Learn-the-Birds

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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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Wesley Gush

Wesley Gush is a keen birder, ornithologist and nature enthusiast. He has a Masters in Conservation Biology from the University of Cape Town, and has spent time working on wildlife reserves in his home province of the Eastern Cape, as well as abroad in Zimbabwe and the USA. He currently sits on the management committee for Amakhala Game Reserve. Wesley has published research on Brown Hyena and Rudd's Lark, but his current focus is on better understanding the potential threat of climate change on the Secretarybird. He is also a sports fanatic and partial to a good Eggs Benedict.
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Diego Emmanuel Oscar

Diego Emmanuel Oscar grew up in the lands of the threatened Pampas Meadowlark, south of Buenos Aires, and since he was a child, he’s Diegohad a close relationship with birds and the natural world in general. He spent his childhood in the rolling grasslands of southwest Buenos Aires and the Costero del Sur Park forest, where part of his family lived. Undoubtedly, birds have been part of his life since childhood. Apart from this, it is his source of work, which he does with great enthusiasm. He has travelled all over the country birding, but the Atlantic Forest and the pampas are his favourite regions for spending time in the countryside. There, he tries to bring people closer to Argentine birdlife by discovering every corner of the country, not only the birds but also its gastronomy, towns, and people.
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Iain Campbell

Iain grew up in Australia and spent his early adult life in Africa and South America looking for gold. After the epiphany, he moved to Ecuador, built Tandayapa Bird Lodge and co-founded Tropical Birding Tours. When not guiding, he is doing an ecology doctorate at the University of New South Wales. He has written A Photographic Guide to Birds of Australia, Habitats Of The World: A Field Guide for Birders, Naturalists, and Ecologists and has completed habitats guides for Africa, North America, Australia, and Europe.
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Lancy Cheng

Lancy Cheng is an ornithologist with HX Hurtigruten Expeditions. He loves everything with feathers, especially gulls. With this passion, he chose to live in St. John’s, Newfoundland, the “Capital of Kumlien’s gull” in North America. He spends most of his time in the woods, by the lake or on the beach, looking for and studying birds. If not out birding, he says he would stay home with his little girl, Vega. Yes, she is a cat, and, yes, her name is from Vega gull.
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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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Benny Isaac Jacobs-Schwartz

Benny Isaac Jacobs-Schwartz Benny Isaac Jacobs-Schwartz owns and operates a bird-guiding business and lifestyle brand called BIRDS by BIJS (pronounced Bee-jus). With a background in biology, ecology, and outdoor education, Benny has worked for over 13 years as a naturalist guide, expedition trip leader, and international bird guide. Benny offers guided birding outings in Southern California and small-group birding tours to his favorite tropical locales like Costa Rica, Ecuador, and Colombia. Benny is a passionate educator and photographer, specializing in birds! Benny is active on social media where he creates fun, educational videos and posts to inspire others about the natural world with the goal of getting folks to put down their phone and pick up their Binos.
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Nicholas Newman

Nicholas Newman is a passionate and accomplished birder whose interest in birds and their behaviour was inspired by his father’s work in the field. At the helm of the Newman family business , Nick is committed to growing the community of birders via Kenneth Newman’s iconic stable of well-loved birding reference tools. With the mission to get more people into birding, Nicholas has recently launched Newman’s latest title Birds By Colour for the easy identification of birds. It is aimed at new & beginner birders, as well as anyone with a little more experience who struggle with bird identification. The hope of this book is to educate people on bird identification principles using colour, size shape and habitat. The book also hopes to educate people on how birds use their colour and the environmental challenges facing our beloved feathered friends.
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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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