Tourism

Meet our guides
Pronatura Veracruz tours

Robert Straub has been guiding birding trips with Pronatura Veracruz since the fall of 1997, when he decided to visit Mexico and the state of Veracruz and witness the River of Raptors hawk migration phenomenon. He has worked as a field biologist in the western United States as well as in Latin America for about 20 years, where the majority of the projects have involved the monitoring and study of birds, bird populations, and bird migration. Robert has also guided tours and worked as a naturalist in Costa Rica, and has taught English in Mexico.
Among other projects with Pronatura Veracruz, in the fall of 1999, Robert initiated the first season-long monitoring project for migrating passerines and other non-raptors in Veracruz where he was able to document the passage of nearly 10 million birds. He is also a founding member of our local birding club, COAX (Club de Observadores de Aves de Veracruz), and serves as the field trip coordinator. He is the author of the Site Guide to the Birds of Veracruz, published by Pronatura Veracruz, with descriptiopns of over 50 birding sites in the state.

Glenn Crawford is a naturalist of outstanding abilities. His mastery of bird identification is excelled only by the acuity of his vision and hearing. Curious about birds as a child--he was raised in the remote village of Crooked Tree in northern Belize--Glenn began his "official" birding career as a young teenager. He was so excited about birds, he would spend days at a time in "the bush" studying their field marks, habits and vocalizations long before he ever owned, or knew about field guides or binoculars. He enjoyed sharing his birding experiences and when tourists began coming to his village Glenn was there to show them his birds. One of these tourists, so impressed with Glenn's skills, gave him his first field guide and binoculars!

Glenn became an official Belizean licensed guide in 1986, and has since continued his nature studies throughout Central America. He can identify many tropical plants with their taxonomic names, as well as their local names. He is a born teacher, able to converse equally in English or Spanish, about Central American natural history.

Glenn has been guiding birding tours with Pronatura Veracruz since 2003.

Eduardo Martinez has been working with Pronatura Veracruz since 1998 on a variety of bird research projects, including assistant on the Veracruz River of Raptors hawk migration monitoring crew and as participant and leader of the La Mancha raptor banding station project. Eduardo is originally from Tuxpan, Veracruz along the north-central coast of the state, and where he studied biology at the University of Veracruz-Tuxpan campus.

Eduardo has always been interested in nature and learning in the field, and now he is one of leading bird and plant lovers of the area. He is a founding member of our local birding club, COAX (Club de Observadores de Aves de Veracruz), and served as the club’s secretary, and has been in charge of the website (www.coaxxalapa.org). Eduardo is also an active member of a local orchid club, and on outings and when bird activity is slow, spends equal time looking at plants.

Eduardo is currently working as a field biologist at the Institute of Ecology in Xalapa on an interesting project called Biocafe, where the diversity of coffee plantations is being monitored. He lives in Xalapa with his wife Lety and 4-year old daughter Selene who is already quite knowledgeable on the birds and orchids of the area!


Julio Gallardo. Julio hails from Pánuco in state of Veracruz, Mexico, and has enjoyed birding all his life. When he moved to Xalapa, the state capital of Veracruz, where he still lives, he became involved with Pronatura Veracruz, a Mexican conservation organization. It was with them that Julio honed his birding skills counting raptors and guiding groups of birders. Julio has guided often with Westwings a birding tour company led by Mark Stackhouse (see below) and met Mark at an ecotourism workshop in Oaxaca, and they have spent many years birding and guiding together in Mexico and the U.S. An accomplished bird-artist, Julio’s drawings adorn our Pronatura and Westwings t-shirts. Julio guides with Mark on many of Mexican tours where their clients have appreciated his excellent field skills and outgoing, helpful personality.

For Mark Stackhouse, birding has been his passion since he was 5 years old. Mark says, “I can’t even remember a time when I wasn’t birding.” Mark led his first birding tour, a trip to Crane Creek, Ohio for the Dayton Museum of Natural History, when he was only 16. He has now been guided birding tours for over 30 years, including 22 years in Utah. Prior to founding Westwings, Inc., Mark was Director of Education at Tracy Aviary, a Salt Lake City-owned bird park, a position he held for 12 years. In addition to leading tours through much of North America, Mark has guided groups to Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, Costa Rica and Peru. Mark is owner of Westwings birding tour company.


Rafael Rodriguez has been working for Pronatura Veracruz since 1996, primarily as a lead counter on the Veracruz River of Raptors hawk migration project, and as leader of the project since 1999. Rafa has assisted with our birding tours during the fall hawk migration season for several years and also has assisted on our cultural and archaeological tours during the spring and summer. Rafa has developed into one of the lead experts in field ID and hawk migration in Mexico, and has a great understanding of raptor movements in Veracruz.

Rafa is originally from the capitol city of Xalapa, Veracruz and studied biology at the University of Veracruz in Xalapa. He worked as an intern at Hawk Mountain Sanctuary in 1999, and since then has been a permanent staff member here at Pronatura Veracruz, and currently as the VRR monitoring project leader.

David Bacab: A native of Celestún, David says that his professional career is his passion, and is centered on ecotourism. Since 1989 he has lead dozens of natural history tours, including tours for groups from the Nature Conservancy, National Geographic Society, Victor Emanuel Nature Tours, and many other groups from conservation organizations. David is also very involved in local environmental projects. He has participated in marine turtle conservation projects, environmental education programs, and has been an active conservationist in his home community. He is actively involved in avian studies throughout the Peninsula of Yucatan, including banding and monitoring bird populations, and distribution studies. He has a university degree in Tourism Administration. Courses and workshops in natural sciences in Mexico and the United States. In the U.S. he has studied at Cornell University in New York, the Institute for Bird Population in Yosemite National Park, and with the Wildlife Service in Michigan. David is fluent in Spanish and English.

Kim Garwood: After being a birder for the last 25 years and traveling throughout the world, Kim became more attracted to butterflies particularly those of Mexico and South America. She retired in 1998 from her own computer company in Los Angeles and spent 4 years traveling the US, Canada, and Mexico. She settled in Mission, Texas, three years ago to be closer to Mexico and to be in the middle of the best US butterflying. Now she spends much of the year, traveling and photographing in Latin America. Fall and winter are spent in Texas butterflying and working.
Kim is a co-author of two field guides: Butterflies of Northeast Mexico and Butterflies of Southern Amazonia (information at www.neotropicalbutterflies.com).