ABOUT US

Professional Birding Guides

California Birding Guides is about following passions – passion for being in nature, for exploring beautiful places and amazing birds, for getting the best possible photo, and for having new experiences that create lasting memories. We are honored to be able to share our passion for California birds with you!

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Jodhan Fine – Guide

He appreciates any opportunity to look at birds but especially enjoys birding on pelagics, at migrant traps, or in coastal wetlands. Jodhan has been fortunate to travel across the globe, but with an abundance of birds to find and new places to explore never tires of local birding. 

Jodhan is a regional reviewer for New Mexico, a New Mexico bird records committee member, a co-compiler of New Mexico’s NAB regional reports, and a former Central New Mexico Audubon Society board member. He’s an occasional author for ABA journals and Western Birds, and recently completed a small native bird guide for a local Los Angeles land conservancy. Jodhan researched nest parasitism of Bell’s Vireo back home in New Mexico and has spent the last few years studying wildlife corridors and connectivity in LA’s urban ecosystem.

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Bobby Figarotta – Guide

He also loves getting friends and clients lifers and is ecstatic about showing people the habitats he loves! Bobby has worked and volunteered for the National Park Service, various Audubon chapters, and environmental consulting firms. He has led walks throughout several wild areas, conducted countless field surveys, and spent thousands of hours in the field both professionally and in his down time.

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Emmett Iverson – Guide

Emmett has spent summers doing avian technician field jobs trapping and collaring Dusky Grouse in Nevada as well as doing point count surveys throughout Northern California. Emmett is an eBird regional reviewer for Yolo County, California and leads field trips for local Audubon societies regularly. He recently graduated with a bachelors from Cal Poly Humboldt in wildlife conservation biology. In his free time he enjoys looking for vagrants (rare birds) along the coasts and in the deserts of California and arguing with friends about what the next first state record for California will be.

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Sammy Cowell – Guide

He took a gap year between undergraduate and graduate school, working as a point count technician for the Intermountain Bird Observatory in the Rocky Mountains of Idaho. For his M.S., Sammy studied nesting behavior of White-headed and Black-backed Woodpeckers in the Eastern Cascades of Washington.

After graduate school, he returned to the Los Angeles area to begin teaching biology at Oxnard College and Cal State University Channel Islands. He is actively involved in the local Audubon chapters and serves on the board of the Conejo Valley Audubon Society as the Field Trips Coordinator.

While the Los Angeles area is his main stomping grounds, Sammy has explored large swaths of California throughout his whole life and is excited to help others discovery the rich biodiversity this state has to offer!

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Otto Mayer – Guide

Otto has also been lucky to bird all over the US. He has assisted with Audubon surveys, conducted shorebird ID workshops, participated in Christmas Bird Counts, and led field trips in Oregon, California, Florida and Wisconsin. In 2023 he had the wonderful opportunity to work as a local bird guide conducting private bird tours in Iberia. Otto has a keen interest in all things nature—including herpetology and conservation issues.

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Felipe Guerrero – Owner & Guide

After several years of avian field surveys, graduate school, adventures in non-profit environmental education, and countless birding trips across the US and to destinations such as Chile, northern Mexico, and Dominican Republic, he started what would become American Birding Guides in 2018.

Having family in the bay area, Felipe has looked forward to his many visits to California since he was a child. In adulthood, his rediscovery of this beautiful part of the country in the context of its staggering biological diversity has inspired a new and exciting relationship with the Golden State and its birds.

Felipe is the owner and lead guide of American Birding Guides and California Birding Guides. He is currently a member of the Arizona Bird Committee, and a former eBird reviewer for Yavapai, Navajo, and Apache Counties. In the past he served as Field Expeditions Chair and board member for Arizona Field Ornithologists, as well as board member for Prescott Audubon Society.