Our Birding Guides
MARIO CORDOBA
 Mario Cordoba has been guiding tours in Costa Rica since 1992. He is a university graduate with training in eco-tourism guiding. He worked for a year as resident naturalist/birding guide at Arenal Volcano National Park, then 3 years for a Costa Rican tour company. Since 1996 he has worked as a free-lance birding and naturalist guide for various Costa Rican tour companies including Costa Rica Expeditions. He has led tours for National Wildlife Federation, Cornell Adult University, International Expeditions, California State University, Holbrook Travel, Elderhostel, various North American birding tour companies, several Audubon groups, and other organizations and private parties. Mario is an excellent birder and is also very knowledgeable about botany, wildlife, politics, and history of Costa Rica. His former clients describe him as very patient even under the most trying circumstances. He comes highly recommended to us by the owners and staff at Savegre Mountain Hotel in San Gerardo de Dota. We welcome him as guide for our birding tours to Costa Rica.
ERICK GUZMAN
 Erick Guzman grew up in the Sarapiqui region on the Caribbean slope of Costa Rica and speaks fluent English. He learned about the birds, animals, and plants of the region by accompanying his father, who was a tour boat operator and naturalist guide. After graduating college he completed coursework at the National Biodiversity Institute of Costa Rica and became a certified guide. He worked 3 years as resident naturalist and birding guide at La Selva Biological Station in Sarapiqui, which helps us gain better access to areas that are becoming increasingly restricted due to the growing impact of birders visiting the area. He has traveled and birded extensively throughout Costa Rica and several other Central American countries. He has also traveled through Europe, the US, and Africa. He is very knowledgeable about the identification and distribution of birds in Costa Rica and Panama, has led a number of bird counts, and has worked as a birding guide for several tour operators including us. We enjoy his outgoing, friendly personality and think highly of his guiding skills.
WALLY PRINCE
 Waldyke ("Wally") Prince currently works as a professional nature guide at Iwokrama International Centre Rainforest Reserve where he guides nature tours and birding groups on a daily basis. He is one of the top birding guides in Guyana, with over 15 years experience birding and guiding in Guyana. Wally is very adept at finding and identifying the many secretive birds living in diverse rainforest habitats throughout the million acre reserve. He has extensive knowledge about the Guianan avifauna and has seen over 650 of the 800+ bird species recorded in Guyana. Wally's interest in nature began during his childhood days while wandering the forests and savannahs mastering his skills with a slingshot. He became highly adept at finding, closely approaching, and observing the many birds and animals present in these habitats. In the early 1990's he was formally introduced to bird-watching and bird census-taking while working as a research assistant with Robert Ridgely, Angelo Caparrella and David Agro. In the mid-1990's he worked with Michael Braun, Mark Robbins and Brian Schmidt as a field assistant during their scientific expeditions throughout Guyana. We have traveled across much of Guyana with Wally as our guide and have been impressed with his out-going personality and great sense of humor as well as his excellent birding and guiding skills.
ITO SANTAMARIA
Ito Santamaria is a member of a professional family of doctors and landowners that lives in Chiriqui province of western Panama. He speaks excellent English and is an expert birding guide who has led birding tours since 1999. He has guided tours many times with top North American birding tour companies and is very adept at finding and identifying even the most difficult birds to see in Panama. He first guided for us during our 2011 tour to Panama, and we are impressed with both his birding skills and his congenial personality.
LUIS URUEÑA
 Luis Urueña is an expert Colombian birding guide who speaks excellent English. He is a biologist trained at the Universidad del Tolima and has done research on endangered birds in Colombia since 2000. He received a conservation program award from the British Petroleum Company in 2004 for his work on the highly endangered and enigmatic Blue-billed Curassow while working with the ProAves Foundation. Luis and his wife Andrea operate as land agents for some of the top birding tour companies in the world. He has been guiding birding tours since 2008 and has co-led tours with Steven Hilty, author of Guide to the Birds of Colombia, each of those years. He is highly skilled in the field at both finding and identifying Colombian birds, and he knows how to find and see all the endemic and specialty birds in Colombia. He knows many local people throughout the country, who are indispensable in making the logistics of a tour go smoothly. We have relied heavily on his expertise to plan itineraries that make best use of our time while on tour in Colombia.
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