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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 a rock star leader with his encyclopedic knowledge base of living organisms. His daily organization of all aspects of the tour was outstanding. The consideration of food for picnic breakfasts and one lunch was delightful, as were his snack peanuts and cookies. Clone him if you can get a mouth swab. :-)

- Dianne S. on Mexico: Baja California's Cape Region

Rich Hoyer is a birder extraordinaire. His birding eye and ear skills are phenomenal, and he has an encyclopedic knowledge of avian natural history which he shared with us generously. He was very skilled at helping each of us see each bird. His Spanish language skills were also invaluable.

- Genevieve C. on Mexico: The Yucatan and Cozumel

Rich Hoyer is a joy to tour with. He not only knows the birds extremely well, but is well organized, good at communicating logistics, and patient with my repeated questions. His knowledge of birds, both visual and audio ID, are excellent, as is his ability to teach us about them. His knowledge and ability to communicate a wide variety of natural history makes for a very interesting (if sometimes overwhelming) tour. Lastly, his enthusiasm is contagious, especially for all the other things around us beyond the birds. 

- Paul K. on Mexico: Oaxaca at Christmastime

Rich knows Oregon and its birds and had a great plan to maximize our birding experience.

- John D. on Oregon in Late Summer

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

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