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Elizabeth Szekeres

Elizabeth SzekeresElizabeth Szekeres (pronounced Sek-e-resh, all of the e's are short) is a geographer with a Master’s Degree in Environmental Studies. Born in England, she grew up in Canada with parents who were great walkers and nature lovers. Elizabeth was a free-range child, living close to the north shore of Lake Ontario. Rattray Marsh, the last intact wetland in the Greater Toronto Area, was her playground. Since Elizabeth retired from full time work in 2017, she has spent a lot of time traveling the globe to explore the natural world and observe birds. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, she visited New Zealand, Southern Africa, Hungary, Spain, Ecuador, California, Oregon, The Galápagos Islands, Costa Rica, Newfoundland, Baja California, Mexico and the Sea of Cortez. Once lockdowns were over, she returned to travel, visiting Newfoundland, and then second visits to New Zealand and Costa Rica. She continued with Antarctica, Iceland, Greenland and Costa Rica again in 2023, and then Belize, Guatemala and southern Alberta in 2024. Elizabeth writes the newsletter for her local naturalists’ club and loves to share her stories and photographs of the birds she observes. She presents regularly for nature clubs and seniors' centres in the Greater Toronto Area, and has been a previous contributor to the Learn The Birds webinar series.
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Etienne Marais

Etienne is one of South Africa's most experienced birders, a veteran guide and has been training birders for 15 years in an array of skills and specialities. He thinks deeply about the experience of birding.
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LO Chun Fai

LO Chun Fai is a birder based in Hong Kong, China. He graduated with a Bachelors degree in Biology and Masters in Environmental Health and Safety. He started birding in 2008 when he was a secondary student. With his passions for birding overseas, and active eBirding, he is one of the reviewers in eBird for the Hong Kong region. Although he is currently a masters student in social science, he is always willing to be your birding-pal in Hong Kong and provide birding information about mainland China.
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Christa Rolls

Christa RollsChrista Rolls is an Avian Ecologist and Conservation Biologist who loves birds and connecting others with their passion for birding. She started her career in avian ecology in Southern Indiana in 2012, and since then has had the opportunity to work on various projects in the Pacific Northwest, Germany, and, currently, California monitoring bird populations and behavior to help inform management decisions. Christa is also on the Board of Directors for Ecostudies Institute, a non-profit organization based in the Pacific Northwest that conserves wildlife and their habitats through science, restoration, and outreach. Most recently, in September 2020, she founded Birding Tools and hosts the Birding Tools Podcast, which breaks down all aspects of beginning birding, from finding the right pair of binoculars to learning how to find birds in the field.
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Lynette Rudman

Lynette was a foundation phase and preschool teacher for 16 years. She currently writes, designs and creates fabric tactile books for blind preschool readers. Her book, Spider’s Web, won an international tactile book competition in 2009. She is passionate about education and teaching novice birders interesting facts about birds, interesting bird behaviour and bird vocalisations. She is an advocate for ethical birding practices and is not afraid to voice her opinion on this matter. In 2018 she received a merit award from the Grahamstown Rotary Club for her contribution to advancing birding in the Grahamstown area as well as the Eastern Cape Province. Having grown up on a farm and being close to nature all her life, she loves to share her passion for the natural world with others on the two Facebook groups that she created, Eastern Cape Birding and Southern African Bird Calls, and on her Youtube channel. Lynette is a keen photographer of wildlife, including birds, as well as macro photographing of insects and spiders.
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Faraaz Abdool

Faraaz Abdool is an internationally published freelance conservation and wildlife photographer/writer who specializes in birds and the issues they face worldwide. He graciously serves on the Trinidad and Tobago Bird Status and Distribution Committee (formerly the Trinidad and Tobago Rare Bird Committee), and leads birding trips on both islands. Faraaz also runs yearly birding and wildlife tours to East Africa. Faraaz is also the author of “Casual Birding in Trinidad & Tobago”, an extensive volume designed to market T&T as an attractive and easy birding destination as well as to educate the local population about their avian cohabitants. Faraaz cultivates wildlife consciousness via his words and images, in a last-ditch attempt to reconnect humans with nature and save the world.
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Dr Derek W. Keats

Derek was biology professor for over 20 years, and discovered several species new to science (not birds, alas), and even has a species named after him. His studies have encompassed ecology, systematics and phylogeny, as well as technology in education. He has published around 80 academic papers, and more than 100 magazine articles in which he has brought science and nature to lay persons. He has also been a university Deputy Vice Chancellor, held various technology roles in university and business, and is a technology geek. Derek is an accomplished nature photographer on land and under water, with his photos appearing in over 20 books, hundreds of magazines, several mobile apps, and museum exhibits. Today he works in FinTech, but prefers to spend time photographing birds  and unravelling their stories so he can re-tell them to humans. He is co-founder and looks after the technology and arrangements for Learn-the-Birds.
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Keith Barnes

Keith Barnes, an owner of Tropical Birding, has birded Africa and the world far and wide. When the pandemic tried to stop him, he worked on a fieldguide to Greater Southern Africa, including Zambia, Malawi and Mozambique. Join us to learn more about it.
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Faansie Peacock

Fansie Peacock holding one of his paintings. lives and breathes birds, as his name suggests. Faansie started birding at the age of five and has been trying to quit for 35 years. It doesn’t look like that’s going to happen anytime soon, so now he makes a living as what he calls ‘a professional birder’. He has authored and illustrated a number of books on southern African birds, including the acclaimed Chamberlain’s Waders and Chamberlain’s LBJs - specialist books on the identification and biology of these challenging families. Inspired by his sons’ wonder at the world around them, he produced Faansie’s Bird Book - A fully fledged field guide for kids: a guide to 722 species, aimed at introducing young minds to the wonders of the avifaunal world. He served as editor for the Eskom Red Data Book of Birds of South Africa, Lesotho and Swaziland. In addition, he has penned numerous magazine articles (including a long-standing column in Weg/Go! magazine) as well as scientific papers. Peacock contributed illustrations of seabirds, nightjars and the Ground Woodpecker cover art for the latest edition of Sasol Birds of Southern Africa. He is also the illustrator for the upcoming Larks of the World (Bloomsbury) and recently tried his hand at mammal illustrations - bats and lemurs - for The Handbook of the Mammals of the World (Lynx Edicions). He was previously employed as Curator of Birds at the Ditsong National Museum of Natural History, serves on the South African National Rarities Commitee, was part of the first team to see 300 species in 24 hours in SA, and is a recipient of a BirdLife South Africa Owl Award. He loves telling stories about birds and has spoken to thousands of people on more than thirty topics, amongst which are ‘The Blind Birder’, ‘The Kinky Sex Life of Birds’, live art demonstrations and even bird-related stand-up comedy. Faansie has birded in Madagascar, Thailand, Spain, Australia, Israel, Brazil, Malawi and lots of other prime birding locations but his favourite spot is West Coast National Park. In fact, he lives within walking distance of the park in the town of Langebaan. Faansie and his wife Ronél, and their two sons (both of whom are named after birds) share their garden with rain frogs, tortoises, a fox, and, of course, plenty of awesome birds! He knows virtually nothing about sports.
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