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Ethan Kistler

Ethan Kistler hails from Ohio and began birding at the age of 10 when he literally woke up one morning and decided that he wanted to become a birder. Since then he’s worked field jobs from Ohio to Alaska, traveled to over 50 countries, and led birding trips throughout North America, Europe, and Africa (where he lived for 7 years). When not leading tours, he’s chasing rarities, off on spontaneous birding jaunts, and reviewing data as one of eBird’s data reviewers for much of the African continent. He currently sits on the board as a director-at-large for the Ohio Ornithological Society. Ethan’s main focus now is guiding and filling in gaps between tours with ornithology-related field work. Ethan has recently written the ABA's Field Guide to Birds of Ohio, published in 2019.

Upcoming Tours with Ethan

Testimonials for Ethan

The tour covered a HUGE amount of ground and multiple habitats, as I had hoped and as advertised. There was extraordinary opportunity and effort made to see as many birds as possible. Ethan and Stephen were excellent spotters and careful about describing location and descriptions to find obscured birds. Ethan also went to a lot of effort to scout out lunch and dinner stops, making that aspect of the trip extremely enjoyable as well. Finally, I really appreciated the non-birding stops - waterfalls and whaling in particular - we had a chance to truly see a range of Icelandic landscape and geology, towns and countryside, and not just because of the ground covered while driving.

- Christina B. on Iceland

"Ethan is remarkable in his ability to find birds, identify them by sound, and set all of us up to see them. I believe that every bird on the list was seen by every one of us, a difficult task from someone who has led local bird trips. He was friendly and knowledgeable about more than birds. I enjoyed being with him for eight days."

- Peter P. on Texas: The Rio Grande Valley in Spring

I was so impressed at how well Ethan managed personalities, different skill levels...And of course, how knowledgeable about the birds and the area in general he is, and how patient, kind and how understandable his explanation of field marks and habitat clues.

- Carol L. on Northwest Ohio: Spring Migration

Ethan was simply superb and we cannot wait to book another tour with him. He has boundless energy, enthusiasm and is extremely attentive to the needs of all participants.

- JC B. on Morocco in Spring

Perfect tour! North Dakota was the biggest surprise. I had no idea how green and lush ND was everywhere we went on the tour. Ethan is an excellent and very knowledgeable tour guide. I have been on 16 previous birding tours with other tour companies, so I know a great guide and Ethan is it!

- George R. on Minnesota and North Dakota