Download 2014 Brochure (.pdf) - Ornitholidays

O U R T E A M O F L E A D E R S
Our Team of Leaders
MARK AYRE lives on the South Island of New Zealand and has been a
keen birder for most of his life. He is originally from the UK, where he
worked as a warden on various bird reserves. Mark is very active in the
local Royal Forest and Bird Protection Societies and is particularly involved
in the conservation management of the endangered Mohua (Yellowhead).
He has led our tour to New Zealand for the past ten years.
SIMON BOYES was brought up and learnt his birds in the Cotswolds. He
graduated in Classics (helpful for scientific names of birds!) from Oxford
University in 1974, and took his Master's Degree in Environmental
Conservation in Edinburgh. Before leaving college he had already travelled
round Kenyan and Tanzanian game parks, overland to India and round
Scandinavia. In 1976 he worked for the RSPB as a summer warden on
Fetlar and at Minsmere. In 1977 Ornitholidays invited him to co-lead a tour
to the Seychelles, which turned out to be the first of many international
tours. Since then he has become one of Ornitholidays' principal leaders
and has now led over 300 tours to all seven continents. There can be few
bird tour leaders in the world that rival Simon’s knowledge of world birds.
He is especially interested in bird-song and taxonomy; and his other
interests include swimming, snorkelling, wildlife gardening, cricket and
playing the mandolin. He lives with his family in the Welsh borders.
COLIN BUSHELL is a principal leader for Ornitholidays and has been a
birdwatcher for over 30 years. Birding has taken Colin to many different
parts of the world - throughout Europe and North Africa, Gambia, Thailand,
India and Nepal: but it is the Neotropics that hold a particular fascination
for him. Travels over the last 15 years have taken him to Chile, Colombia,
Panama, Ecuador, Venezuela, Brazil, Bolivia and many trips to his favourite
country - Peru. Colin has visited Manu and the north of Peru on many
occasions. He is an enthusiastic student of bird vocalisation - a very useful
skill in the tropical Americas where bird diversity is immense.
KUEN-DAR CHIANG has been the co-leader for our last two tours to
Taiwan. He has been a licensed tour guide and tour leader since 2006 and
has led over 30 tours. He has close ties with the Wild Bird Society of Taipei.
He has a good knowledge of where to find all the island’s endemics and
he is a master at finding the best restaurants for eating Chinese banquets!
TREVOR CODLIN is an ecological consultant and is one of the leading
exponents of digiscoping – using a telescope to take digital photos. During
the past few years he has led a number of tours within Europe and was a
very popular leader on our recent spring tours to Spain and Turkey.
RICHARD COOMBER has been associated with Ornitholidays for over 40
years as in 1968, as a young bank clerk on the Isles of Scilly, he showed
Lawrence Holloway and one of our early groups to the islands an Upland
Sandpiper that he had discovered on St. Mary’s. By 1974 he had given up
banking to run a guesthouse on the Isle of Mull, where in 1976 he hosted
our first tour to the island. On moving back to the south in the 1980s he
joined the Ornitholidays team and has now led over 250 tours covering all
seven continents, visiting over 50 countries watching birds and wildlife. He
is a past winner of the Dusk to Dawn section of the BBC Wildlife
Photographer of the Year competition and willingly shares his knowledge
of digital photography with clients on tour. In addition to birds and
photography he is interested in other aspects of wildlife, especially flora,
butterflies and moths. When not on tour he gives illustrated talks to RSPB
and other groups. He now lives near the New Forest in Hampshire where
he is an active member of the Hampshire Moth Group.
DOBROMIR DOMUSCHIEV is Bulgarian and his interest in birds and
wildlife began when he was a child. His love of birds and nature is the
reason for his involvement in their conservation and he is working on a
number of environmental projects. His true wish is to make the Bulgarian
people believe that sustainable tourism is a real alternative to poverty and
quick intensive depletion of natural resources in the beautiful countryside
of his home country. Beside his native Bulgarian, Dobromir also speaks
English and Russian. He loves leading birdwatching tours, as this not only
gives him the opportunity to spend more time with nature, but also to meet
people and share his passion.
TREVOR ELLERY is originally from the UK and he spent four years guiding
and conducting bird surveys across Israel before gaining his first taste of
Neotropical birding when he first visited Ecuador. Based out of the famous
Tandayapa valley he spent 18 months birding and guiding throughout the
country. In 2008 he moved to Colombia where he has combined guiding
with investigation and exploration work for the conservation NGO ProAves.
He has made return visits to Ecuador and more recently has made several
extensive birding trips to Peru. He has co-led several of our recent
Colombia tours. He is a keen sound-recordist and occasional
photographer.
Rufous-tailed Jacamar, REGUA, Brazil
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For a previous tour report or further information please call: 01794 519445