Expert bird spotter and intrepid geocacher, Jo-Ann Watson has followed her hobbies around the world. With her husband Doug keeping her out of trouble, she’s ready for more stamps in her passport.

Jo-Ann, a Marion resident who is the marketing director at Wareham’s YMCA, began birding when she was introduced to it as a child. Until marrying Doug 20 years ago, she usually stayed in New England for birding.

“After Doug and I got married, we decided to do more traveling,” said Jo-Ann. “Instead of just going to a place where there’s a beach, let’s combine it with birding and make it more of an adventure.”

The pair often heads to Central or South America in the winter where the birds are plentiful.

“We can get there in a day and in most cases be birding the next day,” said Jo-Ann.

The Watsons usually strike out on their own rather than take tours.

“Some of the tours are really well-known and they’ll set up a scope on a bird and you have to stand in line with 15 people,” said Jo-Ann. “Take a look and get out of the way.”

The couple chooses local professionals instead, sometimes traveling for hours by canoe to get to prime birding spots.

“They are really outstanding – their ability to find something with binoculars,” said Doug. “Jo-Ann is really good at that, too.”

On their trips to Ecuador, Trinidad and Tobego, and other exotic locales, the couple often sees 200 different species of birds in a week’s vacation.

In conjunction with their feathery pursuits, the Watsons also hunt down as many geocaches as they can. Geocaching is a free, global treasure hunt where members try to find containers, or geocaches, left by other members in tree trunks, on the back of signs, and other hidden locations.

Using a GPS and smartphone (yes, there’s an app for that), Jo-Ann is ranked 119 in Massachusetts with 2,300 finds.

“My goal for 2013 is to be in the top 100 in Massachusetts,” said Jo-Ann, who picked up the hobby after someone at the YMCA suggested it might be a good event for the organization.

While geocaching didn’t catch on at the Y, Jo-Ann stuck with it and has even fallen out of a tree twice trying to get at a cache.

“She’s more adventurous,” Doug said. But, he is definitely her partner in crime.

“We do it together,” said Doug. “I’ve come and got you when you got lost.”

In their travels, the pair searches for caches in airports and urban centers. They’ve even found them near birding spots. However, the couple hasn’t met any other birding geocachers. “We haven’t met any crossovers,” said Jo-Ann.

In April, the Watsons will return to South America.“We tend to go to new places every time. We go just to see what else is out there,” said Jo-Ann.