2023 WORKSHOP PRESENTERS
Subscribe to the Biggest Week eNews for all the latest updates
Amar Ayyash
Amar Ayyash is both an expert on the gulls of North America and an evangelist for "gull recreation". He coordinates the Annual Gull Frolic on Lake Michigan, hosts the popular website anythinglarus.com, and is often found speaking at birding events throughout the continent. Much of his free time is dedicated to traveling the world to photograph and study gulls. Ayyash has published a number of articles on gull identification, distribution, and molt. He is the author of the upcoming book, The Gull Guide. Amar lives in northern Illinois where he teaches mathematics.
Christina Baal
Christina Baal is an artist, illustrator, and environmental educator whose dream is to meet and paint 10,000 species of birds over her lifetime. After graduating from Bard College in 2014, she started her art business, Drawing 10,000 Birds, and has since traveled nonstop looking for birds. Christina loves going to bird festivals to sow her work, lead trips, teach art, and spend time with the birding community. She has designed work artwork for the Space Coast Birding and Wildlife Festival, the Biggest Week in American Birding, the New River Birding and Nature Festival, New Jersey Audubon's World Series of Birding, and created the Bird of the Year artwork for the American Birding Association in 2022. In between festivals, Christina works as an environmental educator and is a Master Naturalist in Wisconsin and California. Christina currently gets to live alongside her favorite bird, the California Condor, in Pinnacles National Park with her partner- a California Condor biologist- and their two golden retrievers.
Erik Bruhnke
Erik Bruhnke has loved birds since he was a child looking at chickadees. He graduated from Northland College in Wisconsin with a Natural Resources degree in 2008 and taught field ornithology at Northland College for three semesters. His college summers and summers to follow graduation were spent conducting bird surveys through northern forests, vast prairies, and western mountains. He worked as an interpreter for six fall seasons at Hawk Ridge Bird Observatory in Duluth, Minnesota; counted migrating raptors at the Corpus Christi HawkWatch in Texas in 2015; and was the 2016, 2017, and 2018 hawk counter at the Cape May Hawkwatch in New Jersey. Erik's wildlife photography has won national awards, and he's written for the American Birding Association's Birder's Guide, BirdWatching magazine, and Bird Watcher's Digest. Erik is a birding tour guide for Victor Emanuel Nature Tours as well as his own business, Naturally Avian. He enjoys hiking, kayaking, cross-country skiing and just being out in the snow. In his free time he loves to cook and bake.
Bridget Butler
Bridget Butler, AKA The Bird Diva, has been working in conservation and environmental education for more than 20 years throughout New England. She owns her own small business, Bird Diva Consulting, which provides presentations, outings, and online courses for folks interested in exploring their connection with birds. Bridget is a certified Kripalu Mindfulness Outdoor Guide, and has worked for the Audubon Society in Vermont, Maine, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts. Her Slow Birding work has been featured on numerous podcasts including the American Birding Podcast, Ray Brown's Talkin' Birds Podcast, and the South Africa podcast The Birding Life. As the Bird Diva, she feels that birding is for anyone who enjoys and is curious about birds - if you take delight in noticing birds, you are a birder. Bridget lives in St. Albans, Vermont with her husband and three young children.
Ernesto Carman
Ernesto Carman is a field trained naturalist. Born and raised on a small organic, shade-grown coffee farm in central Costa Rica, and inspired by his parent’s respect for nature, conservation has been an innate part of Ernesto’s life. Apart from working on his family’s farm he has been leading birding and natural history tours throughout Central and South America for part of each year since 2003. Although his focus is birds, his interest in nature as a whole enables him to impart a more complex view of environmental systems. Ernesto also dedicates part of his time to several research and conservation projects involving study species such as the Unspotted Saw-whet Owl, the Costa Rican endemic Cabanis´s Ground-Sparrow and the Cerulean Warbler. He is co-author on several published research papers about birds.
More recently Ernesto has become the Central American coordinator for the MOTUS Wildlife Tracking System for Central America. MOTUS uses radio telemetry to track the movement and behavior of small flying animals such as birds. It’s network operates in countries throughout the world.
More recently Ernesto has become the Central American coordinator for the MOTUS Wildlife Tracking System for Central America. MOTUS uses radio telemetry to track the movement and behavior of small flying animals such as birds. It’s network operates in countries throughout the world.
Cassidy Ficker
Cassidy Ficker is a first year veterinary student at the Ohio State University, planning to specialize in companion animal and wildlife medicine when receives her Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree in 2026. She completed her undergrad at OSU in the spring of 2022 with a major in Animal Sciences and minor in Wildlife Sciences. She has been a birder since third grade, growing up in the Miami Valley Christian Academy Bird Club and Ohio Young Birders Club. One of her favorite aspects of birding is connecting with others as we all celebrate a common love for birds, and she has been honored to have ample opportunities to do this both as the former president of the Ornithology Club at Ohio State and a guide at the Biggest Week in American Birding festival for the past few years. The Biggest Week area is particularly special to her as she serves as an eBird reviewer for the counties.
Tyler Ficker
Tyler found his passion for birding when his 4th grade teacher incorporated bird identification into the science curriculum. Tyler completed his undergraduate degree in the School of Environmental and Natural Resources at The Ohio State University. He as president of The Ornithology Club at Ohio State for two years. Tyler is a founding member of Lights Out Buckeyes—part of Ohio Lights Out, a network of programs aimed at making urban landscapes (in this case, the Ohio State campus) safer for migratory birds. He is an award-winning presenter at environmental, wildlife and birding conferences. He also worked as a field technician for the Ohio Division of Wildlife surveying grassland species.
Tyler is a birding and photography guide with Sabrewing Nature Tours. When he’s not traveling, he is a professional portrait, wedding, and nature photographer. He loves birding his home state of Ohio, especially during migration season, but is experienced in birding areas from Alaska to the tropics.
Tyler is a birding and photography guide with Sabrewing Nature Tours. When he’s not traveling, he is a professional portrait, wedding, and nature photographer. He loves birding his home state of Ohio, especially during migration season, but is experienced in birding areas from Alaska to the tropics.
Steve Ingraham
Steve Ingraham, The Point and Shoot Nature Photographer, has been photographing nature for going on 60 years. For the past 15 years he has used only relatively inexpensive "superzoom" Point and Shoot cameras. He publishes a daily photo blog at "Pic for the Day" and an extensive site dedicated to P&S Nature Photography. He was, for 11 years, the Birding Specialist for ZEISS Sports Optics and is a familiar face around the birding Festival circuit and in the larger birding community. He is the author of Point and Shoot for Nature Photography, available on Amazon books.
Ryan Jacob
Ryan Jacob is the Staff Ornithologist at Black Swamp Bird Observatory. Ryan started volunteering in the Navarre Marsh Banding Station in 2009 while working as a Naturalist at Maumee Bay State Park. In 2015, he was hired on full-time at Black Swamp Bird Observatory where he has worked his way up to being a certified trainer through the North American Banding Council in addition to being an integral part of all education, outreach, and research programs.
Kevin Karlson
Kevin Karlson is an accomplished birder, author, professional tour leader and wildlife photographer/instructor. He is a regular at Bird and Nature festivals in North America, where he gives keynote presentations, workshops on bird identification, and photo instruction. Kevin’s books include The Shorebird Guide (2007); Birding by Impression: A Different Approach to Bird Identification (2015); Birds of Prey, with Pete Dunne (2017) (all three Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishers); and Gulls Simplified: A Comparative Identification Approach, (Princeton University Press, 2018); and Bird Families of North America (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt), both with Pete Dunne as co-author. A new book titled “The Shorebirds of North America” with Pete Dunne (Princeton University Press) has just been completed and should be out in the fall of 2023. This book is a verbal and photographic celebration of this special bird family, and not an ID guide.
Photography books include The Birds of Cape May and Visions: Earth’s Elements in Bird and Nature Photography (Schiffer Publishing). Kevin also produced six photographic laminated foldout ID guides for Quick Reference Publishing (Raptors of Eastern and Western North America (2012); Waterfowl of North America (2013); Warblers of North America (2016); Shorebirds of North America (2014); and Owls and Nightjars of North America (2017). While officially retired, Kevin continues to lead select tours and photo workshops for his company Jaeger Tours, and for Wildside Nature Tours of Pennsylvania.
Photography books include The Birds of Cape May and Visions: Earth’s Elements in Bird and Nature Photography (Schiffer Publishing). Kevin also produced six photographic laminated foldout ID guides for Quick Reference Publishing (Raptors of Eastern and Western North America (2012); Waterfowl of North America (2013); Warblers of North America (2016); Shorebirds of North America (2014); and Owls and Nightjars of North America (2017). While officially retired, Kevin continues to lead select tours and photo workshops for his company Jaeger Tours, and for Wildside Nature Tours of Pennsylvania.
Kevin Loughlin
Kevin Loughlin was raised to appreciate nature while exploring the woodlands of Pennsylvania as a child. At age six, during a family trip through the American West, Kevin became fascinated with photography as well seeing the new and different birds throughout North America. Instilled with a love for travel and seeking new, exciting destinations he felt a desire to share his experiences with others and in 1993 he created Wildside Nature Tours.
Kevin’s photographs and articles have appeared in publications such as WildBird, Nature Photographer, Audubon, Birding and Philadelphia Magazines, as well as the many natural history books, including more than a dozen in the recent “Peterson’s Reference Guide to Owls of North American and the Caribbean” by Scott Weidensaul. Kevin’s newest project is, along with co-author John Kricher, “Galapagos: A Natural History” due out from Princeton University Press in Autumn 2022.
Kevin’s photographs and articles have appeared in publications such as WildBird, Nature Photographer, Audubon, Birding and Philadelphia Magazines, as well as the many natural history books, including more than a dozen in the recent “Peterson’s Reference Guide to Owls of North American and the Caribbean” by Scott Weidensaul. Kevin’s newest project is, along with co-author John Kricher, “Galapagos: A Natural History” due out from Princeton University Press in Autumn 2022.
Rosemary Mosco
Rosemary is a nature writer and cartoonist. Her Bird and Moon nature comics won the National Cartoonists Society’s award for Best Online Short Form Comic and were the subject of an award-winning museum exhibit. She has published 8 science books for kids and adults, including A Pocket Guide to Pigeon Watching and Butterflies Are Pretty... Gross! and has written and drawn for The New York Times, Audubon, Ranger Rick, and more.
Marky Mutchler
Marky Mutchler, a birder since the age of 3, lives in Los Angeles, California as an NSF-funded researcher at the Moore Laboratory of Zoology. Marky combines her passion for birding with her skills as an ornithologist and illustrator to produce publishable work. She also holds a B.S. in Biological Sciences from Louisiana State University, which has aided in her continued efforts to be involved in academia, with the next step being graduate school.
Marky has been a part of several field-based positions, ranging from research experiences along the Rio Grande in New Mexico to the depths of the Amazon Rainforest in Brazil. Through the knowledge gained through the variety of her work, Marky is able to use this knowledge as a teaching tool and continues to seek out ways to teach and share with others!
Marky has been a part of several field-based positions, ranging from research experiences along the Rio Grande in New Mexico to the depths of the Amazon Rainforest in Brazil. Through the knowledge gained through the variety of her work, Marky is able to use this knowledge as a teaching tool and continues to seek out ways to teach and share with others!
Diego Quesada
Costa Rican born and raised, Diego has worked as a Certified Naturalist Guide since 2002. Diego is a birder and tourist agent in Costa Rica and has a college degree in Natural Resources Management. He is a former member of the Board of Directors for the Ornithologist Association of Costa Rica and is involved with bird monitoring projects and sustainability consulting. Diego is part of the organization team for the Arenal Annual Bird Count and a volunteer reviewer for eBird in Costa Rica.
Not only does Diego actively bird Costa Rica, but he also birds in nearby countries such as Nicaragua and Panama, as well as the United States, Mexico, Guatemala, Colombia, Peru, and Ecuador.
Not only does Diego actively bird Costa Rica, but he also birds in nearby countries such as Nicaragua and Panama, as well as the United States, Mexico, Guatemala, Colombia, Peru, and Ecuador.
Lisa Rainsong
Lisa Rainsong holds a Doctor of Music Arts in Composition from the Cleveland Institute of Music and is a member of CIM’s Music Theory faculty. She earned a Naturalist Certificate from the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, where her study focused on field experience. She now teaches birdsong and insect song classes across Ohio and makes field recordings of bird songs insect songs, and amphibian songs. She does field surveys and range expansion research on crickets and katydids – work that is done primarily by ear. Her website is https://www.listeninginnature.com, her online field guide to the singing insects of NE Ohio is at https://www.listeningtoinsects.com/ and her educational blog can be found at http://listeninginnature.blogspot.com
Kelly Riccetti
Kelly Riccetti is a lifelong artist and student of nature. She writes the birding and nature blog, "Red and the Peanut," where she shares her nature research, photographs, and wildlife paintings. When not blogging or painting, she can often be found hiking the banks of the Little Miami River in Cincinnati, Ohio searching out birds, wildflowers, insects and turtles.
Rob Ripma
Rob is a lifelong Indiana resident and co-owner of Sabrewing Nature Tours. He has traveled and birded extensively throughout the Americas and taken pelagic trips into the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. He is on the board of directors for Ohio’s Black Swamp Bird Observatory (BSBO). Rob served as the President of the Board of the Amos Butler Audubon Society (ABAS) in Indianapolis from 2016-2021. Prior to joining the ABAS and BSBO boards, he served on the executive board of the Indiana Audubon Society for three years as Treasurer and Vice President. He is co-founder of the Indiana Young Birders Club and speaks at a variety of organizations and schools about birds and birding to share his knowledge and experiences in the field. He served as the primary bird blogger for Birds & Blooms Magazine from 2013-2017.
Rob loves working with new and experienced birders of all ages and believes that teaching people about birds will not only increase interest in birding but also help them better understand why we must work to protect birds and their habitats. A graduate from Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business in 2008 with a degree in Marketing, Rob lives with his wife Stephanie and daughter Molly in Carmel, Indiana.
Rob loves working with new and experienced birders of all ages and believes that teaching people about birds will not only increase interest in birding but also help them better understand why we must work to protect birds and their habitats. A graduate from Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business in 2008 with a degree in Marketing, Rob lives with his wife Stephanie and daughter Molly in Carmel, Indiana.
Jordan Rutter
Jordan Rutter is a birder and ornithologist. She got her Master's in conservation biology from the University of Minnesota - Twin Cities studying Great Lakes Piping Plovers and is now a professional science communicator specializing in bird conservation. In 2020, Jordan, and Gabriel Foley, co-founded Bird Names For Birds, an initiative to remove eponymous and honorific bird names to help increase inclusivity in the birding and ornithology communities.
Krisztina Scheeff
Based in San Diego, CA, Krisztina Scheeff is an award-winning and professional nature photographer. Recognized for her photographic work in National Audubon Society as well as a finalist in the prestigious Wildlife Photograph of the Year competition, Krisztina’s photos have been published in magazines and articles around the world, including National Geographic, Wild Planet Photo Magazine, California 101, San Diego Audubon Society, American Wild Magazine, Birders Digest, Marine Conservation Magazine – UK, North American Nature Photography Association, and more. They have also been featured in Art Shows and Galleries around the country.
Krisztina operates a successful business leading Photography Workshops and Tours to Scotland (Puffins), Ireland, Galapagos Islands, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Hungary, Bosque del Apache. She also leads workshops for Bird Festivals around the country and presents at various events.
Krisztina spent years studying and photographing the Rushing Grebes and guides her clients at Lake Hodges in San Diego to experience this amazing behavior and capture their own photos. She is often called the "Grebe Whisperer" by her clients and peers.
Krisztina operates a successful business leading Photography Workshops and Tours to Scotland (Puffins), Ireland, Galapagos Islands, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Hungary, Bosque del Apache. She also leads workshops for Bird Festivals around the country and presents at various events.
Krisztina spent years studying and photographing the Rushing Grebes and guides her clients at Lake Hodges in San Diego to experience this amazing behavior and capture their own photos. She is often called the "Grebe Whisperer" by her clients and peers.
Tom Stephenson
Tom has been birding since he was a kid.
His articles and photographs are in museums and many publications including Handbook of the Birds of the World, Handbook of the Mammals of the World, Birds of Madagascar, and Guide to the Birds of SE Brazil.
He’s guided many groups in the Americas and Asia, and had the honor of training guides for the government of Bhutan.
He’s won categories in the World Series of Birding and holds the US photo big-day record at 208 species.
As a musician Tom played concerts and did studio work for many years, worked with several Grammy and Academy Award winners, and performed with members of the NY Philharmonic and the Philadelphia Orchestra. His clients included the Grateful Dead, Phil Collins and the FBI.
His latest book, The Warbler Guide, is published by Princeton University Press and won the National Outdoor Book Award. The Warbler Guide App includes 3D rotating models and won the 2015 Design Award for AAUP.
His app, BirdGenie, is a “shazam” for bird song that helps bird enthusiasts identify over 150 common vocalizations. BirdGenie won the prestigious PROSE award from the American Association of Publishers.
He is currently working on five more books and apps for Princeton.
Tom has a patent on technology to identify animal vocalizations using a wide range of analytic criteria.
His articles and photographs are in museums and many publications including Handbook of the Birds of the World, Handbook of the Mammals of the World, Birds of Madagascar, and Guide to the Birds of SE Brazil.
He’s guided many groups in the Americas and Asia, and had the honor of training guides for the government of Bhutan.
He’s won categories in the World Series of Birding and holds the US photo big-day record at 208 species.
As a musician Tom played concerts and did studio work for many years, worked with several Grammy and Academy Award winners, and performed with members of the NY Philharmonic and the Philadelphia Orchestra. His clients included the Grateful Dead, Phil Collins and the FBI.
His latest book, The Warbler Guide, is published by Princeton University Press and won the National Outdoor Book Award. The Warbler Guide App includes 3D rotating models and won the 2015 Design Award for AAUP.
His app, BirdGenie, is a “shazam” for bird song that helps bird enthusiasts identify over 150 common vocalizations. BirdGenie won the prestigious PROSE award from the American Association of Publishers.
He is currently working on five more books and apps for Princeton.
Tom has a patent on technology to identify animal vocalizations using a wide range of analytic criteria.
Hannah Toutonghi
Hannah Toutonghi grew up in Washington State, where she discovered her love of birds and the natural world at an early age. After earning a B.S in biochemistry from the University of Washington, field work became the next chapter of her career. She has previously worked at the Natural Resources Research Institute, Whitefish Point Bird Observatory, Hawk Ridge Bird Observatory, and the Institute for Bird Populations. Highlights from those seasonal positions include getting dive-bombed by a Northern Goshawk while conducting point counts, banding juvenile Northern Saw-whet Owls, witnessing the irruption of Black-backed Woodpeckers and White-winged Crossbills during fall migration, and hearing Marbled Murrelets in the old-growth forests of the Olympic National Park. Currently, Hannah is a second year master’s student at the University of Minnesota Duluth researching the winter ecology and movement of Northern Hawk Owls. Hannah also enjoys hiking, camping, photography, and spending time with family - but never parts with her binoculars since birding can be done anytime, anywhere!
Dr. Brian Wargo
Dr. Brian M. Wargo is a physicist by training, a decorated science educator, and a hawk counter at the Allegheny Front Hawk Watch. He serves as the President of the Allegheny Plateau Audubon Society and is on the board of directors for the Hawk Migration Association of North America (HMANA) where he chairs the Data Committee as well as the Education and Conservation Committee. In addition, he is the Eastern Flyway editor for Hawk Migration Studies, the official journal of HMANA. When not counting raptors, analyzing data, teaching students, or writing books, Wargo enjoys birding and has done so in all 49 contiguous states in North America.
Brian Zwiebel
Brian began his journey with birds by enrolling in an Ornithology class at Hocking College in 1993. Several years later he began photographing the subjects he had come to know so well. Brian is co-owner and photography guide at Sabrewing Nature Tours where he has traveled far and wide in his pursuit of birds. His work has been prominently displayed at The National Center for Nature Photography in Toledo, OH. He has written several articles for Audubon and his award-winning photography has been internationally published in books and magazines including Birder’s World, Bird Watching, Bird Watcher’s Digest, Birding, and Birds and Blooms.