Rich Hoyer
Before birds, Rich Hoyer had discovered reptiles, amphibians, bugs, plants and other creepy crawly things, most of which he and his brother kept in cages in their bedroom. He could identify at least 20 species of birds too, until a move to northern California at the age of 14 led to the discovery of a Plain Titmouse, the one that got him hooked on birding.
Combining a love of languages and natural history, Rich Hoyer completed a double major in German and Zoology at Oregon State University. He worked on various “biobum” jobs doing bird surveys in places such as southeastern Arizona, western Oregon, California and western Russia. His first professional guiding job during the summers of 1996 and 1997 was as a natural history interpreter on St. Paul Island in Alaska’s Pribilofs, where he guided birding groups, explained the life history of the Northern Fur-Seal to German tourists and discovered North America’s first Chinese Pond-Heron. He has been a field leader for WINGS since September 1997.
Rich has also studied Spanish and recently added Portuguese, honing his language skills at a school in the state of Alagoas, Brazil as well as during a two-month volunteer guiding job at Cristalino Jungle Lodge in Mato Grosso.
Today when Rich is at home between tours in Tucson, Arizona, he sings English madrigals with a group of friends and occasionally makes use of his several years of piano lessons. He also loves to garden and bake bread (skills from his mother) and will rarely miss an opportunity to catch a lizard or snake (influence from his father). When leading tours, Rich also enjoys pointing out butterflies, dragonflies and plants, provided of course, there’s a break in the birding. The diversity of his natural history interests is well represented in Rich’s blog, Birdernaturalist.
Tours
- Mexico: The Lacandon Rainforest and Maya RuinsNEW!
- The Galápagos Islands, A WINGS Charter
- Brazil: Cristalino Jungle Lodge - Butterflies and Birds
- Costa Rica in March
- Mexico: Oaxaca at Christmastime
- Mexico: The Yucatán and Cozumel
- Mexico: Butterflies and Birds, Gómez Farías and the El Cielo Biosphere Reserve
- Peru: The Manu Biosphere Reserve and Machu Picchu
- Brazil: Cristalino Jungle Lodge
- Peru: The North, Marvelous Spatuletail and the Search for Long-whiskered Owlet
- Peru: Machu Picchu and Abra Malaga
- Peru: The Northeast, Explornapo Lodge, the Canopy Walkway and Mishana White Sands Forest
- Oregon
- Jamaica
- Brazil: Bahia and Sergipe
- Belize: The Birds of Chan Chich
- Brazil: The Northeast - Alagoas to Ceará
- Oregon: Birds and the Shakespeare Festival
- Bolivia: The Peak of Diversity
- Costa Rica: Snowcaps and Sea Turtles
- Alaska: Gambell,
- Arizona: Owls and Warblers