Birdseekers Team

The BIRDSEEKERS Team

One of the most important factors for the ultimate enjoyment of any holiday is the performance of the tour leaders. It is with great care that I have selected the following people to be part of the BIRDSEEKERS team. It is not just their ability to find, identify and teach you about the wildlife we find, it is their personalities and enthusiasm, that will help to make your holiday a fun and memorable experience. Steve Bird: Steve is the founder, owner and principal leader of BIRDSEEKERS holidays. Now in his tenth year Steve has proved that his commitment to provide high quality holidays at very competitive prices works. His enthusiasm and tireless leadership skills, combined with a pleasant easy-going attitude have made him a very popular leader, and it is this and his uncanny success in finding birds that has seen him gain an avid band of followers. As a wildlife artist Steve has illustrated several books and is a well-known figure in the South West birding scene. He has been birdwatching since he was a small child and having travelled throughout the world now enjoys passing on the wealth of information he has acquired. Although office duties keep him very busy he is still able to lead the majority of tours, and combines his love of birds with that of butterflies, moths, cetaceans and mammals.	Steve Bird
John Boon: John’s interest in birds began twenty years ago when he joined the RSPB local group at Plymouth. John has been involved with BIRDSEEKERS from the beginning, and I am indebted to him for his patience and help in the formatting and proof reading of the brochure, as well as his constructive suggestions, which have always made him a vital part of our team.	John Boon
Nick Bray: Nick has been birding since the age of nine and has travelled widely throughout the Western Palaearctic, including much of Eastern Europe. He has also spent a lot of time in the field in North America, including Canada, California, Florida and Texas. He has led tours to 5 continents, with a strong interest in Asia. Nick has a particular affinity for the Indian sub-continent and has organised our exciting visit to Eaglenest in Arunachal Pradesh & Lake Baikal. Principal leader with Birdseekers he has acquired an immense following and has certainly put us on the map with several new birds being found in the countries he has led tours to. His great skill in finding birds has made him one of our most respected leaders and his friendly, easy going manner is what helps to make all his tours so enjoyable.	Nick Bray
Juan Carlos Calvachi: Juan was born in Quito, Ecuador, where he studied English and Italian before working in the tourist industry. He then became involved in birding tours and was fortunate to be able to learn his skills from celebrated and knowledgeable birders and scientists such as Neils Krabbe (author of the Birds of the High Andes), Paul Greenfield (co-author of the Birds of Ecuador) with whom he co-lead 2 trips a year, Mitch Lysinger, Paul Coopmans and several other experienced bird guides in Ecuador. He has subsequently been guiding professionally all over Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands, where apart from our highly successful Hummingbird and Tanager tour, he has organised our new Southern tour in search of the recently discovered Jocotoco Antpitta. Juan is a valuable member of the BIRDSEEKERS team, and his excellent field skills combined with a good sense of humour have already earned him a good following amongst our regular tour participants.	Juan Carlos Calvachi
Enrique Couve: Has been birdwatching for 40 years in his native country of Chile and is the author of the `Field Guide to the Birds of Chile’. He is extremely skilled in finding and identifying birds and is an excellent nature photographer, having one of the most complete portfolios of Chile’s birds and wildlife. He lives in Punta Arenas with his wife and 4 children.	Enrique Couve
Kevin Easley: Anyone who has ever been on a tour with Kevin soon realises that he is one of the most impressive birders you are ever likely to meet. He now lives in Costa Rica where he is without doubt the country’s very best birdwatching guide and it’s no wonder we see more birds in Costa Rica than any other company. With an easy going manner, Kevin’s popularity and unrivalled experience has put him ahead of the rest.	Kevin Easley
Steven Easley: Steven leads our Kenya tours where he has already been acclaimed as the best! And this from the long standing well known African guides with whom he has birded and gained so much knowledge. Steven lived in Kenya for 5 years and has led over 60 tours to this bird-rich country, which is why he is so familiar with its wildlife and our last tour with him having seen 610 birds and 52 mammals in just two weeks prove it.	Steven Easley
Upali Ekanayake: Things change in the world of birding and we believe that Upali is one of Sri Lanka’s finest guides of today. He already holds the record for finding the most species of birds while on tour and his honest approach, commitment to guiding and incredible knowledge of Sri Lanka’s wildlife will see us in the forefront of all future tours to this fascinating country. Join us and Upali in 2009 for the best opportunity to see all the countries endemics!	Upali Ekanayake
Russ Eynon Russ is an indispensable part of the BIRDSEEKERS team spending endless hours updating checklists, posting photos on our web site, setting up our stand at the bird fair, and performing many other invaluable tasks. Russ has been birding all his life and his wide variety of other interests include dragonflies, butterflies, and cetaceans. In 2008, Russ co-led our Lake Baikal tour.	Russ Eynon
Solomon Jallow: Solomon has been leading our tours to The Gambia since our first trip there in 1997. We have built up a great relationship with him and his fellow guides Dembo and Serin. The combination of our guides, Solomon’s team and a wonderful hotel, as well as the finding of many difficult to see species, put us in front of birding tours to this bird rich destination.	Solomon Jallow
Dawn Jeffs: Often the voice you will hear when phoning our office, Dawn plays a vital role in the Birdseekers Team, dealing with accounts, enquiries, flight bookings and an endless list of other jobs that keep Steve sane and everything in the office running smoothly.
Adam Kennedy: Adam is an accomplished birder and TV director and is now managing a lodge in Tanzania. Birding from a very early age most of his time was spent in and around Suffolk which has since led to him illustrating the new book ‘Birds of Suffolk’. I am also indebted to him for several excellent illustrations within our brochures. Adam has travelled extensively spending a year in Australia, visiting New Zealand, North America, Asia and parts of Africa and Europe.	Adam Kennedy
Gina Nichol: A long time naturalist and birder, Gina has worked in the fields of environmental education, animal rescue, wildlife tracking and research, web design, and classroom teaching. She began leading National Audubon Travel Odysseys in the 1990s and now runs her own very successful company “Sunrise Birding” which has taken her all over the world. She is full of life, has a sharp eye, a wonderful personality, is adept at finding birds and getting people on them, and is eager to share her expertise with clients. She has been organising trips and guiding with Birdseekers on many new and exciting tours to North America and beyond.	Gina Nichol
Josele Saiz: Josele’s love of his native Spanish birdlife saw him move in 1993 from the city of Barcelona to bird rich Loporzano, where he founded the very successful Birdwatching Centre “Boletas”. Josele is well acquainted with the Pyrenees and all the best birding sites of Northern Spain, where as a mountain and birdwatching guide his knowledge is unsurpassed. With many visits to other areas including Aragon, Extremadura, Coto Donana and Andalucia, plus the fact that he speaks fluent English, Catalan, French and Italian, he is an ideal guide for our tours to this wonderful country. A very active member of many conservation groups and studies, his cheerful, friendly personality will make all our tours with him memorable and exciting. Josele will once again be involved with our tours to Spain as well as the Galapagos Islands.	Josele Saiz
Dembo Sonko: Dembo is part of Solomon’s team in The Gambia and we are delighted that he is now a regular feature and guide on our fabulous tours there. His enthusiasm and sharp eyes and ears are an asset, while his warm friendly personality has made him popular with all our clients.
Viv Stratton: Viv’s work includes teaching environmental science, while he is also trustee for Cornwall Birdwatching and Preservation Society. A very well known and liked character Viv has played an important part in Cornwall’s birdwatching history. Since 1956 he has studied sea-birds at St Ives Island, with particular interest in identification of petrels, skuas, shearwaters, divers and gulls. In the late 50’s he and several other birders found Porthgwarra, Cot Valley and Nanquidno Valley. These areas are now recognised as being of major importance to American and Asian migrants. He has also chartered the Scillonian 3 since 1986 for pelagic trips into the western approaches, looking for rare seabirds. He has travelled throughout Europe and has a particular affinity with Poland, where studies he started in 1990 are still on-going. To cap it off he has been a regular visitor to Scilly for 44 years. His enthusiasm, knowledge and friendly personality make him a perfect BIRDSEEKERS leader.	Viv Stratton
Chris Townend: Chris has, until recently, worked for the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds where he spent over 8 years working in the HQ’s Species Protection office and then moved to Devon where he worked as Cirl Bunting Project officer. Now, Chris is spending much of his time leading tours for Birdseekers and setting up new tours for the Natural Selection. Having always had a great passion for birds, His youth was spent watching around his home county of Hertfordshire soon to be followed by Devon, where he has now happily settled. Chris’s travels have taken him throughout Europe, North & South America, Canada and his personal favourite of Africa. He is one of our most popular leaders and will lead several trips for us in 2009.	Chris Townend
Stuart Winter: Stuart is the Enviromental Editor for the Sunday Express and has most probably written more arcticles about birds and birding than any living journalist. He has a weekly column for various national newspapers and a monthly slot in Birdwatching magazine. His book, Best Days With British Birds, typifies his birding philosophy that every day is a new adventure. He has led tours to Middle East, Europe and the U.S, and we are pleased to have him on our team.	Stuart Winter
Thanks must also go to our many local expert guides in Alaska, Brazil, Bulgaria, Finland, Goa, Hungary, India, Namibia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Peru, Poland, South Africa, Spain, Thailand, and Vietnam. Their unsurpassed knowledge of all aspects of their country’s birdlife means we are assured of the best overall birding and wildlife watching experiences.

July 2008