Cuba: Premier Birding Guide Biographical Sketch
Luis M. Diaz-guide:
Luis M. Díaz, PhD, has been a curator at the National Museum of Natural History in Havana since 1998. He is an enthusiastic birder and long term naturalist. He has guided natural history tours in Cuba for over seventeen years, and he has been a bird guide since 2003. He has led over sixty birding tours in Cuba, and he is very popular with birders as a guide. He has guided with well-known American birders, including Jon Dunn and David Sibley.
His research is focused on the taxonomy and conservation of Cuban amphibians and reptiles. He has over one hundred published works, including the Guía Taxonómica de los Anfibios de Cuba. Luis has described twenty new species of herps for Cuba and the Dominican Republic. He has traveled as a researcher or lecturer, including to the Dominican Republic, Germany, Japan, Bolivia, Colombia, Honduras, Guadaloupe, Italy, Canada and the United Sates. Despite his specialized research profile, he loves guiding bird-watchers, as they are interested in birds and other wildlife in Cuba.
More Details about this Trip:
Ken Burton-trip host:
Ken Burton has been a passionate birder and ornithologist since the 1980s. He has traveled the world for work and pleasure, visiting all seven continents and seeing well over 4,000 species.
He is the author of several books and numerous popular and scientific journal articles, including the Nov/Dec, 2020, cover article in Bird Watcher's Digest.
Ken has been co-leader on Partnership for International Birding Trips to Bolivia and Brazil. This will be his first trip to Cuba but he is familiar with many West Indian species thanks to time spent birding on Puerto Rico and Hispaniola.
Ken will be an excellent complementary guide to Luis on this tour, adding support to help everyone get good looks at every Cuban endemic (and almost twice that many Caribbean endemics).
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Arturo Kirkconnell
Arturo, a native of Cuba, is recognized by many birders as the leading authority on Cuban birds. He is the co-author of two books, including A Field Guide to the Birds of Cuba, and A Birdwatchers’ Guide to Cuba, Jamaica, Hispaniola, Puerto Rico, and the Caymans.
He truly loves birding and ornithology, and this is his passion. His curriculum vitae includes 77 scientific papers, mostly focused on Cuban and Caribbean ornithology, natural history and conservation. At present, he is working on another project, The Birds of Cuba (that will be published by the BOU Checklist Series). Arturo completed his Bachelor of Science in biology at the University of Havana.
As part of the Museum’s efforts to collect ornithological data, Arturo has been leading birding tours in Cuba for over two decades (since 1988). To date he has guided more than 200 birding groups. He designed the present birding itinerary, and he has developed the main strategies for bird-finding in Cuba.
Clients praise Arturo for his field skills, and they also indicate that his customer service is excellent. On trip after trip, both Arturo (R1) and Arturo (R2) prove they take good care of our clients, and they work hard to meet our customers’ needs throughout the tour.