a bird with several different angles and exposures. This helps me accomplish my goals. Thanks Rich for your friendship and your excellent tours.
Martin Powell, March 2020
Thanks Rich for a great ‘boutique’ birding experience! Well organized, good company and some super birds to boot. Rich was flexible to our every wish while keeping us on track to ensure we arrived at our intended overnight destination each evening while maximizing our birding time (at our request). On our trip, no upset stomachs nor any real issues with insects/bites (although we did take the suggested insect repellent). Accommodate was a little mixed but all very adequate. Let’s face it, you are not going to go on a trip like this to sit in your room.
The Crooked Tree Wildlife Preserve with its boat trip, was a great way to start with some truly spectacular concentrations of wetland birds that I have ever seen (and I’ve traveled), while gently introducing us to Belize’s land birds. I’ll always remember our first evening at Bird Eye View Lodge, overlooking the Preserve, beer in hand, while we logged over 100 Snail Kites flying over as they headed to roost. Watching the sun rise with a mug of coffee the following morning was equally remember able as we observed an amazing 28 Jabiru all in view at the same time. As other clients have commented, Hanna Ranch/Stables is a gem of a hide-away. We were greeted as if family friends, and the birding was terrific here, with a variety of habitats from farmland to riverine forest, all within easy walking from our rooms. In our 36 hours in Guatemala we logged an impressive 119 species and Tikal gave us a quick taste of what Guatemala has to offer on the birding front (not to forget the incredible Mayan ruins we were surrounded by and the mammals we encountered.In summary, we pretty much connected with all the target species (although Scarlet Macaw gave us a bit of a scare), with my personal top ten trip birds being: Ruddy Crake, Thick-billed Seed finch, Great Antshrike, Crimson-collared Tanager, White-collared Manakin, Northern Potoo, Purple-crowned Fairy, Red-capped Manakin, White Hawk, and Orange-breasted Falcon. Bird of the Trip: Red-capped Manakin with a fine display of two males in Tikal within 25 feet of us – brilliant! I’d certainly recommend this trip to all birders who are ready to take their first foray into the world of Central America birding as well as to the seasoned global birder who is looking to connect with some much sought-after species.
William Legget, Mill Valley, CA
What makes a great birding tour? An experienced leader who is familiar with the locale and the birds.
The trip is reasonably priced | 4-6 people maximum | Pre-trip information from the leader. | A leader who is flexible and willing to change locales as needed | Excellent local guides. | Local culture focus in addition to birds. | Photographer friendly, you get time for your shots.Rich Cimino of Yellowbilled Tours was all of these and more on our trip to 2019 Belize and Tikal. I am a beginning birder and picked up 130 new species. The other member of the trip was very experienced and was also very satisfied with the trip. I look forward to more trips with Rich.
Kent McDonald, San Francisco, CA
Close to 300 species of birds were seen by those of us fortunate enough to be on the March 2018 Yellowbilled Tours Belize birding field trip. Rich Cimino is an expert guide to finding the birds and offering his knowledge to us. Having organized these Belize field trips for several years, Rich has developed a network of contacts at nature centers and ranches where the birds can be found.
Matthew Poltorak, Connecticut
At the Hanna Ranch in western Belize Rich was welcomed as an old friend by the staff at this family run amazingly beautiful place. There was wonderful sightings Keel-billed Toucans, Yellow throated Euphoria and Painted Bunting. In Guatemala, Tikal – Rich stand on the goal of finding us the Orange breasted Falcon – he located the falcon and we had wonderful looks using his scope and a few good photos, too. An added feature to the field trip is there were only four of us. This made traveling easy, getting in and out of the vehicle was easy, comparing bird notes and bird I.D. was easier with only four birders. I am looking forward to continuing to use Yellowbilled Tours on other field trips with Rich.
March, 2018 Belize field trip: Hi Rich Thank you so much for a wonderful trip into the wilds of Belize. The trip was the right length and it was everything you said it be. Lodges and food was great. I thought you were a wonderful tour leader: calm, under control easy to get along with. Adding Tikal was the right idea too. What a perfect birding spot. I will recommend your birding tours to anyone when I have a chance.
Kent Van Prunedale, CA
