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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 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’s knowledge of birds is amazing, recognising every song and call so that the visual identification comes as no surprise. One of the attractions of his leadership is his interest in all natural history, plants, snakes, frogs, mammals and insects – good to meet someone else who shares my enthusiasm for weevils! We’ve travelled with him before and hope to do so again.

- Vicky G. on Costa Rica in Spring

Our guide, Rich, was extremely knowledgeable about not only birds, but insects, flowers, plants, butterflies, snakes, etc. Rich had a great sense of humor, and we appreciated that he made an effort to ensure everyone got to see the target birds.

- Debbie T. on The Galápagos Islands

Rich is not only an excellent leader who does his best to get everyone on the birds and make sure that everyone’s personal needs are met, but he is without question the most knowledgable leader I have ever done a tour with. His knowledge of not only birds, but mammals, insects, flowers, reptiles, and just about every aspect of nature on the tour was awesome.

- Alan B. on Peru: Rainforest Lodges of the Madre de Dios

Rich and Jairo did an excellent job leading the trip. Their knowledge of the birds and other wildlife was top-notch. They both did a good job communicating plans to the group on a regular basis. Once we got the hang of how it all worked, it was pretty smooth to figure out what we had to do each day. I like the presentations at night and the level of detail shared. That reduced some anxiety and made the trip less stressful.

- Andy F. on The Galápagos Islands
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