Trip grading metric

Inspired by Only Solitaire, I wanted to try grading the various Future birding trip ideas that I have cooking, to help prioritize among them. Also helpful to look retrospectively at Past major birding trips for which I enjoyed the most.

These are the categories that I'm considering, and the factors that go into them. For simplicity's sake, start with each getting equal weighting.

Birding quality

• Diversity of birds
• Quality of birds
• Abundances of birds
• Difficulty of finding and seeing birds - some habitats, for instance tropical rain forests in Southeast Asia, are notoriously quiet, with extremely shy birds.

Among places I have visited so far, I would place Western Mexico towards the top of this scale, with exciting new birds coming in thick and fast.

Logistical ease

• Quality of roads
• Traffic behavior
• Availability and quality of accommodations
• Independent access to birding spots
• Bureaucracy
• Language
• Safety

I would probably rate the United States highly on this front, largely because it's what i'm most accustomed to, but also obviously because of its high development.

Landscapes

• Scenic beauty
• Habitat variety
• Elevation

Culture

• Friendliness of people, especially towards foreign tourists
• Quality of food
• Attitudes towards environmental protection
• Art, architecture, religion, ways of life, etc.

Bang-for-the-buck

• Getting there - cost of flights, number of connections needed
• On the ground - cost of car rental, accommodations, food, entrance fees, etc.

Examples

These should get broken out to their respective pages. Is there a need to collect them here? Maybe superlatives for each category?

South Ecuador

• Birding quality - 5/5 - a touch more quiet than I was expecting, but high diversity and quality of birds made every hike a thrilling experience.
• Logistical ease - 4/5 - Spanish definitely required, and roads not entirely in good condition.
• Landscapes - 4/5 - Great elevation and variety, though no showstoppers
• Culture - 3/5 - plain food, one or two negative encounters with locals, though others tremendously friendly and helpful
• Bang-for-the-buck - 4/5 - costly internal flight, and car rental expensive. One expensive accommodation. But others very cheap, and food as well.
• Overall - 4.0 - B-

Western Mexico

• Birding quality - 5/5
• Logistical ease - 4/5 - Safety a definite concern, and some details on birding sites to visits were vague. Driving and food were outstanding.
• Landscapes - 5/5 - Awesome driving in mountains, and nice beaches. Individual habitats being somewhat unexceptional the only thing holding this back.
• Culture - 4/5 - Mazatlan touristy, and Durango unfriendly, otherwise hard to judge.
• Bang-for-the-buck - 4/5 - Car rental expensive, otherwise great
• Overall - 4.4 - B+

Taiwan

• Birding quality - 4/5 - can be quiet, and diversity on individual outings often surprisingly low. But mixed flocks are thrilling, and many high-quality birds to find.
• Logistical ease - 5/5 - Language obviously a challenge, but otherwise very smooth and modern
• Landscapes - 5/5
• Culture - 5+/5
• Bang-for-the-buck - 3/5 - Flights and accommodations are expensive. Food unbelievably cheap.
• Overall - 4.4+ - A-/B+

Iquitos Peru

• Birding quality - 4/5 - often shockingly quiet for hours at a time, and good looks hard to obtain through dense understory or high canopy. Nonetheless, thrill of the unexpected on every outing, and some high quality birds.
• Logistical ease - 4/5
• Landscapes - 4/5
• Culture - 3/5 - ecolodges isolated from local culture. Food tasty but not distinctive or particularly interesting. Interesting to see rivers as highways.
• Bang-for-the-buck - 2/5 - ecolodges expensive, but no other options available
• Overall - 3.4 - C

Washington Olympics and Cascades

• Birding quality - 4/5 - Pelagic was a disappointment, birds elsewhere slow due to high summer season, but butterflies were mind-blowing
• Logistical ease - 5+/5 - few lodging options in western Olympic or north Cascades, but campground options were great
• Landscapes - 5+/5
• Culture - 4/5 - hard to judge for the US, but at least safe and friendly
• Bang-for-the-buck - 3/5
• Overall - 4.2+ - B+

El Triunfo, Chiapas, Mexico group tour

• Birding quality - 4/5 - high winds in the cloud forest dampened activity, often extremely quiet up there. Resplendent Quetzal obviously incredible (only one sighting), disappointed to only have a distant look at one Horned Guan, otherwise this could have scored much higher, bad luck. Foothills very exciting, but that wasn't the focus of the tour.
• Logistical ease - 5/5 - everything handled by the tour
• Landscapes - 5/5
• Culture - 2/5 - insulated and didn't see much
• Bang-for-the-buck - 1/5 - expensive tour company offering, but only realistic way of visiting this site
• Overall - 3.4 - C

Chiang Mai, Thailand (forecasted)

• Birding quality - 4+/5
• Logistical ease - 4/5
• Landscapes - 4/5
• Culture - 5+/5
• Bang-for-the-buck - 4/5
• Overall - 4.2+ - B+

Malay Peninsula (forecasted)

• Birding quality - 3/5
• Logistical ease - 4/5
• Landscapes - 3/5
• Culture - 4/5
• Bang-for-the-buck - 4/5
• Overall - 3.6 - C

Southern Brazil (forecasted)

• Birding quality - 5/5
• Logistical ease - 4/5
• Landscapes - 3/5
• Culture - 4/5
• Bang-for-the-buck - 4/5
• Overall - 4.0 - B-

Bahia, Brazil (forecasted)

• Birding quality - 4/5
• Logistical ease - 4/5
• Landscapes - 4+/5
• Culture - 4/5
• Bang-for-the-buck - 4/5
• Overall - 4.0+ - B-

Oman (forecasted)

• Birding quality - 3/5
• Logistical ease - 4/5
• Landscapes - 3/5
• Culture - 4/5
• Bang-for-the-buck - 2/5
• Overall - 3.2 - C-

Bolivia - El Choro trek (forecasted)

• Birding quality - 5/5
• Logistical ease - 2/5
• Landscapes - 5+/5
• Culture - 4/5
• Bang-for-the-buck - 3/5
• Overall - 3.8+ - B-/C+

Huatulco Mexico (forecasted)

• Birding quality - 5/5
• Logistical ease - 3/5
• Landscapes - 4/5
• Culture - 3/5
• Bang-for-the-buck - 3/5
• Overall - 3.6 - C

Bonampak Mexico (forecasted)

• Birding quality - 5/5
• Logistical ease - 4/5
• Landscapes - 4/5
• Culture - 4/5
• Bang-for-the-buck - 3/5
• Overall - 4.0 - B-

Puerto Vallarta Mexico (forecasted)

• Birding quality - 4/5
• Logistical ease - 4/5
• Landscapes - 4/5
• Culture - 5/5
• Bang-for-the-buck - 4/5
• Overall - 4.2 - B

Sichuan China (preemptive)

• Birding quality - 5/5
• Logistical ease - 2/5
• Landscapes - 5+/5
• Culture - 5/5
• Bang-for-the-buck - 4/5
• Overall - 4.2+ - B+

New England winter (preemptive)

• Birding quality - 4/5
• Logistical ease - 5/5
• Landscapes - 4/5
• Culture - 4/5
• Bang-for-the-buck - 4/5
• Overall - 4.2 - B

NW Argentina (preemptive)

• Birding quality - 4/5 - birds supposedly extremely reliable at territories with coordinates, unclear how fun or satisfying that might be. Lots of brown Furnariids and finches. But Yungas and waterbirds should be great.
• Logistical ease - 3/5 - Great information from numerous independent reports inspire confidence on site-finding and overall feasibility. But currency exchange, meal timing/length, and road quality could be major annoyances nearly every day.
• Landscapes - 5/5
• Culture - 4/5
• Bang-for-the-buck - 5/5 - relatively cheap flights, and on-the-ground cheap too (partly due to ongoing inflation and strength of USD)
• Overall - 4.2 - B-