Andrew Walker

Our small group had a great trip birding Iceland with Andy Walker. Andy’s knowledge, tenacity, organizational skills, patience and fun personality allowed us to maximize this opportunity to see every possible bird within our range. Because of Andy’s scientific knowledge as well as field skills I learned a great deal. His enthusiasm kept us going even when the weather attempted to dampen and freeze mine! Iceland is an awesome country and Ecotours did a great job of arranging an itinerary that provided excellent food and lodging along the way. Very well organized. I’d go with this company and guide again!

Birding with Andy through western Iceland was marvelous. He’s a wealth of birding knowledge and information, down to the most minute details of all the birds we viewed. He has tremendous patience and perseverance in locating the birds, and worked hard with each individual to make sure we were satisfied with all sightings. He kept us on track and in motion, as we passed through the vast and rugged expanses of western Iceland. He has non-stop energy and a great personality. Couldn’t ask for better.

We just returned from our trip to Thailand. It was wonderful. Thank you very much for arranging our tour with Andy Walker. He was the best guide we ever had. He is knowledgeable,easy going, hard working, and has all the qualities that people expect from a guide. We really enjoyed birding with him. We would be happy to go birding with him any time and would highly recommend him as a guide to any of our friends. Thanks again for giving us the opportunity to have him as our guide.

We spent three weeks with Andy in Thailand and enjoyed the trip thoroughly. Andy worked so hard to find the birds, and get us on them. He was very patient and took the time we needed. He knew all the best places to go, knew what birds would be expected, identified them in an instant and still managed to find some pretty good rarities along with the known birds, Himalayan Cutia anyone? And we spent literally hours getting great looks at Spoon-billed Sandpiper. Andy got us very close without disturbing the birds or any other birders. It was a highlight of the trip. We are hoping to see Andy in York later this year for a days birding on his home patch!

The 2016 Northern India Birding Ecotours trip was everything I had hoped for and more. As a novice both when it came to Asian birds and Indian travel, the trip couldn’t have been better. Andy Walker, our guide, was brilliant at finding the expected birds and some amazing rarities and getting us good looks. I managed close to 400 lifers combined with Fatehpur Sikri, the Taj Mahal, some fascinating glimpses of rural India and a spectacular time in the Himalayan foothills. Our driver, van, train travel and hotels were all comfortable and worked like clockwork. Thanks for the trip of a lifetime.

I had an awesome two weeks’ trip in northern India in January 2016 with Andy Walker of Birding Ecotours. Total bird species seen by the group was 401. Highly recommended for life birds, collecting bird families and beautiful scenery. Some highlights included: Hill Partridge, Painted Spurfowl, Koklass and Cheer Pheasants, Black Bittern, Himalayan Vulture, Sarus Crane, Barred Buttonquail, Ibisbill, Pheasant-tailed Jacana, Indian Courser, Painted Sandgrouse, Sirkeer Malkoha, Crested Treeswift, Stork-billed Kingfisher, Himalayan Flameback, Collared Falconet with prey (Cinereous Tit), Chestnut-headed Tesia, Striated Laughingthrush, White-rumped Shama, White-tailed Rubythroat, Golden Bush Robin, Brown Dipper, Pink-browed Rosefinch, Crested Bunting and Altai Accentor. The group total also included 10 owls and 17 woodpeckers, all seen.

We loved traveling with Andy. Thanks to Andy’s birding and organization skills, this trip exceeded our expectations. Andy is an excellent bird guide and tour leader! His knowledge of the birds, their songs, habitats, and ability to locate birds was amazing. We all appreciated his ability to make sure that we all saw good views of the birds.

Andy provided an amazing 1-day tour around Bali. He knows every bird and where to find the key treasures. Loved spending the day with Andy and looking forward to more birding trips with him.

"Andy is a first-rate guide; his ability to direct people on to a bird is tremendous. He is also not just a birder; on this trip we also ended up with over 100 invertebrates fully identified; great for the all-round naturalist! Always affable, and with the best interests of his clients in mind; I look forward to more trips with him in the future". Kelvin, UK.

Andy Walker is a truly exceptional guide. His ready knowledge of both the local and worldwide birds is phenomenal.
Andy is a very kind, helpful guide who repeatedly went out of his way to help all of us on the tour. I would bird again
with him and, in fact, that's just what I'm doing right now, as I'm in Manokwari, W. Papua for the start of another tour
with him. Andy has my highest recommendation.

I had a terrific trip, and realized virtually all my expectations for this excursion. There were 6 people on the trip, and I was the only one NOT a birder, but that did not detract from my enjoyment. My goals with this trip were to see and hopefully photograph the birds-of-paradise, and to my delight, I was able to do that. The local guides were terrific!

Andy Walker was our overall tour guide, and his knowledge of the birds is encyclopedic. He kept the group well organized, on time, and in position to see many very special birds. Andy has promised to send me information on additional trips to PNG and Vietnam.

Andy Walker is one of the best, good-natured birding guides who has served me on 42 guided tours. He makes
certain that everyone in the group has seen each bird and keeps at it until that happens. The two Indonesian tours I took with Andy immediately before this one was excellent and I was able to meet my goals of seeing the last three bird families of all 248 (eBird/Clements list) and to see half of all bird species. Andy has my highest recommendation to other birders – he will serve you well!

This is a fantastic tour. The birds, scenery, mammals, other wildlife, pelagic tours, lodging, and food were all beyond compare. The guides were extraordinary in their knowledge and consideration. I highly recommend this tour for all bird and nature lovers. Andy is wonderful. His consideration and kindness were above and beyond. He is very knowledgeable, and he ensured that I enjoyed the best possible views of the birds and the other wildlife as well. His patience and good humor made this the most pleasant trip.

We had an excellent experience on the Birding Ecotours Sabah Classic Tour with Andy Walker, the tour leader, and our local guide, both being exceptional birders. They located all the key target birds with skill and tenacity and always worked hard for all members of the group to get good views. So many highlights: the elusive Whitehead's Trogon and Broadbill, the mythical Bornean Ground Cuckoo, the last-minute Bornean Bristlehead, Forktails, Fruithunters, Everett's Thrush…to name just a few truly exceptional birds that were so worth the effort of searching them out. Boating on the Kinabatangen River gave superb views of so many fantastic hornbills and the canopy walkways gave access to great views of many species otherwise unreachable. This was our second time birding with Andy. Excellent birding skills, very well organised, sensitive to needs of group members (photographers/non-photographers), and good company.

This trip was amazing. This is my second trip with Andy, and he is absolutely amazing. His knowledge and birding skills are extraordinary, and he’s so committed to getting all his tour group a good view of all species possible. He also deals with difficult situations and keeps the group on an even footing. A very professional young man! He was invisibly but constantly working to take care of the eBird lists, lodgings, transportation, schedules and all details that made the trip as seamless as possible.

The birds were spectacular (of course) and both Andy, our Birding Ecotours leader, and our local guide, were excellent in their ability to find and show birds and to shepherd our group.

Andy Walker is one of the truly exceptional guides in the world of birding. His skill at hearing and then finding birds is amazing. Couple this with an innate sense of getting his clients into the best possible position to both see and photo the given bird elevates him from "competent" to "top notch." I have been with Andy twice and intend to search him out again.

Took the "Eastern Australia: from the Outback to the Wet Tropics" tour, my first with Birding Ecotours. Itinerary fit my needs to a "T". Birds were spectacular and guides made a special effort at each stop to find the unique birds. Also bagged some fascinating fauna including tree kangaroo, platypus, koala, and echinda. Andy Walker was an excellent guide. He is personable with a great sense of humour. His ability to adapt to changing circumstances was excellent. He and his local guide knew the birds and terrain very well, optimized our birding time at each locale by knowing what key species occurred at each, and took pains to be sure everyone got on each bird.

‘Exceptional experience in seeing the many birds-of-paradise and other rarities seen in PNG and New Britain. Andy was a very good guide – organized, patient and did his best to see ensure all participants could see the birds.’

‘The tour was excellent, with great birds, although can be strenuous, buggy and wet, even during the dry season. Andy was conscientious, smart, well-organized, hard-working and knows the birds.’

The species and geographic coverage on this Darwin-centered tour were excellent. Andy is a truly great guide who is adamant about getting everyone on every bird with their bins. He has a delightful sense of humor, is culturally broad-minded and sympathetic to a wide variety of participants' limitations. His knowledge of the tour birds was phenomenal as well.

This is the best tour I've been on in my many years of international birding! Excellent guides, good food, great accommodations! Andy was the best guide I have ever had. Knew the birds cold, was able to call them in for photo ops, great on keeping us on schedule and getting where we needed to be, when we needed to be there. Can't say enough good things about Andy.

Andy is a superb guide with a wonderful knowledge of birds and where to find them. He is enthusiastic and keen, great company and a real pleasure to bird with. Our Australian trip was very successful in terms of sightings and also really enjoyable. Andy played a big part in that with his superb organisation, excellent birding skills, easy-going nature and positive attitude. I would happily join Andy on a birding trip again and hope to be able to do so later this year!

Andy Walker is a terrific birder and guide. His knowledge, persistence and patience got us a lot of great looks at many skulky birds in the Top End.

Andy Walker is a terrific birder and guide, and the typical small Birding Ecotours group sizes means Andy has a great chance of getting everyone a good look at even the most skulky birds of the Alice Springs area.

Andy Walker was absolutely excellent. Knowledgeable, affable, organized, sense of humor, and attentive to everyone. I would go anywhere with Andy.

Kakadu National Park was fantastic. Andy is top notch and a very dedicated guide. He wants us to see even the hard-to-get birds.

Highlights were the rare birds and Uluru. Andy was great and is top notch and a very dedicated guide. He wants us to see even the hard-to-get birds.

Particularly enjoyed the south and southwest coastal regions. Andy is an exceptional guide.

Andy, I just wanted to send you a quick note to thank you for everything on our recent trip to West Papua. The whole schedule ran like clockwork and we were extremely well looked after - not an easy feat in that part of the world and a real testament to the effort and skill demonstrated by you and the whole team in Papua. It also goes without saying that the birdlife was spectacular and exceeded expectations with the quality of some of our sightings. Thanks again for your hard work and I look forward to hopefully joining you on another tour in the future!

Where else but Japan in winter can you see six species of cranes? The Red-crowned Cranes dancing in the blowing snow in Hokkaido were magical. The lone Siberian Crane in Kyushu was an unexpected delight. We can recommend this tour unreservedly. Andy is a companionable, knowledgeable guide intent on finding great birds for us  - and highly successful.

The entire tour was very well run. Accommodation was generally more than adequate and I think we generally had the best accommodation available in the more remote places. Food too was generally very good, again given the fact that we were often far away from larger towns. The birding, the most important part, was fabulous!!! We saw almost all the target species, and both guides were very good on getting us on the birds. Overall, a tour I would rate very highly and would have no hesitation whatsoever to recommend. Andy is an all around nice guy who really took care of the entire group. Always willing to help, not just with getting onto the birds, but also with all the other requests our small group had. I like his style and I would certainly book another tour if he was the tour leader.

I was very impressed with the quality of birds seen on this trip as well as other wildlife.

Andrew Walker is an outstanding birder with superb ability to assist clients in "getting on" species.

Lovely intimate tour with excellent photography opportunities. Good variety of birds and scenery. Beautiful, interesting birds.

Go on this Vietnam tour sooner, rather than later. Climate change, deforestation, and illegal trapping are making these special birds disappear very rapidly.