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Rich Hoyer

Rich Hoyer began keying out wildflowers, raising butterflies and moths in his bedroom, netting tadpoles and dragonfly larvae, and catching snakes, lizards, moles, and voles with his younger brother and father before he finally discovered birding at the age of 14. After graduating with bachelors degrees in Zoology and German he began his dream guiding career in 1996 as a local guide on Saint Paul Island in Alaska’s Pribilofs. He has been a full-time leader for WINGS since September 1997.

His musical ear is always tuned into bird voices, and he has nearly instant recall of thousands of bird songs and call notes in his head, but his interests in other areas of natural history have only grown, and he continues to enjoy learning about various forms wildlife such as damselflies, keying out composites, and photographing beeflies, among many others. His other passions and hobbies include playing piano, singing, learning languages, cooking, baking bread, gardening, and knitting. He currently lives in his homestate of Oregon.

The diversity of Rich’s natural history interests is well represented in his blog, Birdernaturalist.

Upcoming Tours with Rich

Testimonials for Rich

Rich Hoyer is an excellent tour guide. I have participated in many tours and he is one of the favorite guides I have traveled with. He is extremely patient in pointing out birds to all participants. He will really try to get everyone on the birds. He is knowledgeable about all things plants, animals, and butterflies. Rich shares life experiences about other tours and music as well. I enjoyed these conversations.

- Jane S. on Brazil: The Northeast - Bahia the Beautiful

Rich was extremely knowledgeable about the birds and their calls. He had an uncanny ability to bring birds in when we stopped for whatever reason. I appreciated his knowledge and willingness to spend time with flowers, insects, and other wildlife that appeared. His language facility and ability to engage in interesting conversations with all of the participants made the trip pleasurable. 

- Dana L. on Brazil: Minas Gerais

Rich Hoyer brings a wonder to life that is absorbed by everyone around him. My daughter and I had a once-in-a-lifetime experience with Rich, Jairo and the boat crew!

- Kay H. on The Galápagos Islands

Rich is an outstanding leader. Starting at the orientation meeting he clearly explained what was expected of us with respect to behavior on the trails, in the van, and he set up a WhatsApp group to facilitate communication with the group. He is extremely knowledgeable about the birds and their respective songs and calls. He is personable, outgoing, enthusiastic and patient. He works hard to ensure that everyone would see the birds that were being spotted. Our picnics, breakfasts and lunches both, were outstanding. Rich went out of his way to make them so. It is amply clear that he loves what he does. 

- Marisa W. on Oregon in Late Summer

Rich went way beyond his call of duty. He not only shared his knowledge of the birds, he was exploding with information of the volcanoes that had erupted in Oregon thousands of years before, and how the terrain as we saw it came about. He knew out of place quaint restaurants which he took us to, that added atmosphere to the venture.

- Dorothy M. on Oregon in Spring