ABOUT US

White-headed Woodpecker © Robert Royse

Professional Birding Guides

California Birding Guides is dedicated to helping you follow your passions—whether it’s discovering amazing birds, capturing that perfect photo, exploring beautiful places, or simply embracing your love of nature. Our expert guides specialize in creating personalized birding experiences tailored to your specific interests and skill level. Our unique approach combines the invaluable knowledge of local guides with the dedicated customer support provided by our administrative team. With a focus on flexibility and progressive client-centric policies regarding reservations, payments, and cancellations, we strive to create a smooth and unforgettable experience for you. We can’t wait to share our passion for California’s birds with you!

Griffin Capehart – Guide

Griffin enjoys birding in his backyard along the American River and in the Sierra Nevada Foothills, but he also travels extensively in search of new communities with unique flora and fauna. He grew up in southern Indiana along the Ohio River, where he spent much of his time searching for the scaly and slimy denizens of the Midwest. Somewhere between his college years in Indiana, his master’s at Cal Poly SLO, and his work as a field biologist in the Mojave Desert, this snake specialist became a full-blown birder. Maybe it was the colorful and charismatic warblers in southern Indiana’s dense oak-hickory and beech-maple forests—or maybe it was simply the irresistible pull of birds that captures so many...(expand for more)

Over the years, Griffin has built not only his knowledge of birds but also of plants and other animals. For a time, he shared his appreciation of the natural world by teaching natural history and ecology courses at community colleges in the Sacramento area. Today, he works as a private biological consultant. His meandering career path has provided him with a broad perspective on California’s ecology and natural history, something he loves to share with others.

Whether it’s an easy day of birding at a local hotspot or a strenuous bushwhacking adventure in search of elusive species, Griffin is ready to help.

Sammy Cowell – Guide

A Southern California native, Sammy has always had an interest in wildlife and birds, compiling yard lists and lifers throughout his younger years. In college, his passion for birding began to really take hold when he took an ornithology course in northern Michigan and got his first research experience conducting point counts and transects...

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!

Bobby Figarotta – Guide

After moving to the West Coast from New Jersey at the age of 12, Bobby has spent over a decade naturalizing and chasing rare birds up and down the golden state. He loves exploring new habitats and discovering how birds interact with the unique ecosystems California has to offer. Bobby particularly enjoys discovering how common birds are reacting to human pressures and how distributions of birds are changing in response to climate...

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.

Jodhan Fine – Guide

Jodhan Fine is a 20-year-old birder and naturalist. Born and raised in Albuquerque, Jodhan lived in New Mexico until moving to Los Angeles in 2021, where he immersed himself in California’s rich avian diversity. A nature lover since birth and a birder since 2016, Jodhan loves showing people new places and species, and derives as much excitement from finding a friend a lifer as from seeing his own...

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.

Emmett Iverson – Guide

Emmett was born and raised in the land of Yellow-billed Magpies and Nuttall’s Woodpeckers…the Central Valley of California. His introduction to birding came in the form of a gifted Sibley guide and his grandmother’s feeder in Maine. Enamored by a Rose-breasted Grosbeak, he returned to California only to discover that we have the west coast counterpart, Black-head Grosbeaks. This sparked an early interest in the status and distribution of birds and he never looked back...

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.

Max Leibowitz – Guide

Born and raised in Southern California, Max has been interested in wildlife, especially birds, since he was 12 years old. He continued to build his skills and knowledge as a birder and photographer while in high school. This motivated him to study wildlife conservation in college, pursuing his dream of becoming a naturalist and working on projects that benefit avian conservation and ecology...(expand)

Max has extensive experience birding in various habitats in San Diego, other parts of Southern California, and Southeast Arizona, and he enjoys sharing these experiences with others. He is very involved in the San Diego birding community and has led and participated in many Christmas Bird Counts. He got involved with the Palomar Audubon Society as a young birder at age 14 and continues to mentor emerging young birders.

Max has participated in numerous avian research-based fieldwork projects in the western U.S., including point count and transect surveys at several national parks in the Southwest. He has also participated in ecological research related to bird species present on farmland in Central California and other biological research from California to Washington.

Max spends much of his free time patch birding and chasing native and rare species.

Eden Smith – Guide

Eden Smith has spent her entire life fascinated by birds. Born in California but raised in Chicago and Boston, her love of birds has followed her everywhere. That passion began early—she created her first field guide at just four years old—and in 2020, right before her first field job, she began keeping a life list. Field work quickly grew into a passion of its own, giving her the chance to learn more deeply about birds than ever before. She has worked across the U.S., from the White Mountains of New Hampshire and the swamps of western Massachusetts to the Arctic in Alaska and the redwoods of northern California...(expand for more)

When she’s not working in the field, Eden spends her free time birding, relishing the incredible biodiversity California has to offer. Though shorebirds are her favorite, she believes every bird is a gift and delights in watching any species that crosses her path. During college, she led bird walks for her peers as an officer of her Wildlife Society chapter, which sparked her love of helping others find lifers and share in the joy of birding.

Eden is currently racking up species across northern California and is eager to show you what this stunning region has to offer. Whether you’re brand new to birding or a seasoned veteran, she looks forward to guiding your next adventure.

Felipe Guerrero – Owner & Guide

Felipe started his birding career 17 years ago as a college student studying natural history and ecology in Prescott, Arizona. The more he learned about birds the more he discovered about himself and his passion for exploring the natural world around us and sharing the experience with others...

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.