Tropical Birding Tour Leaders and Staff


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	espacio	Compulsive Birders from around the world Roll your cursor over the guides' photos to find out where in the world they are now!
		Nick Athanas How many people would give up a lucrative career in geophysics to go watch birds in South America? Nick did just that a few years ago and has never looked back. He is a fanatic about bird sounds and is building a collection of recordings from throughout the Neotropics. Nick leads many of our tours in South America where he has the opportunity to show the results of his dedication. Every year he spends months traveling and birding throughout the Neotropics. American by birth, Nick now lives in Quito, Ecuador.
		Keith Barnes Keith reailzed that he was no longer a scientist when a significant difference in the tail lengths of larks didn’t really make a significant difference in his life! Turning his back on the Ivory Towers, Keith helped found Tropical Birding and now heads the Africa and Asia operations. Having traveled far and wide in Africa in search of larks, turacos, bee-eaters and other beasties, he has turned his interests towards Asia and its wren-babblers and pittas. Before Keith was able to actually see most of the birds he wanted to, he had to sit in an office and write about them, producing The Important Bird Areas of Southern Africa and The Red Data Book of Birds of South Africa, Lesotho and Swaziland in the process.
		Ken Behrens Ken discovered flickers in the Pennsylvania woods when his family relocated there, and he has been chasing birds ever since. He has progressed from US road trips through to adventurous treks through the Ecuadorian Andes and Bolivian Amazon. More recently he has traveled in Europe and Africa, and has spent the better part of two years counting birds in Cape May. There he developed a particular interest in seawatching, which he considers the more challenging cousin to hawk-watching! Now based in Cape Town, he enjoys the spectacular seabirding when not leading tours.
		Christian Boix Christian followed the swallows, and headed south from Spain in 1990 after developing a lust for African ornithology. He has an unhealthy interest in the reproductive biology of birds, and his favourites are those with bizarre mating and breeding systems, such as woodhoopoes and hornbills. A partner of Tropical Birding, Christian spends most of his time leading tours in Africa and Asia, where his infectious enthusiasm has ensured a faithful following.
		Erin Brandt After studying Spanish language and biology in college, Erin fell in love with the Neotropics while volunteering as a naturalist at an eco-lodge in Costa Rica. For the next few years she worked in the field in Costa Rica and across North America, studying wildlife and encouraging habitat protection with environmental NGOs. Erin spent two months in 2006 guiding at Cristalino Jungle Lodge in the Brazilian Amazon, and then came to Ecuador to join TB. She helps run our South American operations, and is currently the manager of the TB subsidiary Birding America.
		Iain Campbell Iain ended his career as a geochemist in West Africa when it dawned on him that his life list was more valuable than gold. He packed up his G-pick, said goodbye to fufu, and headed to South America, which better suits his style. He is very involved in bird conservation, having created Tandayapa Bird Lodge and Mindo Cloudforest Foundation, and he now spends a significant amount of his time on donor cultivation for conservation groups. A fanatical lister, he is also one of the founders of Tropical Birding.
		Bradley Davis Brad grew up chasing vagrants in southern Ontario, where a lost Variegated Flycatcher in Toronto in 1993 piqued his interest in tropical birds. When no more appeared on the shores of Lake Ontario over the next few years, he decided he would have to go to them instead. After a number of birding trips and field work throughout the Americas, Brad has now settled in southern Brazil - a perfect base for chasing after the piculets, antbirds and spinetails over which he obsesses. When not guiding, he keeps busy recording bird songs, devouring old and new ornithological literature, and exploring new areas of the country - particularly the vast Amazon basin where his interests in distribution and vocalizations are equally indulged. Brad guides for TB in Brazil and Ecuador.
		Josh Engel Josh grew up near Chicago, where he soon learned the joys of birding along the Lake Michigan shoreline. He was soon crisscrossing the US with other young birders before getting hooked on the Neotropics. Josh has been spending a lot of time in Africa lately, fueling a fast-growing obsession with Madagascar’s ground-rollers and asities, the red dunes of Namibia, and the many endemics of South Africa, where he now lives. Past trips to Indochina have left him longing to return to southeast Asia as well.
		José Illanes Originally from the Amazonian village of Sani Isla, José is rapidly getting hooked on world birding. After tallying over 2,000 birds in 2005, José has not looked back; now guiding for us in Venezuela, Peru, Brazil, and his home Ecuador (in between trips to southeast Asia, Africa and Europe). His first visit to the US came in 2006 when he brought the house down with his speech on Ecuadorian birding at the ABA convention in Maine. When not guiding, he can often be found poring over foreign bird books.
		Olger Licuy Olger is José's older cousin, and comes from the same village along the Rio Napo in the Ecuadorian Amazon. After a decade of guiding in the Amazon, he couldn't resist the urge to look for birds in other parts of Ecuador, and joined the Tropical Birding team in 2004. He learned English during an exchange program to Harvard University in 2002, but he somehow failed to pick up the Boston accent. When he's not guiding, he likes to spend time in Quito with his young daughter, Molly.
		Scott Olmstead Less than a month after finishing college with a degree in Latin American Studies, Scott headed straight for Costa Rica, where he began learning the birds of Central America. When his money ran out, he returned home for a few seasons of fieldwork across the US, banding songbirds, counting migrating raptors, and studying eagle nests. In 2006, when he could stay away no longer, Scott came back to the Neotropics as a tour leader. He guides TB trips in Brazil and Ecuador, where he enjoys chasing elusive antpittas through the thick understory. Originally from Connecticut, Scott is now based in Quito.
		Michael Retter Michael grew up on a farm in central Illinois, but quickly expanded his horizons and now guides the Neotropics for Tropical Birding. He holds a B.A. in Biology from Illinois Wesleyan University, and now resides in West Lafayette, Indiana. Birding since the age of six, his greatest areas of interest are taxonomy and distribution. He also has an inherently massochistic interest in four-year gulls. Michael is an artist and serves as staff illustrator and writes for Meadowlark, the journal of the Illinois Ornithological Society.
		Benji Schwartz Benji Schwartz began birding at a tender young age, but soon realized that in order to expand his world list he would have to leave the confines of Minnesota. His quest to see new species has since led him to every continent but Antarctica. Two years ago Benji decided he wanted to lead tours fulltime and began with an intensive six month course to lead safaris in Africa. However, he found that it was too difficult to convince non-birders to look at the cisticolas on the left while a lion was attacking an impala on his right. After a brief hiatus of guiding in Ecuador and Alaska, he has now returned to Africa with Tropical Birding so that he can focus on the birds while still seeing all the other amazing wildlife.
		Jarol Vaca Jarol grew up in the Amazonian town of Misahuallí in Ecuador and has been fascinated by nature for as long as he can remember. He began guiding at age 16 and has extensive experience at most of the Amazon lodges on the Napo River. His English is self-taught, perfected by watching lots of American TV and movies and traveling for a few months in Europe. Jarol now makes his home in Quito but spends much time in the Amazon, where he is the director of the Shiripuno Research Center. His greatest interests are bird nesting behavior and habitat preference.
		Sam Woods Sam cut his teeth in world birding in Asia, getting a kick out of pittas and broadbills in particular. However, after a short time studying Ecuadorian hummers, he got hooked on South America. Working for TB fits in perfectly with his plan of building up a respectable world list, and has allowed him to guide on three continents, mingling with bowerbirds and cassowaries in Australia; toucans and jacamars in the Neotropics; and orang-utans and flamebacks in Asia. Sam now resides in Ecuador.
		Office Staff
		Cristina Cervantes Cristina is TB's General Manager. It is through her good work that our tours run so smoothly. An Ecuadorian, she has a thorough understanding of business in South America and is in constant contact with most operators in Ecuador. If there is something to be arranged, whether it be an intense birding trip in the Amazon or an independent trip to the Galapagos, she is the one to contact. She is an occasional birder too, but prefers colorful toucans to skulking tapaculos.
		Yadira Ordoñez Yadi does the groundwork in our Quito office and she is the one making the arrangements for our many South American tours. She may be small in stature, but she can certainly sound intimidating on the phone, which gives us a useful edge when dealing with local hotels and lodges. Aside from making bookings, she also stays on top of the accounting department, keeps the guides in line, and organizes whatever else needs to be organized. Basically, Yadi can do it all.
		Karina Villalba Karina impressively managed the operations of Sacha Lodge in Ecuador for six years, whipping guides into shape and ensuring that each month hundreds of clients had an unforgettable Amazon jungle experience! When she decided she was ready for something new, we snapped her up and sent her on a six month safari to our Cape Town office. There she learned how to manage the Africa and Asia side of TB, which she now does from Quito. While in Africa she fell in love with Table Mountain, the elephants of Kruger National Park and Africa's endless sunsets. Karina is in a great position to help you plan a dream birding vacation to the Old World.