The RGVBF has long been known for its low ratio of participants to guides and for the quality of its leaders. As always, we have an outstanding group of talent this year to guide our field trips including local experts as well as guides from across the United States, Canada, and Mexico.
Terrilyn "Terri" Alaniz
Terrilyn “Terri” Alaniz is a Texas Master Naturalist, Artist, Graphic Designer, Nature Photographer, Writer, and mother of two young birders. Originally from Newfoundland, Canada, first moving to Harlingen in 1996. At a young age her grandparents instilled a love for nature, with her accompanying them on trips to view "Newfie Parrots" (Atlantic Puffins) and yearly visits to the Northern Gannet Colonies.
As the Chair of Marketing for the Rio Grande Valley Birding Festival, she has worked on different graphics, videos, illustrations, magazine advertisements, this website, and other media for the RGVBF. She is also the Publicity Chair for the Arroyo Colorado Audubon Society where she contributes articles and designs newsletters. She also leads many of their field trips.
Terri does work as an “occasional birding guide” when she has the time. Having experience in bird handling, working with parrots, she has also been known to perform rescues of injured birds, and offers advice when the need arises.
Dorian Anderson
Dorian started birding in his Philadelphia backyard at age seven. His interest spread to the Jersey Shore during his preteen years, and he attended several of Victor Emanuel’s youth birding camps as a teenager. He envisioned himself as an ornithologist until his educational rise and coincident alcoholism extinguished his birding desire. With his focus split between molecular biology and drinking through his twenties, his childhood passion laid comatose, rediscovered only when he got sober at age thirty.
Despite constant blackout drinking and much coincident drug abuse, Dorian received his B.S. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from Stanford, did predoctoral biomedical research at Harvard, and earned his Ph.D. in Developmental Genetics and Molecular Cell Biology from NYU. After getting sober, he spent three years as a Postdoctoral Fellow in Molecular Neuroscience at Massachusetts General Hospital before resigning academia and undertaking his Biking for Birds project. That odyssey, the first nationwide bicycle Big Year, carried him 18,000 miles through 28 states in 2014!
Momentum from that life-changing pivot opened doors in public speaking and travel writing. He consulted for the National Audubon Society in Colombia, and he currently guides domestic and international tours for Tropical Birding. He is an avid bird photographer and has just published his memoir, Birding Under the Influence: Cycling across America in Search of Birds and Recovery. It is a thrill-packed account of his adventure and an honest view of the alcoholism and drug abuse which preceded his departure.
Allison Anholt
Allison is a conservation biologist specializing in coastal birds. In her day job, she works in Washington and Oregon conserving status-listed shorebirds and marine birds. When she's not in the Pacific Northwest, she is a "Winter Texan" in Harlingen.
Angie Arredondo
Angie has been interested in birds since she was a kid growing up in Kingsville, TX. She went to Texas A&M University-Kingsville where she received both her bachelors and master’s degrees in Range and Wildlife Management and a minor in Biology. It was in undergrad where she took Ornithology and was officially introduced into birding.
Upon completing her master’s research, she began her work as the Manager of Education, Outreach, and Curation for the Rob and Bessie Welder Wildlife Foundation in Sinton, Texas. There she manages the K-12, university, and professional groups that visit the Refuge, leads public tours, and shares her passion for range and wildlife conservation and stewardship. She also assists with running the Foundation’s MAPS (Monitoring Avian Productivity and Survivorship) station and has been involved with bird banding research for 10 years.
In her spare time, she enjoys camping and is on a mission to visit all eighty-nine state parks in Texas, with her loved ones…thirteen down, seventy-six to go!
Amar Ayyash
Amar Ayyash is both an expert on the gulls of North America and an evangelist for “gull recreation”. He coordinates the Annual Gull Frolic on Lake Michigan, hosts the website anythinglarus.com, administers the Facebook group “The Gull Guide: North America”, and is often found speaking at birding events and leading trips throughout the continent.
Much of his free time is dedicated to traveling the world to photograph and study gulls. Ayyash has published a number of articles on gull identification, distribution and molt, and is the author of the upcoming book, The Gull Guide. Amar lives in northern Illinois where he teaches mathematics.
Kelsey Biles
Kelsey is an ornithologist with a passion for conservation and raptor research. Currently, she works as a biologist for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in their Migratory Birds program. Previously she was the Conservation Director at Houston Audubon, where she worked towards conserving urban and coastal bird populations across southeast Texas.
She has a PhD in Biology from the University of North Texas, where she studied American Kestrel behavioral and population ecology. In her previous years of conservation research, she led teams and taught undergraduate students, deepening their hands-on experience of bird conservation practices.
Kelsey is a native Texan and has lived in many towns, big and small, across the state. She received her Bachelor of Science in Biology from the University of Texas at Arlington and Master of Science in Biology from Baylor University.
Stephanie Bilodeau
I'm originally from the great state of Vermont, but migrated south with the birds! I've lived in the RGV for 8 years and have been guiding for the RGVBF ever since.
I spent the first 7 years working as a bird biologist for a non-profit organization and now work for US Fish and Wildlife Service as a wildlife biologist for Lower Rio Grande National Wildlife Refuge.
John Brush
John Brush is the urban ecologist for the City of McAllen. John spends most of his time at Quinta Mazatlan, where he oversees re-wildling/restoration projects, develops community partnerships, gives educational programs, and serves as a park naturalist. John received his MS in Biology from the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley in 2016, studying how suburban bird communities are influenced by local environmental variables. He has been a birder in the Rio Grande Valley for most of his life. In his spare time John enjoys getting rid of his lawn, growing plants for wildlife, and adding plant observations and phenology annotations on iNaturalist.
Hannah Buschert
Before Hannah found her way back to the Oregon Coast, she worked as a Park Ranger in Texas and Oregon and was briefly the Great Florida Birding and Wildlife Trail Coordinator.
Now, Hannah uses her passion for tourism to work with local industry leaders to promote responsible ecotourism and is a third generation, woman hotelier.
She also loves to explore the world with her husband, Erik, and shares their birdy travels and nuances in the birding community with the world, on a podcast: Hannah and Erik Go Birding.
Hannah also advocates for women in the birding community with her own podcast: Women Birders (Happy Hour).
Alicia Cavazos
After retiring from ATT in 2011, I joined the Texas Master Naturalists where I have learned about our flora and fauna. I have volunteered at RGVBF since then at different capacities.
I am a member of the Arroyo Colorado Audubon Society and have been doing interpretive tours on the tram at Resaca de la Palma. My favorite day is Sunday morning when I go help out with bird banding. I will be happy to show anyone our beautiful birds.
Bill Clark
Bill Clark is a photographer, author, researcher, and lecturer and has over 50 years experience working with birds of prey, including 5 years as Director of NWF's Raptor Information Center. He has published numerous articles on raptor subjects; has traveled extensively world-wide studying, observing, and photographing raptors; and regularly led raptor and birding tours and workshops, both home and abroad, with Raptours, which is now being run by his colleague, Sergio Seipke. Bill is on the board of directors.
He has been living in the Rio Grande Valley since 2002. He regularly teaches evening and weekend courses on raptor field identification and biology and frequently presents lectures on raptor subjects. Bill has written a raptor field guide for Europe, another for Mexico and Central America and yet another for Africa. He is a coauthor of the Photographic Guide to North American Raptors and the completely revised Peterson series guide, Hawks. He has on-going research projects on Harlan’s Hawk, White-tailed Hawk, and Harris’s Hawk. Bill has a personal goal to see and take photographs of all the world's diurnal raptors
Mark Conway
Mark Conway is a bird bander and former teacher from Harlingen Texas. He moved to the Lower Rio Grande Valley twenty-nine years ag o and has been banding birds since he arrived.
Mark bands at several locations in the Valley, including Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge, Texas Parks and Wildlife's Arroyo Colorado and Longoria Units, Quinta Mazatlan in McAllen and Cactus Creek Ranch. He has banded over 18,000 birds and recaptured almost 3,000 that he has banded.
Mark's current areas of research are Seaside Sparrows, Marsh Wrens, Black-crested Titmice, Common Yellowthroats and winter site fidelity among passerines. His research has resulted in several publications in peer reviewed journals. Mark also helps compile the Harlingen and Laguna Atascosa Christmas Bird Counts, runs a Breeding Bird Survey in the Valley and birdwatches as time permits.
He has a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in Biology from Stephen F. Austin State University in Nacogdoches Texas.
Cameron Cox
An avid birder for thirty years, Cameron’s passion is teaching others the joy of birds and that even the nuances of bird identification can be fun to learn. He is the owner, instructor, and chef dishwasher for Avocet Birding Courses (www.birdingABC.com). He is the coauthor of The Peterson Reference Guide to Seawatching and Terns of North America, a Photographic Guide. He and his wife and their small herd of dogs and cats split their time between coastal Oregon and south Texas.
Jim Danzenbaker
Jim Danzenbaker has been a nature enthusiast ever since the tender age of 6 growing up in southern New Jersey. His interest in birds led him from his local haunts in southern New Jersey to visits to every corner of the United States.
He has an enthusiasm for sharing information about different locations which helped him to become a birding tour leader not only on boat trips in Monterey Bay, CA and to the offshore waters of Oregon and Washington but also to neotropical destinations. He has led no less than 20 trips to various locations including Panama, Venezuela, Guyana, and Ecuador and has been a Naturalist on an annual Falklands-South Georgia- Antarctica cruise for 13 years.
He has been leading at the Rio Grande Valley bird festival for over 20 years. He currently lives in Battle Ground, Washington where he lives a semi-retired life of birding, guiding, and volunteering.
Jeremy Dominguez
Jeremy became interested in birds while in Alaska serving in the US Navy, While back in Ohio his interest quickly grew to obsession.
Jeremy did an “Ohio Big Year” in 2015 to get better acquainted with the birds of his home state. 2016 and 2017 Jeremy started to travel all over the US seeking out birds. In 2018 Jeremy went back to school in Southeastern Ohio, graduating from Hocking College with a degree in Ecotourism and Adventure Travel. In 2020 Jeremy took on his biggest birding adventure yet doing a “Lower 48 US Big Year” and setting the record for it with 724 species seen.
Jeremy has since spread his wings to international travel exploring places like China, S. Korea, Spain, Costa Rica, Mexico and The Bahamas. Since February of 2022 Jeremy has taken the position of Birding Outreach Coordinator and Ornithologist at The Toledo Zoo and Aquarium. As well as his work duties he is also an eBird reviewer for the Greater Toledo area as well as Vice President for The Ohio Ornithological Society.
Jon Dunn
Jon Dunn has lived much of his life in California, where he became a birder at age eight, an event triggered, he says, by the life-altering appearance of a bright male Hooded Oriole in his garden. Jon has extensive knowledge of the identification and distribution of North American birds, and has published numerous papers in a wide variety of journals.
He has also long been interested in Asian avifaunas. Jon co-authored the sixth and seventh editions of National Geographic Society’s Field Guide to the Birds of North America. He was the Chief Consultant/Editor for the first five editions. He is the co-writer and host of the two-video set Large and Small Gulls of North America, as well as co-author (with Kimball Garrett) of Birds of Southern California: Status and Distribution and the Peterson Field Guide to Warblers. Jon is a member of the Committee on Classification and Nomenclature of the American Ornithologists’ Society and has served some 30 years on the California Bird Records Committee. He has also been on the Board of Directors for Western Field Ornithologists for over a decade.
In 2012, Jon was the recipient of the ABA’s Roger Tory Peterson Award, given for a lifetime of achievements in promoting the cause of birding. Beyond birds, Jon has a keen interest in politics, history, and the cinema, and a keen appreciation for the poetry and music of Leonard Cohen.
Alex Eisengart
New to the festival this year is Alex Eisengart, a 17-year-old birder and bird photographer based in Northeastern Ohio.
He has been birding since he was 12 and giving presentations since the tender age of 13! He absolutely loves birds and finds them fascinating to study. Alex started out as purely a bird photographer but as time passed, he found them to be not only photographic subjects but also fantastic beings.
Alex has set a goal to soak up as much information about our feathered friends as possible and share that information with everyone who cares to listen.
Evan Farese
Evan moved to south Texas to study raptors. Originally from California, he initially came down to help study the nesting ecology of White-tailed Hawks. Now he is pursuing a master’s degree at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley.
His current research focuses on our local population of Gray Hawks and how they are affected by the rapid urbanization taking place here in the Valley. Specifically, Evan is monitoring the success of nesting attempts in urban versus natural areas as well as potential differences in diet.
Evan worked a number of field jobs prior to moving to Texas, highlighted by opportunities to work with Golden-cheeked Warblers in central Texas, Capuchin Monkeys in Costa Rica, and Greater Sage-Grouse in California. He also spent time in Montana counting migrating raptors and spending two years as an outdoor educator at Glacier National Park. Evan, who currently works as an associate guide for Nature Ninja Birding Tours, is always excited to share the birds he’s come to know so well in the Lower Rio Grande Valley, as well as lead tours that take him farther afield.
Shawneen Finnegan
Shawneen Finnegan found her calling when she discovered birding in her early 20s. Already a talented artist, she began drawing and painting birds. Her illustrations have adorned bird festival t-shirts including this year’s RGVBF tee of Altamira Orioles. Her art, photos and writing have been featured in numerous identification articles, field guides and state and regional monographs.
She led and later managed tours for WINGS, was Birding magazine’s photo editor for several years, and has served on four state bird records committees.
In addition to birding around the globe, Shawneen has lived in birding meccas, with long stints in Cape May and Tucson. In 2007 she moved to Portland, Oregon. She and husband Dave Irons are the statewide eBird Review Coordinators for Oregon, making their home in Beaverton.
Susan Foster
Susan Foster is a retired teacher and spends most of her time in the pursuit of all things birds. She spent 30 years as a resident of Laredo, Texas, enjoying the unique avifauna of the Texas/Mexican border.
In the past decade or two, she has led bird tours in and around South Texas for the Rio Grande Valley Birding Festival, Laredo Birding Festival, Rockport HummerBird Festival, the Aransas Bird and Nature Club, the Audubon Outdoor Club, The Birdiest Festival, and the Texas Ornithological Society, as well as given presentations on eBird for the Aspen Center for Environmental Studies.
She was a founding member of the Monte Mucho Audubon Society and is currently secretary of the Aransas Bird and Nature Club as well as a Regional Director and Secretary of the Texas Ornithological Society.
Originally from Massachusetts, she spends her time birding in Colorado in the summer and all around Texas and beyond the remainder of the year. Susan currently lives on the coast in Rockport, Texas.
Andrea Gibbons
Andrea Gibbons is a lifelong pursuer of avian interests with a background in ecology, genetics, and conservation. She obtained her B.S in Biology with a Zoology emphasis in 2015 and her M.S. in Biology from the University of North Texas.
She conducted her graduate research across the Lower Rio Grande Valley, including Laguna Atascosa & Lower Rio Grande Valley National Wildlife Refuges, focusing on cooperatively breeding Harris’s Hawks. Her work revealed some fascinating trends among the valley’s resident hawks. Many young hawks remain under the watchful eye of their natal groups for at least six months, well into the winter months when juvenile hawks from other species, like the Gray Hawk, have left their natal territory.
She has also worked on the conservation of California Condors and vultures in Africa and India. Her current work as a Wildlife Biologist for a private consulting firm in California allows her the opportunity to survey for endangered California Gnatcatchers and Least Bell’s Vireos, along with Golden Eagles, Swainson’s Hawks, Burrowing Owls, and a variety of rare mammals like San Joaquin Kit Fox or San Bernardino Kangaroo rats.
Her diverse experience across the avian spectrum gives her unique skills and perspectives on birding and avian biology. Sharing this experience with other bird lovers and hoping to inspire the next generation of avian scientists has grown into a deep passion for Andrea. The Rio Grande Valley Birding Festival has become her favorite way to share that experience.
Corina Giron
Originally from Baldwin Park, California, Corina has been an active birder for over 10 years and guiding at the RGVBF since 2016. One of her formative birding experiences was witnessing a spring migration fallout on South Padre Island, and she immediately became hooked.
A prior resident of Texas for 7 years, she now lives in Maryland where she works in the biotech industry for a gene therapy company. In her spare time she enjoys birding in the DelMarVa peninsula and internationally when time allows.
Corina loves inspiring new birders and is eager to reunite with the birds and birders in south Texas each November.
Javier Gonzalez
Javier Gonzalez is the Naturalist Educator at the South Padre Island Birding Nature Center & Alligator Sanctuary. He grew up in the RGV and developed a special interest in the nature of the region, especially along the Lower Laguna Madre coastal area.
He enjoys bringing awareness and education to the local community about the incredible nature in their backyards as well as introducing visiting birders to the amazing bird diversity the RGV has to offer. He also has a passion for creating and preserving habitats for migratory birds.
As a birding guide, he mainly focuses on leading tours around the coastal area and nearby parks but is open to any type of exploration. He also loves to introduce a bit of the local history and culture to his tours for a full RGV experience.
Asher Gorbet
Asher Gorbet (they/them) is a wildlife biologist and ornithologist with a passion for all nature studies, but especially intimate studies of songbirds. A proud member of the LGBTQ+ community, Director-at-Large on the North American Banding Council, widowed person, and beekeeper are just a few of the hats they wear in their professional and personal life.
Asher grew up in Ohio but found a home and community in Albuquerque where they work extensively with Rio Grande Bird Research, Inc. An avid traveler, Asher has had the opportunity to travel for pleasure and for work seeking birds, culture, vistas, laughter, and good food all over the world.
Asher began birding the valley in 2007 and started leading trips for the festival in 2010. After several years off from the festival, they are excited to return to one of their favorite events of the year!
Ernest Herrera
Ernesto is a naturalist born and raised in the Rio Grande Valley.
He developed his love for the region's flora and fauna during his time as a student at UTRGV. While he enjoys birding with friends, he also has a tendency to look downward in search of his favorite group of organisms: amphibians. If you go on one of his trips, be prepared to learn about birds and everything else around them!
Audrey Hicks
Audrey’s love for birds began was sparked while living in Tanzania as a Peace Corps volunteer. Since then, she’s birded around the world and shifted her career towards bird conservation.
She lived in the Valley for two years while conducting her Master’s research, which involved surveying birds and other wildlife along the border wall. During that time, she also had the opportunity to assist with a weekly bird banding operation.
She is now working in conservation and education with the Denver Audubon and as a bird banding apprentice with the Bird Conservancy of the Rockies.
This will be her second year guiding at the festival.
Greg Homel
Bio Needed
Jesse Huth
Born and raised in the Texas Hill Country, Jesse has had a close relationship with the outdoors, nature, and science for his whole life. Jesse's interest in birding began at age six, with frequent visits to a neighboring birder who taught him the basics of bird identification. His drive to learn led to the Wimberley Birding Society, where he was welcomed on their trips and taken under the capable wings of the members. Eventually he began leading some of the birding trips himself, as well as conducting bird counts for local landowners.
A love of raising chickens led to Jesse starting his first business at the age of seven, selling free-range eggs around the town of Wimberley, TX. He studied Poultry Science at Texas A&M University, and continued on to complete a master’s degree in Poultry Welfare & Behavior.
After college, Jesse set out to start a poultry consultation business in the hopes of making scientific knowledge accessible to keepers of backyard chicken flocks. This eventually became “Huth Avian Services”, which also organizes custom birding tours guided by Jesse, and conducts annual bird surveys for landowners who maintain wildlife management exemptions. Not long after college Jesse also began guiding for the Partnership for International Birding, and leads tours for them across the mid/western US, Hawaii, and South America. For the last two years he has served on the Texas Bird Records Committee.
Jesse also hosts a weekly radio show, “Squawk Talk” that discusses various aspects of poultry and birding.
Ruth Hoyt
Ruth Hoyt is a full-time professional nature photographer, writer, public speaker, workshop leader, coach, and consultant with 30+ years’ experience.
She writes for the Journal of Wildlife Photography and manages its monthly photo contest.
A Certified Interpretive Guide and Certified Texas Master Naturalist, Ruth is best known for her Texas bird and wildlife photography and professional guiding services on private south Texas ranches, Costa Rica, and Columbia.
Dave Irons
Dave Irons started birding at age six and became fully hooked by age 17, when he connected with other teenage birders. More than a half century later his curiosity about vagrancy, biogeography, the finer points of field ID and seeking opportunities to pass forward what he has learned continue to drive his passion. Dave is a past member of Oregon’s Bird Records Committee (OBRC) and was a regional editor for North American Birds for more than a decade.
His ABA Field Guide to the Birds of Oregon was published in the Fall of 2018. In his home state Dave has organized classes and led field trips for numerous organizations and festivals, including the American Birding Association and the Oregon Birding Association, Lane County Audubon Society and the Audubon Society of Portland.
He has been a leader at the Rio Grande Valley Birding Festival since 2011.
Zach Johnson
Zach Johnson is a life long birder, originally from the borough of Staten Island in NYC. He now resides in Mission, Texas where he is a biologist for The State of Texas. He is most interested in the birds of Starr County and also the plants, reptiles and amphibians valley wide.
Kenn Kaufman
Kenn Kaufman burst onto the birding scene as a teenager in the 1970s, hitch-hiking all over North America in pursuit of birds—an adventure later chronicled in his cult-classic book Kingbird Highway. After several years as a leader of birding tours worldwide, he transitioned to a career as a writer, editor, and illustrator. Most of his energy currently goes into book projects and painting bird portraits. His 14 books include his latest, The Birds That Audubon Missed, published in May 2024. Kenn is a field editor for the National Audubon Society, a Fellow of the American Ornithological Society, and the only person to have received the American Birding Association’s lifetime achievement award twice.
Simon Kiacz
Simon started birding in 2012 when he was an undergraduate studying wildlife biology in Michigan. After witnessing the diversity of northbound birds during spring migration, he caught the fever and decided to become an ornithologist.
He finished his PhD in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology in 2023 after attending Texas A&M University while studying parrots in Texas and Latin America.
He considers himself one of the lucky few whose vocation and avocation line up nicely – a day in the field studying parrots isn’t too different from a day in the field bird watching. His favorite habitat to bird is lowland tropical forest, but any day birding is a good day, regardless of location.
Camryn Kiel
Camryn Kiel is a graduate student studying wildlife science at Texas A&M in College Station.
She developed her love for birds while pursuing her undergraduate degree in zoology at Ohio State and through working on various avian research projects in the eastern US.
Camryn moved to Texas in 2020 to conduct her graduate research in southern Texas rangelands. She currently studies Texas Tortoise ecology and has spent several years studying the avifauna in the region as well.
Alexander Lamoreaux
Alex Lamoreaux is a senior leader for Wildside Nature Tours. His focus has been in developing a Big Year tour series, which currently includes over 24 tours ranging from 5- to 13-days each, strategically designed to visit the top destinations across the United States at the prime times, resulting in over 750 species documented on Wildside's US tours each year! He is also a seasoned field biologist and has worked on bird and mammal research projects from the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to South Africa, and everywhere in between! Alex is particularly interested in shorebirds, raptors, and seabirds and he absolutely loves watching birds in active migration.
Jason Loghry
Jason Loghry is a dedicated shorebirdologist with a deep passion for migration. Throughout the spring and fall migration seasons, he spends nearly every day monitoring dozens of non-tidal wetlands on private lands across the Texas Gulf Coastal Plain, exploring the habitats and movements of migrating shorebirds. A committed conservationist, Jason thrives on working closely with the local community but occasionally ventures to the remote regions of the Arctic during the breeding season.
Jason is from Rockport, Texas, where he was lucky to have spent a few years chasing birds while helping to rebuild after a devastating hurricane. His background extends to East Asia where for many years engaged in shorebird conservation on both local and international level throughout the Yellow Sea and the East Asian-Australasian Flyway. Just ask him about Spoon-billed Sandpipers!
Justin LeClaire
Justin has been an avid outdoorsman for as long as he could walk and a birder since his first ornithology class at the University of Vermont in 2010. After college, he moved around the country for several years, hopping from one bird research and monitoring field job to the next, before finally settling down in South Texas in 2016.
Justin has been an Avian Conservation Biologist with the nonprofit Coastal Bend Bays & Estuaries Program for most of his time in Texas, where he is responsible for conducting various research, surveys, and habitat management on waterbird and shorebird populations throughout the Laguna Madre and other parts of the Texas coast.
Outside of his day job, Justin is also a private birding guide in the Rio Grande Valley and has been the RGVBF Field Trip and Guide Coordinator for 2023/2024. He also dedicates hundreds of volunteer hours every year towards helping local organizations, performing wildlife rescues, and is the senior eBird reviewer in the RGV. Through all of this, Justin has become one of the leaders in the RGV conservation community.
Stephanie Lopez
Stephanie is a Rio Grande Valley native who fell into the whirlwind of birding during a bird walk at the National Butterfly Center in 2015.
Since then, she has immersed herself in the birds, butterflies and plants of the Tamaulipan Thornscrub.
She seeks to spark curiosity and appreciation for the natural world among everyone she meets.
Michael Marsden
Michael has been an avid birder since childhood in England but decided, for reasons that now escape him, on a career in law. Meeting Donna Knox at a birding festival, however, changed all that and in 1996 he gave up his post as Solicitor General to the Cayman Islands Government to start a second career as a birding guide.
Michael and Donna moved initially to Cayman House in Rockport, then to the San Pedro River Inn and Paton Birders’ Haven in SE Arizona and are now happily back in Texas: this time in San Benito near Harlingen, an ideal base for Michael’s interest in the wildlife and history of the Rio Grande Valley and Texas Coastal Bend.
As well as customized birding tours for individuals and groups, Michael also guides for Naturalist Journeys (www.naturalistjourneys.com) and has led tours to the United Kingdom, Mexico, Belize, Costa Rica, Panama, Jamaica and Cuba
Patrick Maurice
Patrick Maurice was born and raised in Atlanta, Georgia and graduated from the University of Georgia with a Wildlife Science degree in 2021. Patrick is a lifelong birder thanks to his mother and has birded extensively across the United States and around the world.
His earliest birding memory was seeing Georgia’s first state record Yellow-billed Loon when he was 5 years old. Patrick currently works as a guide for Natural Habitat Adventures and regularly guides for other birding festivals such as the Biggest Week, Georgia Birdfest, and the Southeast Arizona Birding Festival.
Patrick spent two seasons at hawkwatches and enjoys observing and photographing migrating raptors. He also loves participating in big days and is part of the team that set Georgia’s big day record in 2021.
When Patrick isn’t traveling or birding, you can find him back at his college hometown of Athens, Georgia, thinking about his next big trip, enjoying a good sour beer, or playing and watching a soccer game.
Anne Mayville
I am a local birder in the Rio Grande Valley, a Texas Master Naturalist and connected with the Birding Festival for fourteen years. I have given several talks on Specialty Birds of the Rio Grande Valley and would love to show you our specialty birds that everyone comes to see.
Michael McCloy
Michael has been an avid birder since the age of five. His birding travels have taken him to over 40 countries on five continents, as well as to 49 US states.
Originally from North Carolina, he completed his PhD in Ecology & Evolutionary Biology at Texas A&M University and has a special fondness for birding in the Rio Grande Valley. His doctoral research focused on the effects of changing weather patterns on songbird populations in coastal Texas.
He has guided at the RGVBF since 2021 and thoroughly enjoys teaching and sharing his passion for birds with others and strives to make each of his trips a fun, educational, and memorable experience for all participants.
Michael now resides in the Washington, DC metropolitan area and looks forward to returning to south Texas for the festival each November
Brad McKinney
Brad McKinney began birding during the winter of 1987-88, an exciting year in which many Mexican rarities were recorded in South Texas.
His passion for birds has led to numerous birding trips across North America, Mexico, Central and South America, and Hawaii. Brad currently works as a tour leader for Victor Emanuel Nature Tours and has led tour in Alaska, Canada, Texas, and Costa Rica.
Brad has served on the Texas Bird Records Committee and co-authored A Birder’s Guide to the Rio Grande Valley. He received his degree in biology at the University of Texas at Austin and a master’s degree in marine ecology at the University of Texas at Brownsville (now UT-RGV).
Brad’s other interests include nature photography, surfing, snowboarding, and scuba diving. He lives at South Padre Island, Texas with his wife Janette and their two dogs.
Isidro Montemayor Jr
Isidro Montemayor Jr is a Valley native from La Paloma, TX who has enjoyed nature his entire life.
Throughout his adult career Isidro has been a Park Ranger and Educator in Texas, Oregon, and Alaska teaching students about the area's native flora and fauna.
His interest in birds steadily grew from his travels, and now Isidro spends his time birding throughout the Valley.
Madison Nadler
I’ve loved animals since I was a kid and have been involved in a variety of wildlife-related projects over the years. I’m originally from southern Ohio and obtained a BS in biology from Wittenberg University.
I made my way to South Texas in 2021 for a seasonal technician position with the East Foundation where I was formally introduced to the world of birds. Later that year, I started my master’s thesis at UTRGV studying wildlife road mitigation structures. I’ve conducted a variety of reptile, amphibian, fish, bird, and mammal surveys including projects studying spotted turtles, box turtles, Kirtland’s snakes, Texas tortoises, water snakes, northern goshawks, red-shouldered hawks, Kirtland’s warblers, American kestrels, ocelots, and bats.
I’m happy to share my wildlife knowledge and am always eager to learn something new. In my free time I enjoy scuba diving, surfing, bouldering, reading, and volunteering with bird banding.
Michael O'Brien
Michael O’Brien is a naturalist, author, artist, and leader for Victor Emanuel Nature Tours living in Cape May, New Jersey.
He has a passionate interest in bird vocalizations and field identification, and a serious addiction to migration and nocturnal birding. His travels have taken him throughout North and Central America and beyond.
At home in Cape May, Michael serves as an Associate Naturalist with Cape May Bird Observatory for whom he conducts numerous workshops, and, for many years, conducted a fall songbird migration count.
He is co-author of The Shorebird Guide, Flight Calls of Migratory Birds, and America’s 100 Most Wanted Birds, and is primary author of Larkwire, an online and handheld application for learning bird sounds.
His illustrations have been widely published including in National Geographic’s Field Guide to the Birds of North America and the new Peterson field guides.
Michael also has an intense interest in butterflies and leads several “Birds & Butterflies” tours with his wife, Louise Zemaitis.
Erik Ostrander
Erik started birding in the Pacific Northwest, where he and his wife, Hannah, spent weekends exploring the national wildlife refuges, state parks, and ocean shores.
He followed Hannah’s career bringing them to the Rio Grande Valley in Texas then Florida and now back to Cannon Beach, OR, where they spend their time looking for puffins, guillemots, and more while hosting their podcast: Hannah and Erik Go Birding.
Through their podcast, they share their birding adventures and work to expand birding and wildlife viewing around the world.
They travel as much as possible and Erik obsessively eBirds along the way. Erik is passionate about inspiring new birders.
Nathan Pieplow
Nathan Pieplow is the author of the Peterson Field Guide to Bird Sounds, published in two volumes, one for Eastern and one for Western North America. An avid bird sound recordist, he is the author of the bird sound blog Earbirding.com, a board member of the Bird Conservancy of the Rockies, an author of the Colorado Birding Trail, and former editor of the journal Colorado Birds. He teaches writing and rhetoric at the University of Colorado in Boulder.
Randy Pinkston
Randy is a Texas native who came of age as a birder on the UTC. His passion for birds began with his father and waterfowl hunting as far back as he can remember, and later a larger passion for birding when he received a Peterson Texas guide as a Christmas gift in 1971. A proud Aggie, he received a bachelor’s in wildlife science in 1978 and a medical degree in 1989. Randy and his wife of 40 years—Patricia—have four grown sons and have lived off-and-on in Bell County since 1987 where Randy practices as an ENT surgeon. They also enjoy frequent visits to their second home in the beautiful Davis mtns of west Texas. Randy is a TOS life member and remembers meeting Edgar Kincaid and Ted Parker at a TOS meeting in n-c. Texas in the late 1970s. He served as chairman of the TOS Bird Records Committee for 17 years, retiring in 2019.
Brooke Poplin
Brooke Poplin is a graduate student from the University of North Texas pursuing her Biology M.S. For her master’s thesis, she is studying the social behavior of Harris’s Hawks in the Rio Grande Valley using VHF radio transmitters in conjunction with direct behavioral observations.
Brooke has been interested in ornithology since her early undergrad days as she became involved with multiple avian research projects in north Texas. Perhaps, the most exciting were studies on the behavior of the American Kestrel and breeding ecology of the Painted Bunting.
Her ultimate career goal is to pursue a career as a raptor biologist, one day becoming a professor to help inspire diversity in the world of ecology.
Michael Retter
Michael L. P. Retter is Editor of North American Birds and Special Issues Editor of Birding—both magazines produced by the American Birding Association. He is also author of the ABA Field Guide to Birds of Illinois and the upcoming Princeton University Press Photographic Guide to Birds of Mexico, Guatemala, and Belize. Originally from central Illinois, Michael is an avid gardener and now splits his time between homes in Fort Worth, Texas and Santa Fe, New Mexico
Eric Ripma
Eric enjoys sharing his enthusiasm and knowledge, especially about identification, with birders of all ages and experience levels.
After beginning birding at the age of ten in Indianapolis, Indiana, he birded every chance he had throughout his childhood. Birding has led him from spectacular migratory hotspots in the Great Lakes region to the Pacific coast and beyond. Eric has also spent time birding in many tropical locations throughout Central and South America. He has worked for numerous bird-related projects including bird banding in the United States and Belize, monitoring breeding Caspian Terns in Oregon, counting migrating waterbirds at Whitefish Point, Michigan, and conducting shorebird surveys on Louisiana’s barrier islands.
He is currently a guide for Sabrewing Nature Tours, leading tours throughout North, Central, and South America.
Ryan Rodriguez
Ryan is a birder based in McAllen, Texas and has been interested in birds and nature since toddlerhood. He is homeschooled allowing for him to be out in the field a lot. Ryan also enjoys looking for butterflies, dragonflies, snakes, and much more!
Brooke Ross
Brooke Ross grew up in New Jersey and moved down to San Antonio, TX in 2019. She works as a Senior Animal Care Specialist in Aviculture at San Antonio Zoo, where she works with over 100 species of birds from around the world. One of her primary roles is hand rearing a variety of species of chicks, including Palm Cockatoos, American Flamingos, Guam Kingfishers (a species extinct in the wild), and many more. In addition to basic husbandry, she leads team projects, assists in medical treatment for birds, and provides private tours for zoo guests.
In 2019, before moving south, Brooke graduated from Juniata College in Pennsylvania with her B.S. in Wildlife Conservation and a minor in Psychology. She has been passionate about birds her entire life, but college is where she fell in love with birding.
When not working at the zoo, Brooke spends most of her free time birding, but also enjoys jogging, kickboxing, reading, scrapbooking, and trying new adventurous activities. The 2024 RGV Birding Festival will be her first time guiding. She is excited to not only share her knowledge, but to continue to learn and grow as a birder and guide.
Bill Sain
Bill Sain has birded all over the US as well as Central and South America over the last 25 years. Bill has served as a director and/or officer of a number of birding- and conservation-related organizations including Bexar Audubon Society (the National Audubon Chapter in the San Antonio area) where he served as Outings Chair, Treasurer, and President.
He helped found the Texas Audubon Society and the Master Naturalist program and served 6 years on the board of the American Birding Association.
In addition to leading field trips for Bexar Audubon, Bill has led birding trips for the Davis Mountain Hummingbird Celebration, Rio Grande Valley Birding Festival, and Birding the Border Festival as well as kayak trips for the Northern Virginia Conservation Trust.
Derek Sallmann
Derek Sallmann started birding in 2014 after he and his brother watched the movie "The Big Year," and he's been hooked ever since. He graduated with a biology degree from Wisconsin Lutheran College and earned his MS in Marine Biology from Nicholls State University in Louisiana. During his time in the south, he was involved in bird research, which included filming and sometimes assisting in the banding of Least Terns, Black Skimmers, Royal Terns, and more.
Derek runs the YouTube channel Badgerland Birding with his brother Ryan, dedicated to teaching people about birds and birding and highlighting what a fun hobby it can be. Content on the channel includes tips on beginner birding, identification, birding festivals, and birding adventures across the United States and in other countries. They've recently expanded their content by launching the Badgerland Birding Podcast, featuring long-form discussions with prominent birders.
In addition to his work online, Derek leads birding tours around the state of Wisconsin, where he shares his knowledge and passion with others in person, and sometimes guides in other states as well.
Ryan Sallmann
Ryan first became interested in birds when he watched the movie "The Big Year" while he was in college. After learning that the hobby of birding existed he jumped right in, learning as much as possible and acquiring as many unique birding experiences as he could.
After a number of years of birding, he created the YouTube channel Badgerland Birding with his brother Derek. This channel eventually blossomed into a full business including public speaking appearances, podcasts, a website, and videos (many of which feature the Rio Grande Valley). Ryan also does guiding for Badgerland Birding in his home state of Wisconsin
Willie Sekula
I am a 2nd generation native Texan of Polish decent. I have lived most of my life in Wilson County near the Karnes County line. I’ve been birding for close to 50 years. I became interested in birds in high school. I’ve birded in various parts of the U.S., Canada and Mexico. I’ve also birded in Asia (India,Thailand & Taiwan). I’ve also birded South Africa and Poland. I have made several birding trips to South America (Ecuador, Peru, Colombia, Brazil & Bolivia).
I’ve birded the San Antonio area extensively along with the Coastal Bend & South Texas. I’ve been a sub-regional (Central & South Texas) along with regional editor for North American Birds (American Birds) for 25+ years. I also serve on the Texas Bird Records Committee. I have been a field trip leader for the Rio Grande Valley Birding Festival 20+ years. I’ve also been a field trip leader for ABA meetings.
I’ve been particularly passionate about shorebirds, gulls and Neotropical migrants. I’ve worn out at least four vehicles over the decades looking for shorebirds at Mitchell Lake, chasing migrant birds along the coast and going to landfills!! I’ve made annual pilgrimages to West Texas especially in the fall and winter. All in all - I LOVE BIRDS! Falls City, Texas
Mike Stewart
Mike became interested in birds in 2002 when a pair of Blue Jays nested outside his kitchen window. He has spent the past 20 years birding primarily in the eastern U.S. and in Texas.
He retired from the Army in 2019 and attended The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley where he completed a MS in Biology studying Gray Hawks.
He has since moved to Alice, Texas, where he is a PhD student at Texas A&M University- Kingsville.
Mike is continuing his research with Gray Hawks and is involved with banding additional raptor species along with songbirds.
He lives with his wife, Yvette, and their Green-cheeked Conure, Greenlee. In his spare time he enjoys birding close to home and participating in two banding programs run by the Institute for Bird Populations.
Yvette Stewart
Yvette Stewart joined Audubon Texas in 2018. As the Community Outreach Coordinator, her priority project is Texas Leaders in Conservation, a career-focused conservation science and service program for high school students in Dallas, Galveston, and San Antonio.
Yvette comes to Audubon Texas with a degree in Wildlife and Conservation Biology from the University of Rhode Island and has recently attained her Master of Education in Curriculum and Instruction from The University of Texas at Arlington.
Yvette is a former AmeriCorps service member, a passionate birder, and a lover of all creatures, from tiny spiders to soaring eagles.
Yvette is most happy when she’s helping people to learn and grow in the great outdoors!
Janice Travis
Janice began her passion for nature at a young age with curious exploration of her Michigan backyard and nearby woodland.
She always had a variety of field guides to study birds, wildflowers, reptiles, rocks and insects. Janice discovered her true passion for birding in an undergrad ornithology class at Eastern University in Pennsylvania; she went on to complete her master’s degree in Biology with concentration in ecology at University of North Florida.
She married a United States Marine, which gave her the opportunity to live and bird across the United States. She has also taken advantage of every travel opportunity to bird new places like Japan, Belize and Panama. Janice is currently Tour Supervisor and a bird and nature tour guide at King Ranch in Kingsville, TX.
Rene Valdes
Rene is a field ornithologist specialized in endangered species research and conservation. He consults on wildlife surveys for wind and solar energy companies; leads birding tours all over in Mexico, and he is a wildlife photographer. When not birding (rarely happens), reviews eBird records and hotspots for some northern states in Mexico; also organizes the 'eBird-Mexico', 'Mexico Rare Bird Alert', and '¿Cual es esta Ave?' Facebook groups. He is based in Mazatlan, in western Mexico, where runs his own company Mexico Birding Tours; however, he has been tour leader for other international agencies in the past such as Bird Quest, and starting in 2023 he also is the tour leader for all of the Mexico trips for ORNIS Birding Expeditions
Raymond Van Buskirk
Raymond’s love for the natural world was born in the pine forests of the Land of Enchantment. He is 33 years young and a native New Mexican.
He’s spent much of his professional life following his dreams of creating a career based around birding. Raymond is a senior leader for WINGS Birding Tours Worldwide where he leads engaging birding tours all across this beautiful planet. Additionally he co-owns and operates BRANT Nature Tours, a New-Mexico-based nature travel company with a strong commitment to both environmental and social justice.
His career experience includes multiple ornithological field research positions, including two summers as a seabird research technician on the Arctic Ocean, head Rosy-Finch researcher with Rio Grande Bird Research Inc., past president of the Central New Mexico Audubon Society, board member of Western Field Ornithologists, ABA young birding camp instructor, and birding specialist for Leica Sport Optics. Raymond is a proud member of QBNA, the continent’s informal club for LGBTQIA+ members of the birding community.
Angelina Vasquez
My name is Angelina Vasquez, and this will be my third year guiding at the Rio Grande Valley Birding Festival. I'm born and raised in the Valley and have been birding for over 5 years now.
I've worked at McAllen Nature Center and am currently a wildlife biologist at LandHawk Consulting LLC and a guide at Frontera Audubon in Weslaco. I have my bachelor's from Texas A&M in Ecological Restoration, and I am pursuing my master's with UTRGV with that same focus.
Ron Weeks
Ron Weeks lives in Lake Jackson, TX with his wife of 35 years, Irenna Garapetian.
Ron is a past president of the Texas Ornithological Society, a former member of the Texas Bird Records Committee, and a current advisory board member of the Gulf Coast Bird Observatory. He has been a sub-regional editor for North American Birds, a Christmas Bird Count compiler, and an eBird reviewer for many years.
Ron has co-authored two books about Texas birds, A Birder’s Guide to the Texas Coast and Birdlife of Houston, Galveston and the Upper Texas Coast. He also enjoys planning Big Days having organized teams that set the national record of 258 species in 2001 and the fossil fuel free (bike and foot only) national record of 193 species in 2015.
And his most recent obsession has been studying the migration by recording nocturnal migrants flying over his yard.
Ron recently retired from the Dow Chemical Company in Freeport, TX to spend more time birding, working out, and supporting local ministry work.
John Yochum
I arrived in Harlingen on Thanksgiving Day 2006 and have been thankful ever since. I have come to thoroughly appreciate South Texas plants, dragonflies, butterflies, mammals, herps, and of course BIRDS, especially those we know as specialties, found primarily in South Texas in the US. I started off my new career as a Bentsen State Park Ranger then, and now continue that role at Estero Llano Grande State Park. I definitely still feel retired even though I get a paycheck, since this is what I’d be doing for free anyway!
Louise Zemaitis
Louise Zemaitis is an artist and naturalist living in Cape May, New Jersey where she is a popular field trip leader teaching birding workshops as an Associate Naturalist with New Jersey Audubon’s Cape May Bird Observatory.
Farther afield, she travels extensively leading for Victor Emanuel Nature Tours and at birding festivals where she is known for her enthusiasm for all natural history subjects.
Louise and her husband, Michael O’Brien, have been guiding young birders at birding events and camps for many years. In addition to leading, Louise is long time coordinator of the Monarch Monitoring Project in Cape May and proprietor of Swallowtail Studio.
An honors graduate of Temple University's Tyler School of Art, she enjoys working as a freelance artist and her illustrations have been widely published.
