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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

Ethan was super. He is extremely knowledgeable, particularly about birds, but also about Iceland. His dedication and determination to help everyone see those birds they really wanted to see was impressive. His energy seemed boundless.

- Karol P. on Iceland

Ethan Kistler is an extraordinarily talented world class birder and guide. His enthusiasm for what he is doing is really impressive. He was very attentive to the needs of all the tour participants.

- Len and Mimi B.

Ethan was wonderful. Even among bird guides, his song and call recognition is outstanding. He was on top of everything—birds, territories, schedule, unique places to eat. Would love to go with him again.

- Jean T. on Minnesota and North Dakota

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 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