« Back to Leaders & Staff

Fabrice Schmitt

Fabrice Schmitt was born in the east of France (Alsace), where he began to bird at the age of 12. After birding intensively and extensively in Europe, North Africa, Middle East, he fell in love with Neotropical birds during his first trip in Peru in 1995. He then spent most of his free time in South and Central America – mostly looking for birds, but studying wildlife in general. In 2002/2003, Fabrice (then a Math teacher) took a sabbatical year to visit birding destinations and look for and study the most localized species of south Peru, Bolivia, Chile, Argentina and south of Brazil. During this time, Fabrice participated in field expeditions in the Peruvian Andes and Amazonian lowlands, gaining knowledge about endangered, rare and even un-described bird species.

Fabrice lived in Chile from 2005 to 2015, and explored this beautiful country in every direction (well, mostly from North to South…). He is involved with Red de Observadores de Aves y Vida Silvestre de Chile (ROC), a non-governmental ornithologist organization, and founded the electronic birding magazine La Chiricoca. He is co-author of the Chilean Breeding Bird Atlas, and part of the team who recently discovered several Markham’s Storm-Petrel colonies in the Atacama Desert. In 2018, after co-leading several tours to Chile with Steve Howell, the two co-authored Birds of Chile: A Photo Guide. Fabrice is also an active eBirder and helped the Cornell Lab of Ornithology in the development of that birding tool in Chile and the rest of South America.

He has been leading birding trips to Peru, Colombia, Bolivia, Brazil, Argentina, Guyana and Chile since 2005, and occasionally gives lectures on cruise trips to Antarctica and South American destinations. Since he moved back to France, he he has led tours to Europe and Middle East, including our very popular ‘Birds, Wine and Cheese’ tour to France! Fabrice is fluent in English, Spanish and French.

Upcoming Tours with Fabrice

Testimonials for Fabrice

Birding à la Française: Birds, Wine and Cheese in Southern France is truly the birding tour of a lifetime. Thanks to Fabrice’s and Pierre’s amazing leadership and expertise, we observed an astounding number of new bird species, and discovered an interesting variety of local flora and fauna. And, the wine and cheese were truly “magnifique.”

- Frank and Nancy K. on France: Birding à la Française

This tour was the second WINGS excursion we have taken with Fabrice Schmitt as the leader. He is truly outstanding. Not only does he have an unrivaled knowledge of the birds (as well as other animals and plants) of the region, he is an extraordinarily focused and effective leader of tours involving many layers of logistical complexity. Fabrice inspires confidence, trust, and loyalty from every member of the group. We look forward to birding with him again in the future.

- Frank & Nancy K. on Chile: Tierra del Fuego to the Atacama Desert

Fabrice had a nice manner with the group, is sensitive to the different backgrounds and experiences, and enlivens the trip with his good sense of humor.

- George R. on Colombia: The Santa Marta Mountains

Fabrice is excellent as a birding guide and tour leader - very well organized, great on birds and getting us on them, good at dealing with logistics, did the eBird checklists quickly, and was enjoyable to be with. Also glad to have the final trip report very promptly.

- Dixie S.

I enjoyed the tour very much and can’t think of anything that should be changed. Fabrice is an excellent guide; very personable and has a great sense of humor!

- Karen T. on Colombia: The Santa Marta Mountains