Guy Kirwan - freelance ornithologist
Welcome to my site, which introduces myself and my expertise, reviews some of my past and ongoing projects, and details some of my research
I am a freelance ornithological editor and tour-leader, based part in the UK and part in Brazil. I was one of the original founders of the Neotropical Bird Club (http://www.neotropicalbirdclub.org/) and have served as the Managing Editor of its journal, Cotinga, since 1997, as well as on the editorial board of its recently launched birding magazine, Neotropical Birding. Since 2004, I have also been the incumbent editor of the Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club (http://www.boc-online.org/), one of the world's premier ornithological journals specialising in taxonomy, nomenclature and distribution. Together with Ron Demey, I am also involved in editing the Bulletin of the African Bird Club (check their website, http://www.africanbirdclub.org/, for information about the journal and birds throughout the African continent). Between 1996 and the end of 2004 I was the editor of Sandgrouse, the journal of the Ornithological Society of the Middle East (http://www.osme.org/). I retain a strong interest in the Middle Eastern avifauna and continue to publish on the taxonomy and distribution of the birds of this region.
Southern Tamandua Tamandua tetradactyla, Serra dos Carajás, Pará, Brazil, © Will Price (http://www.pbase.com/tereksandpiper)
The main focus of my current field work is South America and the Caribbean. In particular, I have been visiting Brazil regularly
since 1995, spending up to six months per year there since 1998, both guiding birdwatchers and conducting research. Thus, for part of the year I am based in Rio de Janeiro, where my partner and I have a house in São Conrado. I have also travelled extensively elsewhere in the Neotropical region, especially to the Greater Antilles (over one year in the field in Cuba alone), Argentina, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico and Venezuela. I am a regular contributor to the periodical literature on Neotropical birds, and have published papers on distribution, taxonomy and breeding biology. During the past 15 years, I have gained extensive field experience of most taxa in Brazil. Although available to guide trips throughout the country (and elsewhere, see Tour-leading & Trip reports), my specialty is in the birds of the Atlantic Forest and the Caatinga and Cerrado biomes. I have posted some recent trip reports on Brazil, Cuba, Turkey and Venezuela on the relevant page.
Bare-faced Curassow Crax fasciolata, Serra dos Carajás, Pará, Brazil, © Will Price (http://www.pbase.com/tereksandpiper)
For some information about the new worldwide project, the Photographic Handbook of the Birds of the World, by Hans Jornvall and Hadoram Shirihai, to be published by A & C Black, go to Research. We are searching for guides in certain regions of the world.
I lead both scheduled trips (see, for instance, www.ornifolks.org) and privately organised groups, particularly in SE Brazil, but also elsewhere in Latin America, as well as in the Western Palearctic, where I am one of the foremost experts on Turkish birds.
Recent updates: new PDFs added to my Papers page (23 January 2010), new data added to my Turkey book updates page (5 February 2010) and a new report on the Tour-leading page (6 June 2009)
I can be contacted at GMKirwan@aol.com
Postal address: 74 Waddington Street, Norwich NR2 4JS, U. K.
Aparados da Serra National Park, Rio Grande do Sul, southern Brazil, © Guy Kirwan
