Our Experts

David Adams

Pinellas County Utilities

DAVID S. ADAMS, P.G., is the Hydrogeology Manager for Pinellas County Utilities Engineering, in charge of the Cross Bar Ranch wellfield.

Steve Aversa

Field Trip Leader

STEVE AVERSA has been a member of Clearwater Audubon for the past six years. He started and developed a keen interest in birding in the late 90's while working in international development in East and West Africa, then relocated to Largo in 2013. He regularly birds many of the parks in Pinellas County.

Nicole Barber

Festival Expert

Mary Barnwell

Land Manager

MARY BARNWELL has been an environmental land manager for over 30 years, working at SWFWMD, Pinellas County, and at Hillsborough County for the last 9 years. She is a restoration ecologist responsible for planning, implementing and monitoring several large restoration projects over her career. She has also worked with Florida scrub-jays, Whooping Cranes, Burrowing Owls, neotropical migrants and resident songbirds, Gopher Tortoises, Florida black bears and various herpetofauna.

Tom & Lindsay Bell

Advanced Florida Master Naturalists

TOM and LINDSAY BELL are retired physicians who enjoy traveling the world and learning about the amazing wildlife and natural history of our beautiful planet. They are both graduates of the University of Florida's Advanced Master Naturalist Program and are very passionate about discovering Nature's wonders and sharing their environmental advocacy with others.

Travis Blunden

Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission

TRAVIS BLUNDEN works for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) as the coordinator for Wings Over Florida. Prior to this he held other positions within the land management section of FWC, first as a biologist and then as the Northeast Region’s Conservation Biologist. He has worked with many different species including Florida Scrub-Jays, Kestrels, Red-cockaded Woodpeckers, Florida mice, and gopher tortoises. He received his master’s degree in Wildlife Ecology from the University of Florida in 2010. Travis and his wife, Claire (who also works for FWC), live in Tallahassee. An experienced naturalist, Travis enjoys being outside and sharing the natural world with others, especially his young daughter.

Raoul Boughton

Field Trip Leader

DR. RAOUL BOUGHTON is a wildlife ecologist, physiologist, and disease biologist, with interests in population regulation and wildlife conservation. His career in wildlife started with the Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union as the manager of the Barren Grounds Bird Observatory for 7 years, after completing an Environmental Resources Bachelor of Applied Science from University of New England, Australia, in 1992. In 2000 he completed his PhD at the University of Memphis, and was funded by two post-doctoral fellowships, the National Science Foundation and the Morris Animal Foundation, to understand the influence of habitat and fragmentation on the prevalence of Eastern Equine Encephalitis, West Nile Virus, and St Louis Virus, in 40 populations of Florida Scrub-Jays. He studied avian malaria and filarial nematodes and their influences on reproduction and population as the Director of the Disease Ecology Program at the Archbold Biological Station. From 2014 to 2020 as wWildlife Ecologist Rangeland Scientist at the University of Florida IFAS Range Cattle Research and Education Center, where he studied the interactions of invasive species (wild pigs), wildlife, and domestic cattle and promoted the conservation of endangered and threatened species. Since 2020 as Lead Ecologist for The Mosaic Company, he directs wildlife mitigation and conservation research programs for Florida Burrowing Owl, Eastern Indigo Snake, Florida Scrub-Jay and Gopher Tortoise, and provides technical support for permitting and reclamation activities. He has been a member of the USFWS Recovery Team for Florida Scrub-Jays for over 10 years and been integral in quantifying continual decline of the species and identifying landscapes of highest population viability. He has authored over 100 publications and continues to work with USDA, USFWS and FWC encouraging collaborative research and peer-review publication in his current position.

Jeff Bouton

Kowa Sporting Optics

JEFF BOUTON started his raptor research as a teen at the (then) fledgling Braddock Bay Raptor Research project near Rochester, NY and then spent over a decade conducting seasonal research projects on birds specializing in raptors throughout the United States to include famous migration hotspots like Cape May, New Jersey. He spent the eight years following as a professional bird guide living in Fairbanks, Alaska before moving to Southwest Florida where he has worked as an optics company representative to the birding and nature markets for the past 18 years. He now works for Kowa Sporting Optics and has been very active as a key sponsor and advisor to the Florida Keys Hawkwatch project since 2010.

Carol Cassels

Field Biologist

An avid and experienced birder, CAROL CASSELS has worked for Florida Coastal Islands Sanctuaries (FCIS) as the Seasonal Warden for sixteen years. Ms. Cassels is a field biologist responsible for patrolling the Hillsborough Bay colonial waterbird colonies during the spring and summer nesting season and conducts surveys of nesting species for Audubon. She provides photo-documentation of bird occurrence and is a chemist currently employed by the Florida Department of Health inspecting hazardous liquid holding tanks.

Jason Chilson

Field Trip Leader

JASON CHILSON has worked in the environmental field for over 20 years, including for Hillsborough County’s Conservation Lands and currently for Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission at the Suncoast Youth Conservation Center in Apollo Beach. He is passionate about the outdoors, and his hobbies include traveling, snorkeling, and any type of paddling. He feels we are so fortunate to have so many special natural areas in the Tampa Bay region and he enjoys leading educational tours to these sites.

Chris Cooley

Port Tampa Bay Director of Environmental Affairs

Jim Eager

Professional Birding Guide

After a 35 yr career with BellSouth, JIM EAGER realized his dream of doing field work as a raptor observer for the 2008 Florida Keys HawkWatch Project. As an Avian Field Technician, Jim studied Bachman’s Sparrows on the SE coastal plain of North Carolina, shorebirds/seabirds in east/central Florida and breeding songbirds in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. Jim was also a co-founder and co-coordinator for the rebranded Florida Keys Hawkwatch at Curry Hammock State Park in the Middle Keys. Jim is the Social Media Coordinator and longtime field trip leader for the Space Coast Birding & Wildlife Festival and the Brevard Nature Alliance. Jim also is a field trip leader for the Florida Birding & Nature Festival, Biggest Week in American Birding, and the Everglades Birding Festival. Jim is a board member of the Florida Ornithological Society (FOS), Merritt Island Wildlife Association (MIWA) and Associate Editor (for bird distribution), FOS "Florida Field Naturalist". Jim also owns Obsessive Compulsive Birding, specializing in guided trips in and around Central Florida.

• Website

Meghan Ehlers

Festival Expert

Mike Elswick

Field Trip Leader

MIKE ELSWICK is a USF graduate lifelong Floridian, naturalist and land manager. He and his team focus on the fundamentals of conservation land management and nature based recreation. Their business is to apply prescribed fire, control invasive species, and provide safe and easy access to some of the most beautiful areas remaining in Manatee County.

Charlie Fisher

Birder

CHARLIE FISHER has been an active birder for almost 16 years, ever since he took on a new client in his CPA practice who introduced him to the joys of bird identification in advance of a family summer beach trip to Sanibel. One trip to the Ding Darling NWR with bins and a field guide was all it took. Charlie got home, registered for the 2003 Florida Nature and Birding Festival, signed up for eBird, threw out his golf clubs and has been off in the field ever since.

Donald Fraser

Field Trip Leader

A retired wildlife biologist, DON FRASER moved from Ontario, Canada to Pinellas Co. in 2016. As a teenager he developed a life-long passion for natural history - particularly birds and butterflies - eventually turning his weekend obsession into a long career as an environmental consultant. His move to Florida has allowed him to return to the hobby side of birding and butterfly study. He is an avid wildlife photographer and has shared over 11,000 observations of insects on iNaturalist. Don has photographed over 130 species of butterflies in Florida and many more throughout North America.

Dave Goodwin

Environmental Educator

DAVE GOODWIN has been birding Florida for over 50 years and currently has the third highest list total for the state. He has served as president of St. Petersburg Audubon and twice for the Florida Ornithological Society. He is a retired teacher who currently works as an environmental educator at Boyd Hill Nature Preserve in St. Petersburg and recently as a consultant monitoring nesting crested caracaras in south central Florida. He is currently a member of the FOS Records Committee which evaluates rare bird records for the state. He also leads birding tours to the Dry Tortugas for Florida Nature Tours.

George L. Heinrich

Wildlife Researcher

GEORGE L. HEINRICH is a field biologist and environmental educator specializing in Florida reptiles. His company, Heinrich Ecological Services, is based in St. Petersburg, Florida and conducts wildlife surveys and research, natural history programming, and nature-based tours. George is currently the Executive Director of the Florida Turtle Conservation Trust.

• Heinrich Ecological Services Website

Clay Henderson

Wildlife and Land Conservationist

CLAY HENDERSON has had a long career as environmental lawyer, educator, and writer. He has served as president of Florida Audubon Society and Florida Trust for Historic Preservation. Until his retirement in 2019, he served as Executive Director of the Institute for Water and Environmental Resilience at Stetson University. He was elected to two terms on the Volusia County Council and served on the Florida Constitution Revision Commission. Henderson is most associated with wildlife and land conservation. He sponsored most of the environmental provisions in Florida's Constitution including the creation of the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and co-authored the Florida Water and Land Legacy Initiative, the largest conservation funding program our nation’s history. He was also a leader in the development of Florida’s signature land acquisition programs including Preservation 2000, Florida Forever, and Florida Communities Trust, and negotiated the acquisition of over 300,000 acres of conservation lands. His book "Forces of Nature" (University Press of Florida) is an environmental history of Florida, and winner of the 2023 Stetson Kennedy Book Award. His newest book, "Audubon’s Birds of Florida," chronicles John James Audubon’s Florida expedition of 1831-32. Henderson has been recognized for his body of work including the national public service award from The Nature Conservancy, lifetime achievement awards from the Marine Resources Council, Florida Trust for Historic Preservation, and Bill Sadowski Memorial Award from the Environment and Land Use Section of the Florida Bar.

Barb and Dave Howard

Florida Master Naturalists

BARB HOWARD is the President of the Friends of the Tampa Bay National Wildlife Refuges and has been with the group since it began in 2005. She is a Florida Master Naturalist graduate, putting the information she learned in the program to good use in various programs for the Refuges.

DAVE HOWARD is a Florida Master Naturalist and Director for the Friends of Tampa Bay National Wildlife Refuges. Duties include public outreach programs and volunteer coordinator working closely with USFWS supporting the three NWRs in Tampa Bay. For the past 10 years Dave and Barb with Friends volunteers have conducted monthly bird surveys, clean-ups, bird rescues, and other activities of support.

• NWR Website

Dr. Dan Huber

University of Tampa

DR. DAN HUBER is a Professor and Chair of Environmental Studies at The University of Tampa who studies the feeding and swimming biomechanics of sharks by investigating relationships between their morphology, behavior, and ecology, and how these factors change over time. Dr. Huber and his colleagues were the first to successfully measure voluntary bite force in free-swimming sharks, which helps with our understanding of feeding ecology and evolution. Dr. Huber has also appeared in over 50 TV shows including National Geographic’s When Sharks Attack.

Dr. Dave Karlen

Benthic Ecology

DR. DAVE KARLEN has nearly 35 years of experience working in the field of Benthic Ecology with expertise in marine invertebrate taxonomy, estuarine ecology and data analysis. Dr. Karlen received his Ph.D. in Biology at the University of South Florida in 2010 and holds a B.S. and M.S. in Biological Oceanography from the Florida Institute of Technology received in 1991 and 1993 respectively. He has been employed at the Environmental Protection Commission of Hillsborough County since 1994 working with their benthic monitoring program.

Dr. Mary Keith

Festival Board Member

MARY KEITH has been birding most of her life. She grew up in rural Pennsylvania where most weekends were spent in the state parks and woods. She has lived and birded in Florida since 1992. Her degrees have nothing to do with birds (Chemistry and Food Science), but they have supported a life of work around the world where she managed to watch birds as well. She is retired from the University of Florida Extension Service and now has more time to lead bird walks for the Tampa Audubon Society, watch birds, monitor eagle nests and wading bird colonies, and participate in Christmas Bird Counts.

Adam Kent

Florida's Breeding Bird Atlas

An Anhinga sparked ADAM KENT’s passion for birds when he was a little kid. His enthusiasm for the natural world has led to a variety of biologist positions including writing the Peninsular Florida Bird Conservation Region Plan, working as Florida’s first Scrub-Jay Conservation Coordinator, and as a biological consultant. He is a past President of the Florida Ornithological Society and serves on the steering committee for Florida’s second Breeding Bird Atlas. One of Adam’s birding highlights was making recordings that led to the description of a new species of bird in Mexico, the Nava’s Wren. When not working with Florida’s imperiled birds, Adam leads natural history tour leader around the world.

• Florida Ornithological Society

Gina Kent

Avian Research and Conservation Institute

GINA KENT has worked for the Avian Research and Conservation Institute for over 23 years. Whether conducting bird surveys from small planes, boating around the Florida Keys, or climbing up 100-foot tall trees, Gina has worked with many Florida specialty birds including Swallow-tailed Kites, Short-tailed Hawks, Snail Kites, Reddish Egrets, White-crowned Pigeons, Magnificent Frigatebirds and others. She grew up in Wisconsin and attended the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point. Upon graduation she took tech positions on birds, herps, small mammals, and invasive plants from New Mexico to New York and Missouri to Australia. Once hired as a temporary tech on ARCI’s Short-tailed Hawk project, she was hooked on the birds and fieldwork in Florida. She received her master’s at Georgia Southern University on stopover ecology, habitat associations, and parasites of Swallow-tailed Kites. She is now ARCI’s Senior Conservation Scientist.

• ARCI Website

Molly Klinepeter

Festival Expert

Stanley Kroh

Environmental Manager

STANLEY KROH has been the Manager of Land and Stewardship Programs for Tampa Electric Company for the past 16 years. Prior to that, he worked for the Environmental Protection Commission of Hillsborough County where he was involved in wetlands protection. He currently chairs the Hillsborough Greenways Committee and serves as President of the Hillsborough River Watershed Alliance. He is also active on the board of the Learning Gate Community School, a K-8 charter school with an environmental focus. He is a Registered Environmental Manager (REM), a Certified Environmental and Safety Compliance Officer (CESCO) and a Certified Waste Management Professional (CWMP). He has a Bachelor’s degree in Botany and Environmental Horticulture from UF and a Master’s in Public Health in Environmental and Occupational Health from USF.

Nathan LaFata

Tampa Bay Conservancy

NATHAN LaFATA’s passion is working to preserve the natural resources and biodiversity of the Tampa Bay community and beyond. He graduated from West Virginia University with a degree in International Studies, History and Geography. Post-graduation he taught at An Giang University in Vietnam, and served in the Peace Corps in Myanmar. Nathan worked for the West Virginia Land Trust, where he developed an appreciation for the preservation of natural communities through private partnerships. Currently Nathan is a graduate student at the Patel College of Global Sustainability at the University of South Florida, where he is seeking a Master of Science in Water Sustainability and Climate Change. He is also a Board Member of the Tampa Bay Conservancy.

Tim Laman

Wildlife Filmmaker

TIM LAMAN is a field biologist, wildlife photojournalist, and filmmaker. Since getting his Ph.D. from Harvard for pioneering research in Borneo’s rainforest canopy, his cameras have been his tools for telling the stories of rare and endangered wildlife and revealing some of earth’s wildest places. He has photographed on all seven continents, and regularly travels to some of the most remote corners of the earth to explore and document poorly known species. He is most well-known for his long-term work on birds-of-paradise and orangutans. He has published 24 feature stories in National Geographic magazine, as well as worked on natural history films for National Geographic, the BBC, and Netflix. Tim’s work has garnered numerous awards, including the overall prize Wildlife Photographer of the Year in 2016, a 1st place Nature Story from World Press Photo, and the North American Nature Photography Association’s “Nature Photographer of the Year”. Tim is a fellow of the Explorer’s Club and of the International League of Conservation Photographers, as well as the co-founder of the Birds-of-Paradise Project at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.

John Lampkin

Naturalist & Photographer

JOHN LAMPKIN is an avid citizen naturalist and photographer and now retired from a New York music career, he explores and marvels at the Floridian universe with macro lens in hand. His long-range project is to photograph and catalogue the flora and fauna of the Sun City Center Nature Trails. Not coincidentally, as a professional composer his woodwind quintet, "Insects: A Musical Entomology in Six Legs" won the Grand Prize in a Composers Guild international competition. John also constructs crossword puzzles for the New York Times, Wall Street Journal the LA Times and other venues, with many of his puzzles having nature themes. Except for his fascination with bugs and plants, he is totally harmless.

Logan Lane

Tampa Audubon Society

LOGAN LANE has been a member of Tampa Audubon Society since 2015 and was recently elected to the Board of Directors. Logan was born and raised in Tampa, where he currently lives. Logan works as in-house counsel for a financial services firm.

Dan Larremore

State Park Specialist

DAN LARREMORE has been an environmental Specialist for Florida Park Service since 2006, assigned to the North Pinellas island group stationed at Honeymoon Island State Park. His primary areas of responsibility include shorebird nest monitoring, sea turtle nest monitoring, exotic species control, and prescribed fire on Anclote Key Preserve State Park, Caladesi Island State Park, Honeymoon Island State Park, and Egmont Key State Park. He participates in eagle and osprey nest monitoring. Dan has a degree in Environmental Science from the University of South Florida.

Jeff Liechty

Audubon Florida

JEFF LIECHTY began working with terns in the Gulf of Mexico in 2012, first in Louisiana and more recently in the Tampa Bay area on terns and oystercatchers nesting on rooftops in the Tampa Bay area. Currently he is serving Audubon Florida’s Coastal Islands Sanctuaries as Biologist, protecting nesting birds in colonies from Citrus County to northern Charlotte Harbor.

• Audubon Article

Ashley Martin

Field Trip Leader

ASHLEY MARTIN is a Program Coordinator for Hillsborough County Conservation and Environmental Lands department. She was formerly a Park Ranger with the county and fell in love with land management aspects of the job. Prior to her work in Hillsborough County she received her bachelors in History from Eastern Michigan University, and worked in Michigan, Washington DC, North Carolina, and Florida for various Girl Scout councils in their outdoor programming and camps. She enjoys hiking, sand pine ecosystems, fishing, karst landscapes, painting, prescribed fire, and her dogs.

Jim McGinity

Environmental Educator

JIM McGINITY is a biologist and environmental educator with a life-long passion for birds. He started bird watching at the age of seven and has shared his love of birds with people of all ages while working at nature/environmental centers in four different states (Indiana, Michigan, Wisconsin and Florida). He began a migratory bird banding station in Milwaukee and has participated in a number of research and citizen science projects involving birds. In 2011, he began a migratory bird banding station in west central Florida (Dunedin) where he bands for 6 weeks every spring and fall. He is very interested in communicating the importance of native plants and healthy ecosystems to resident and migratory birds, and collaborating with Florida researchers and banders. A native of Indiana, Mr. McGinity has lived in Dunedin for 14 years where he enjoys exploring Florida's natural areas including paddling rivers/streams and bird watching on our beautiful beaches and in Hammock Park.

Dr. Katie McHugh

Senior Scientist

DR. KATHERINE (KATIE) McHUGH is a Senior Scientist and Deputy Program Director employed by the Chicago Zoological Society and based at Mote Marine Laboratory as part of the Sarasota Dolphin Research Program (SDRP), a partnership to engage in dolphin research, education, and conservation action. Katie began studying wild dolphins with the SDRP as a Mote intern in 2000 while completing B.S. and M.S. degrees in Earth Systems at Stanford University. After assisting with small cetacean research in the Bahamas and New Zealand and completing a fellowship working on marine protected area and fisheries management at Environmental Defense, Katie returned to the SDRP as a graduate student researcher in 2004, completing her Ph.D. in animal behavior at the University of California Davis in 2010, focused on juvenile dolphin behavior and the effects of harmful algal blooms on dolphins. Katie has remained with the SDRP working on research aimed at understanding and mitigating adverse human-dolphin interactions, and she is also responsible for overseeing behavioral research as well as coordinating training programs for undergraduate interns and international trainees. Katie also served as an Adjunct Assistant Professor at New College of Florida for several years.

Dr. Mark McRae

University of Tampa

DR. MARK McRAE has taught Vertebrate Zoology at the University of Tampa since 2013. His professional and academic background in zoology has taken him from the Hawaiian Islands, to the Pacific Northwest, to the Gulf of Mexico. His current area of research focuses on the ecology of invasive fishes in central Florida. In 2014, he developed and has since been teaching Field Ornithology at UT.

Dr. Marc Minno

Zoologist and Conservationist

MARC MINNO received a Bachelor’s degree in entomology from Purdue University, a Master’s in entomology from the University of California at Davis, and a Ph.D. in zoology from the University of Florida. He has worked for many years on the conservation of rare plants and butterflies in Florida. Dr. Minno is currently a Water Resources Coordinator with the Suwannee River Water Management District in Live Oak. He has written or co-authored numerous scientific and popular articles on Florida butterflies and moths.

Reinier Munguia

Field Trip Leader

REINIER MUNGUIA dedicates himself entirely to his role as a naturalist and nature photographer, driven by a deep commitment to wildlife conservation. His photography has been featured in a range of publications, spanning books, magazines, and scientific papers. Additionally, Reinier shares his expertise by guiding photography workshops focused on nature and travel, taking enthusiasts to captivating locations like Costa Rica, Panama, Ecuador, and the Galapagos Islands. His substantial efforts revolve around documenting the challenges faced by wildlife in an ever-evolving environment.

Stephen A. Nesbitt

Wildlife Biologist

STEVE NESBITT was a Wildlife Biologist with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission for 35 years. During that time, he worked on cranes, Bald Eagle, Brown Pelican, and other avifauna of Florida publishing over 200 scientific papers on what he found most interesting and noteworthy.

Ann Paul

Festival President

ANN PAUL retired in 2020, having worked for Audubon’s Florida Coastal Islands Sanctuaries since 1991 as the Tampa Bay Regional Coordinator. She has a Bachelor of Science degree in biology from Cornell University in New York and Master of Science degree in biology from Trinity University in Texas. She worked for the Texas Nature Conservancy and Hillsborough County Parks, Recreation and Conservation managing conservation lands. She currently is president of the Florida Ornithological Society, the Florida Birding and Nature Festival, and the Tampa Audubon Society. She has been honored by the Hillsborough County Commission with the “Theodore Roosevelt Hillsborough Forever Conservation” award and by Audubon Florida with the “Guy Bradley Award” in recognition of her lifetime work in avian conservation.

Eric Plage

Tampa Bay Watch

ERIC PLAGE is an Environmental Scientist at Tampa Bay Watch whose focus is primarily on habitat restoration and living shoreline construction. An avid birder since age 7, Eric is extremely familiar with the species that pass through Pinellas County each fall, having recorded 317 species in Pinellas County alone.

Mark Rachal

Audubon Sanctuary Manager

MARK RACHAL has worked for Audubon's Florida Coastal Islands Sanctuaries since 2006 and is currently the Sanctuary Manager. His duties include bird surveys, habitat management, and bird sanctuary conservation. Mark has led shoreline restoration and erosion control projects at the Alafia Bank Bird Sanctuary, Green Key Bird Sanctuary, and Whiskey Stump Key Bird Sanctuary. Mark has a Bachelor of Science degree from Davidson College and conducted graduate work at Eastern Michigan University. Mark participated in the Roseate Spoonbill banding project in Tampa Bay and has surveyed and managed many of the waterbird colonies along the Gulf Coast of Florida. He is a member of the US Fish and Wildlife Service's Reddish Egret Working Group and the American Oystercatcher Working Group.

Christine Rowland

West Pasco Audubon

CHRISTINE ROWLAND has been the president of West Pasco Audubon since 2018. Although she only began birding back in 2018, birding daily in Pasco and surrounding counties and support from many more experienced birders has helped her learn quickly. She is also involved in various citizen science and conservation projects in Pasco County. In October 2021 she initiated a Birding 102 course – where local beginning birders who had already taken an introductory course could come and bird different locations within Pasco each Wednesday morning, helping them to learn more about birds in their habitats.

Dr. Randy Runnels

Aquatic Preserve Manager

DR. RANDY RUNNELS is the Manager of Tampa Bay’s four aquatic preserves, which represent nearly 20% of Florida’s aquatic preserves acreage. He has a PhD in Oceanography from Texas A&M University, and he has worked in most Gulf of Mexico habitats from more northern temperate marshes to coral reefs of the Keys. He also has worked with scientists and coastal managers from a number of countries, and, in recent years, he has served as a coastal management advisor in China and Vietnam.

Holley Short

Audubon Florida

David Simpson

ABA Record Holder

DAVID SIMPSON is a life-long resident of central Florida, where he has been birding for over 25 years. He has over 25 years of experience leading tours, both through previous job as a ranger at the St. Sebastian Buffer Preserve, as well as at birding festivals. In addition to birds, he is familiar with all aspects of Florida wildlife and have an extensive knowledge of native plants, snakes, frogs, and many other critters you encounter in Florida. He is the current holder of many American Birding Association (ABA) records, including Big Year (both first and second place for Florida) and Big Day (current holder of 10 monthly records in Florida).

Aedan Stockdale

Field Trip Leader

AEDAN STOCKDALE is the Education and Volunteer Division Manager for Manatee County Natural Resources. While pursuing a B. A. in Marine Biology from New College of Florida, Aedan worked at Mote Marine honing his passion and skills for teaching others about coastal environments. Aedan came to work for Manatee County full-time after graduating, where he now develops educational programs, creates exhibits, teaches archery, and takes people kayaking. A rare Florida-born native, Aedan grew up hiking through palmettos, tromping across mangrove swamps, and swimming in the Gulf – experiences he now uses to help others foster their own connections to the outdoors.

Lisa Sykes

Field Trip Leader

My name is LISA SYKES, I am a Bird Naturalist at the Sarasota Audubon’s Celery Fields. My husband and I moved to Florida from Western NY in 2019 and I quickly became immersed into the Sarasota birding community. Along with volunteering on the bird walks at the Celery Fields I work with a small team to encourage Barn Owls to make the Celery Fields their home. When I am not birding, I ride horses competitively in Reined Cow Horse events across the country.

Mo Taggart

Festival Expert

Rebecca Winch

Environmental Specialist

After earning her bachelor’s degree in Environmental Science and Policy in Maryland, REBECCA WINCH moved to Nevada to work in trail maintenance and restoration with the Great Basin Institute, then joined a fuels reduction chainsaw crew in Montana before moving to Florida, where she intends to stay. She hired on as a park ranger with the Florida State Parks for several years before joining Hillsborough County’s Conservation and Environmental Lands Management Department, where she now works as an Environmental Specialist out of Lower Green Swamp Nature Preserve. Rebecca is thrilled to work in some of the most beautiful natural areas in Florida and to have the opportunity to learn as much as possible about native plants (especially the edible ones). In her spare time Rebecca enjoys hiking, paddleboarding, kayaking, and trying to keep her garden alive.