Supporting local economies.
At Good Bird, we will hire and use local bird guides and stay at locally-owned lodges (when possible). There are many great guides in places we'll visit who can identify birds literally with their eyes closed! (Think sound ID.) They have been trained by experts and know the scientific names and the common names of birds in English and Spanish. Our bird guides will have breakfast or lunch or both with us and tell us more about themselves, their communities, and why they became guides.
(Spoiler alert: You're gonna love it!)

Promoting environmental stewardship.
At the end of each trip, in order to offset our carbon footprint, Good Bird will make a donation to a local organization that plants trees. We will usually donate to the groups we visit—most coffee-producing organizations have tree nurseries where they grow coffee plants and shade trees. Through these donations, we're supporting reforestation efforts in the local communities we visit.

Drinking coffee & learning.
Every trip will have at least one visit to a coffee farm (or maybe a cacao farm!) where we can see sustainable coffee production in action. After birding in the farm, we will learn how coffee is grown and processed and we'll learn how community coffee cooperatives help small-scale growers. We'll visit other coffee farms (because we all love coffee) and/or other natural areas. The Trips page will have more detailed information on each trip.

At Good Bird, we believe that birding can change the world. In fact, that's one reason we started Good Bird. Birding tourism, done the right way, has been proven to support community conservation and development. You can read about it here. 

Resplendent quetzal photo credit, Rudy Bot Zoc.