Tour Leaders

Miguel is one of the founders and co-owner of Trogon Tours. He worked in Iguazú as a National Park Guard and Chief Naturalist for 6 years, where he had the chance to combine his guard training with a strong personal interest for achieving an impressive understanding of both flora and fauna of the subtropical rainforests. As a naturalist, Miguel has focused in bird songs identification, and he has been recording birds for almost 20 years, keeping records of the vast majority of the species present in northern Argentina and Southern Brazil. Miguel has also made a number of contributions to nature conservation and education. He participated in an expedition throughout north eastern Argentina and Southern Brazil, which was organized by Conservation International, to explore the very last relicts of the natural habitat of the Glaucous Macaw, in search of the last individuals left of this magnificent bird, which is now thought to be extinct. Miguel worked in Guyana with The Smithsonian Institution, giving training courses for indigenous people to become natural history tour guides. He has also worked in Guyana on bird populations monitoring for the Kansas Museum. Also in the field of education, Miguel teaches at the University of Misiones in the training courses for professional tour guides. He is also co-author of the Inventory to the Birds of Iguazú National Park. Miguel started to work as a nature tour leader in 1991. He focused on birds and wildlife of Southern Brazil, Bolivia and Northern Argentina. His solid knowledge of the Pantanal and the subtropical rainforests of northern Argentina led to a number of important discoveries, including first sightings of many bird species for Argentina -like American Pygmy Kingfisher & Capped Heron to name but a few- and the location of one of the most visited nests of Harpy Eagle in southern Brazil; a discovery he made more than 10 years ago, which opened the way for a great number of birders to see this very secretive species. Miguel speaks fluent English, Spanish and Portuguese and enjoys widely showing wildlife to people. He lives with his wife Karina and his two sons, Ignacio and Félix in Puerto Iguazú, Argentina, very close to the mighty Iguazú Falls.

Luis is one of the founders and co-owner of Trogon Tours. His home land is Patagonia, where he spent most of his life. He started leading birding and wildlife tours in 1982. Based in Buenos Aires at that time, he joined the Argentine Ornithological Society (AOP) and the Argentine Wildlife Foundation (FVSA), taking several courses on birds, bird watching, marine mammals, flora and geology, and soon started leading groups of Argentine birders and naturalists in different National Parks and Nature Reserves within the country. At age 20 Luis took his first group of foreign birders throughout Argentina and he continues leading English speaking naturalists and birders throughout the Neotropics and Antarctica, focusing mainly on flora expeditions, general natural history and nature photography tours.

Luis’ administration and tour planning skills date back to 1985, when was hired by a tour company in Buenos Aires to develop and manage their educational tours department. It was back then when he started developing Costanera Sur -the famous wildlife reserve located in the heart of Buenos Aires City- as a birding destination, running scheduled tours to this fantastic wildlife area almost on a daily basis… and this was much before it became a reserve!

In 1987, Luis decided to move back to Patagonia, where he settled in Puerto Madryn. Based there he continued working as an independent tour leader and locally as tour guide specialized in birding and nature tours. He was also an associate at a local nature tour company, running their operations department between 1995 and 1997. Luis finally started Seebirds -his own birding tour company- in 1997, catering for birders visiting Patagonia. Three years after, in 2000, he moved one step forward and founded Birding Argentina and Trogon Tours with Miguel Castelino. Combining his own field and office experience with that of Miguel, they started trading first as Birding Argentina, running only birding tours in this country. Regardless, it didn’t take long for the company to start expanding towards neighboring countries, catering not just for birders but also for other naturalists. For facing these new challenges, Luis and Miguel invited wildlife specialists from other fields to join the company, and its name was changed to Trogon Tours. Throughout the years, Trogon Tours became one of Latin America’s prime nature tour operators, pioneering expeditions in a wide variety of natural areas throughout the Neotropics. Trogon Tours currently runs birding and nature tours throughout the Neotropics and Antarctica.

Luis has also been involved in many wildlife conservation projects, mainly on Shorebirds and Seabirds. He worked as a volunteer with the Magellanic Penguin Project in Punta Tombo for 4 seasons. He was also in charge of a rescue station for penguins affected by off-shore oil spilling in Puerto Madryn in 1991. That same year, Luis helped founding the Austral Ornithological Society, becoming its first president.

He is also a keen cacti enthusiast, and keeps a vast collection of Argentine and Neotropical cacti at home, most of them grown from seeds. In the last few years, Luis started sharing his passion for these amazing plants with members of the local community, and -along with Willy Smith, Trogon Tours’ flora specialist- he has developed a series of cacti tours running in different Latin American countries.

To this day, Luis continues organizing and dictating bird watching, natural history and flora courses in Patagonia, encouraging other tour guides and general public to get out there and enjoy nature around us. Luis lives in Puerto Madryn with his wife Nancy.

Lucas is one of Trogon Tours partners and senior tour leader for southern South America and Antarctica. Lucas got his diploma in Biology at the School of Natural Science and Museum of the National University of La Plata. His first work as a professional ornithologist was assessing the health of a bird community in a petrol refinery. Since then, he has worked as an ornithologist for the I.A.A. (Instituto Antárctico Argentino) in Antarctica for four different seasons; for the National University of La Plata in bird control at airports and landfills, assessing problems related to birds and power lines; and, for private companies in many ornithological inventories and assessments all along Argentina- in the field of mining, wind power, road constructions, urban developments and others. He has also been working as an environmental consultant for many different projects and fields of expertise.

With more than 15 trips to the white continent, he started leading birding and natural history tours to Antarctica in 2004. At the same time, he gave lectures on Antarctic fauna to then join Trogon Tours in 2005. He soon became one of the company’s senior leaders, guiding many of our tours in Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Antarctica and Brazil. Throughout the years, Lucas has specialized in leading birding, mammal and photography journeys. He is very flexible and happy to work with the wide myriad of traveler profiles in the world of nature travel.

Lucas has finally became one of Trogon Tours’ partners and associate in 2016. Besides leading tours, Lucas is our sales manager, and therefore the person in charge of making true your nature travel adventures in Latin America and Antarctica with Trogon Tours.

Lucas also works as a Senior Lecturer in ornithology at the university and still does environmental assessments. He also loves reading, listening to music, playing guitar and rugby. He lives in the city of La Plata, with his wife and three sons.

Nicolas joined Trogon Tours in 2017. He started leading birding and nature tours since 2013, mainly working with birders in the Argentine provinces of Misiones, Corrientes, Entre Rios, Formosa, Neuquen and Buenos Aires. Birds are his main interest when traveling across the country but he loves finding mammals, reptiles, amphibians and arthropods as well. His love for birds and arthropods led to the publishing of numerous scientific publications, including the discovery of several new species of spiders for the country and the addition of new bird species to some Argentinian provinces. He spend one year living in a natural reserve located on the atlantic rainforest of Misiones province, guiding people from all over the world. He has also worked for two years at the Buenos Aires museum of natural history as a paleontology lab technician, preparing dinosaur skeletons for study.

Nicolas lives in Junín de los Andes, a town located in Northern Patagonia where he spends his free time exploring the Patagonian steppe and the Andes mountains in search for new areas where endemic Patagonian bird species may occur and identifying reptiles, mammals and artrophods from the Patagonian arid regions.

Raised in Tierra del Fuego, Esteban currently resides in its capital city, Ushuaia. He has a Degree in Tourism and he is Trogon Tours’ Senior Leader for Tierra del Fuego and southern Patagonia. As a professional guide, he has specialized in birdwatching, nature and wildlife photography. Esteban grew up in a sheep farm where he developed his love for nature and wildlife. He knows Tierra del Fuego and Patagonia first hand, and he’s proud to show clients all those secret places where special birds and wildlife live in the southernmost part of the Earth. Leading birding and nature tours is one of Esteban’s passions. Esteban is also involved in conservation and sustainable tourism projects in his homeland. Along with a group of local passionate nature lovers, he helped creating the first Urban Reserve in Ushuaia. This strategic place, located close to the city center, covers 35 hectares of grassland, wetlands and an enclosed bay -a perfect setting for birdwatchers and nature photographers! He helps building a nature sensitive conscience in the local community by leading educational tours for local students to this urban reserve, something that has has been doing for many years now. Esteban has also been a founding member and is an active participant of the local birdwatching club. He also loves exploring Patagonia, trekking, camping, fishing, skiing and horseback riding with his wife Susana and his son Juan.

Francisco Cornell lives in Jujuy, where he grew up, and since very young felt attracted by nature and started to explore the incredible landscapes and wildlife of this part of the Argentina. He became a self-educated birder at the age of 22, has taken part in projects related to the conservation of nature and biodiversity (one of his main interests), as well as worked for researchers in their field expeditions. He has a profound knowledge of the region and enjoys to share his experience with other people, so since 2000 has been guiding birders coming from all over the world. He is fluent in English, is official birding guide to the Calilegua National Park, the Lake Pozuelos, the Humahuaca gorge, and the Yala Provincial Park, among many other places; he has a degree in tourism, is married with his wife Andrea, and has two children.

Pablo joined Trogon Tours in 2012. He was born in Bahía Blanca, Argentina, and studied Zoology at the Faculty of Natural Science and the Museum of La Plata, specializing in marine and freshwater ecology and conservation biology, mostly on migratory birds. During 2003 he was the Coordinator of the “Migratory Bird Conservation Program” of Fundación Vida Silvestre Argentina, and from that year on, he cooperates with their “Marine Program”. Pablo worked at the Arctic Polar Circle in Alaska during 2002 and 2004 under the U.S. Geological Service and the National Park Service, where he conducted research on Nearctic migratory birds and seabirds ecology. Since 2006 Pablo has guided expeditions to Antarctica several times a year. At present he holds a position as assistant professor in “Vertebrates Zoology III” at the National University of La Plata. He also coordinates different projects on migratory endangered species (Olrog’s Gull and Austral Goose) and shorebirds (Red Knot) in Argentina. He has done field work and researched on penguins in Staten Island, Tierra del Fuego, Argentina, and conducted several aerial shorebird surveys along the Patagonian coast. He published three books (two bird identification guides), four chapters of books, more than 40 scientific papers in national and international specialized magazines and renowned peer-reviewed journals, and gave several conferences and courses. Being in the wild is undoubtedly one of his greatest passions, and he enjoys sharing his knowledge and passion for wildlife and conservation biology with other people. Last but not least, he is a keen and knowledgeable nature photographer, sailor and kayaker. He has explored many Patagonian lakes and rivers by kayak. Pablo currently lives between the cities of La Plata and Bahía Blanca.

Patricio is a naturalist guide with a strong interest in flora, fauna, ecology, and conservation biology. He joined our company in 2006, specializing mainly on birding tours in Argentina and the Pantanal. Patrcio leads many of our tours in Argentina, a country he know as the back of his hand! He started his career as a naturalist by joining the Argentine Ornithological Society in 1992 where he took several courses on bird watching and made frequent field trips. He has been birding in every single ecological region of Argentina and has added several new species to the Argentine list of birds. Patricio has also specialized in recording bird songs, something he did for 9 years, and so developed excellent skills for bird recognition by song. Patricio obtained a naturalist degree from the Argentine School of Naturalists. He worked as a guide in Costanera Sur Nature Reserve in Buenos Aires for five years and also guided natural history and educational tours throughout Argentina. He has also given numerous lectures and courses on wildlife and bird watching. Patricio is also a biologist, with a degree from the University of Buenos Aires. He became a field biologist, and always kept the same passion for nature than he had since he became a naturalist. His first field research took him to the flooded forests of the Argentine Chaco for five summers, where he worked with Owls and Owl Monkeys. He then moved to the Atlantic Forest of Argentina to study vocal communication in infant Black Capuchin Monkeys. Nowadays Patricio lives in Iguazú.

Willy joined Trogon Tours in 2007. He is an agronomist who developed a strong interest and first hand knowledge on cacti by traveling intensively through his native Argentina and the rest of South America, working as a location scout for the film industry; a job he did for 20 years. As a result of this, some years ago, he started collecting cacti and now has a collection of more than 1,400 species and with over 6,000 plants, nearly all of them seed grown. He has written several articles for specialized journals of Argentina and Spain. Due to his knowledge of the cacti habitats he has been guiding cactus oriented tours since 2002 in Argentina, Chile, Bolivia, Brazil and Uruguay. Willy produced, directed and hosted a gardening show in Argentina for three years. He obtained his degree in Agricultural Engineer in the University of Buenos Aires and is fluent in English. Willy lives in Buenos Aires.

Alejandro was raised in the city of Buenos Aires, spending weekends and summer holidays outside the city, in the countyside, practicing all sorts of sports and enjoying horseback riding in the pampas. He finnished his Degree in Tourism, and with his wife Fernanda, they did a two month volunteering in the rainforest of Misiones, as Nature Guides. There, is where the passion for nature and birdwatching started, but their plans were in Patagonia. They moved to El Calafate in 2003, and since then, that is their hometown, and where Lucia, their daughter, was born in 2008. Alejandro is a Professional Tour Guide of Los Glaciares National Park and Santa Cruz Province with a deep passion for birds, nature and photography. With his familly, they enjoy nature, hiking and camping as much as possible. He teaches Geography of Argentina and Patagonia in the local Institute of Tourism for professional guides. Also, he is one of the main Coordinators of the local Birdwatching Club, from where they organize educational tours and birdwatching introductory courses for the guides and the community, seasonal censuses and cleaning days along the wetlands of El Calafate. Alejandro is a member of an Association of Nature Photographers of Argentina (Afona) and participated in different exhibitions with his photographs.

Victor is Trogon Tours’ senior leader for Peru. He joined the team in 2016 and besides leading tours, he actively participates in tour design and operations in his native Peru and also in Ecuador. Victor is and ornithologist, graduated from the Faculty of Biological Sciences, National University of San Agustin of Arequipa. He has a strong interest in evolution, ecology, and conservation biology, focusing mainly on Amazonian and Andean birds. Victor has carried out research on song evolution in Neotropical birds, spending lots of time studying bird voices, thus developing excellent skills for identifying birds by their calls. During his college student years, he worked as a volunteer park ranger in various Peruvian national parks and reserves, such as Salinas and Aguada Blanca National Reserve, near Arequipa, where he was in change of surveying bird populations in Andean wetlands, focusing mainly on Andean, Chilean, and James’s flamingos. He was also a participant and coordinator of the Neotropical water birds census in southern Peru from 2003 to 2006. Victor’s field research started in the Amazonian rainforests of southeastern Peru, where he worked in the Madre de Dios area, at the well renowned field station of ¨Los Amigos¨ (CICRA), from 2005 to 2007. During his time there, Victor worked on several projects funded by Amazon Conservation Association (ACA) and World Wildlife Fund for Nature (WWF). As Scientific and Administrative Assistant of the Biological Station, he assisted in the project: “Determining minimum areas for the design of landscapes of conservation in the southwest Amazon,” monitoring populations of parrots and macaws, searching for nests and doing radio telemetry. He also studied the ecology of Forest Falcons in the Peruvian Amazon and was project Manager for a study on song evolution in the antbird species complex; a project of the Department of Zoology – University of Oxford and the Edward Grey Institute of Field Ornithology. Victor has also worked as an external consultant on evaluation, monitoring and inventory of birds for different Peruvian companies since 2008, a job that took him birding to a wide variety of Peruvian natural areas. He also participated in many ornithological expeditions organized by public and private institutions –including the Museum of Natural History, National University of San Agustin– throughout Peru; mainly to explore areas with information gaps. He has also been assistant, organizer, and field instructor in several ecology and ornithology courses for undergraduate students and general public. Victor has nearly 15 years of experience and involvement in biological expeditions, consulting assessments, biological monitoring and research projects in national institutions like SERNANP and international organizations including WWF, WCS, Smithsonian Institution and different universities, among others. Since 2012, he is also a Research Associate at the Museum of Natural History, National University of San Agustin and External Consultant in biodiversity and bird monitoring and Coordinator in the area of Ornithology of the Monitoring Program of Biodiversity in Camisea – PMB. Birds and bird watching are undoubtedly his main interests, but he also enjoys spending time afield, training students interested in ornithology and bird watching. He loves music and travel, and developed a strong interest in nature photography during the last few years.

Adrian is Trogon Tours’ main tour leader for Uruguay. He is a Uruguayan biologist with main interests in ornithology and conservation biology. He earned his M.Sc. and Ph.D degrees from the University of Missouri-St. Louis and has worked in many research and conservation projects in Uruguay and Argentina during the last 20 years. He has studied several threatened species and he is currently responsible of a Pampas birds ecology and conservation project (www.pampasbirds.com). This initiative combines research and education activities to increase public awareness related to grassland bird conservation throughout the region. Adrian has published many scientific contributions as well technical publications such as “Aves del Uruguay” (Birds of Uruguay, 2001) and “Birds of the Pampas and Campos of Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay: an identification guide” (2012). He currently lives in Uruguay and works as a scientific consultant for private companies.

Maynor is Trogon Tours’ main local leader in Guatemala. He is a civil engineer, but also a dedicated and passionate naturalist, who decided to leave his profession behind to work as a guide and find birds every single day of his life. His interest in nature started when he received a scholarship at the American School of Guatemala, where scientific education encouraged him to participate and become a finalist in the National Biology Olympiad. After this experience he became interested in birds as he developed Environmental Impact Assessments as part of his professional practice. Because of his knowledge of bird populations, Maynor actively contributed to the International Birdwatching Encounters promoted by Guatemalan Tourism Board, where he worked to design the different routes that showed the natural richness and diversity of birds of Guatemala to the guests and participants. He is a member of Birdwatching Trainers Program sponsored by Guatemalan Tourism Board, Organization of American States, Japanese International Cooperation Agency and the Guatemalan Birdwatching Board. He has also been active as a group leader in the Christmas Bird Counts in Atitlan, Tikal and Antigua Guatemala since 2007. Maynor is very active as a birding guide, he has traveled the entire country and when not in a tour, he is constantly looking for new birding destinations. He, as a keen birder, has the first record for Guatemala of a Southern Lapwing (Vanellus chilensis). He was chosen as instructor for The National Audubon Society and Asociación Vivamos Mejor to lead the Training Course for Birding Guides – Advanced Level around Atitlan Lake, and he works hard to share every sight through eBird to help ornithologists with accurate data from citizen science.

Regina joined Trogon Tours in 2010. Born and raised Brazilian, Regina graduated in Tourism Business and have concentrated her studies in biology and ecotourism. She has been leading wildlife and nature photography trips since 1997 in her native Brazil, and more recently in Chile and Argentina as well. Birding and mammal watching has led her to travel throughout South America. She is a popular and knowledgeable person, well known for her ability in wildlife spotting. Regina speaks fluent Portuguese, English and Spanish. Nowadays she is based in Belo Horizonte, the third largest city of Brazil.

Raphael Santos is a Brazilian professional guide specialized on birds and wildlife in general. He has been totally focused on birds since 2001 when he started his career as a field biologist at PUC University in South Brazil. Raphael began an endless series of trips all over Brazil as an environmental consultant which gave him a great experience with bird communities in different regions of the Brazilian territory (Amazon Forest, Pantanal, Atlantic Forest, Brazilian Savanna, Caatinga and Pampas). Raphael did everything about working with birds, from mist netting and banding, taxidermizing and reviewing museum collections, writing and publishing scientific papers or books, photographing birds and guiding. His experience in Brazil and other countries as Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, Ecuador, Colombia, South Africa and Australia gives him an exceptional overview about the ecotourism, especially how to make a birding trip just phenomenal. His best skills as a tour leader are great knowledge of bird taxonomy, behavior and habitat needs, easy-going person who knows a lot about wildlife in general and ecological approaches; he’s main focus during the tours is to keep clients satisfied with their trip (enjoying the whole experience); he understands the clients’ main interest to make the tour better than their expectations.

Luis is Trogon Tours’ senior leader for Colombia. He is a biologist from the Tolima University with a vast experience in bird watching and scientific research on endangered species. He started leading birding tours in 2007, but from 2010 onwards he has highly specialized in leading English speaking naturalists and birders in his native Colombia. His field training as a birding tour leader was achieved through locally guiding and co-leading tours with international leaders, like Steven Hilty (Author of the book “Field Guide to the Birds of Colombia – 1986), Nick Athanas, Richard Webster and Frank Lambert to name but a few. In addition, he won a “watcher prize” from the British Petroleum Company Conservation Programme when he worked as director of an important project with the enigmatic Blue-billed Curassow in 2004. He looks after our tour logistics in Colombia, and he actively participates in the design of our Colombia tour itineraries.

Alejandro is one of Trogon Tours’ Leaders for Colombia. He is a biologist from National University of Colombia. He has carried out bird research since 2010 and has been leading birding and nature tours since 2014. He is mainly focused on birding in the Andes, Bogota Savanna area and Colombian flatlands. He was the coordinator of GOUN group (Ornithology group of National University of Colombia, between 2011-2012) and a leadership member in XXVI National Encounter of Ornithology in San Jose del Guaviare, National Coordinator of the International migratory bird day, since 2014 to the present. His field researches included topics like seed dispersal by birds and implication for natural restoration of habitats in the Colombian plains.

Cristian was born and raised in Pereira, Colombia, specifically in the Otún basin. He went to school in the rural basin area, specializing in agrotourism. He was part of a birders group called Aguilas between 2001 and 2013, where he learned about birds and bird watching. Cristian has worked as a birding guide in the Otún basin since 2014, and also as nature and mountain guide in Nevados National Park and Otún Quimbaya Wildlife Sanctuary. Crtistian also took part in different research programs for Yarumo Blanco Communitarian Association, mainly supporting community initiatives on ecotourism and bird watching. Cristian continues studying and specializing in tourism and he guides birders and naturalists for Trogon Tours in his native Colombia.