Flock to Marion AGAIN! – Experts

Peter Harrison, MBE
Apex Expeditions
Peter Harrison is a renowned seabird expert, author, artist, and conservationist. His latest book, SEABIRDS: The New Identification Guide, is a comprehensive guide to the world’s 434 seabird species and the culmination of a lifetime dedicated to seabirding. In recognition of his global conservation efforts, Peter received an MBE from Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II. Peter was also honoured for his contributions to the conservation of marine birds on the 100th Anniversary of BirdLife. In 2023, Peter was selected by BirdLife South Africa as the first patron for the Mouse-free Marion Project to help conserve the seabirds of Marion Island.

Professor Peter Ryan
University of Cape Town
Renowned ornithologist Peter Ryan is an Emeritus Professor at the University of Cape Town and a former Director of the FitzPatrick Institute of African Ornithology. He is passionate about bird conservation, has authored over 500 research papers, multiple bird books, and is scientific advisor for BirdLife South Africa’s award-winning magazine, African Birdlife. He has conducted research on the birds on remote islands like Marion, Gough and Inaccessible for 40 years, and has been instrumental in promoting the conservation of seabirds and their breeding islands through a variety of management interventions.

Hadoram Shirihai
Almodôvar Birding Center and Observatory
Hadoram Shirihai is a world-renowned ornithologist and explorer, distinguished for his groundbreaking work with tubenoses and petrels. He has published 12 books and won numerous awards, extensively documenting rare seabirds through meticulous research expeditions. Having observed nearly 8000 bird species and photographed over 7000, Shirihai holds the largest photographic collection from the Neotropical region. A pioneer in bird conservation, he discovered and rediscovered several critically endangered petrel species through persistent multi-year expeditions. Founder of the International Birding Center in Eilat and author of the ‘Complete Guide to Antarctic Wildlife’, Shirihai continues his mission of protecting and understanding the world’s most elusive marine birds.

Trevor Hardaker
Zest for Birds
Trevor Hardaker has been birding from a very young age and did his first pelagic trip over 35 years ago. Since then, he has done hundreds of pelagic trips in his hometown of Cape Town and elsewhere in Southern Africa, and has also travelled fairly extensively around the world looking at birds, having visited and birded on all 7 continents. He runs a company called Zest for Birds that operates pelagic trips in the Cape and he also runs the SA Rare Bird News email alert system with thousands of Southern African birders subscribed to it, a major lifeline to twitchers and listers countrywide. As an avid twitcher and lister himself, Trevor has seen more species in Southern Africa than anyone else with his current total sitting at 942 species. He is also a co-author of the recently published Veld Birds of Southern Africa: The complete photographic guide.

Professor Martin Perrow
Wildside Nature Tours
Martin has been an ecological consultant and researcher for over 35 years, with interests in all aquatic wildlife. A prolific editor and author, he is perhaps best known for his work on several seminal books including the Handbook of Ecological Restoration; Wildlife and Wind Farms: Conflicts and Solutions; and, after a chance meeting with Peter Harrison on a subantarctic seabird quest, Seabirds: The New Identification Guide. Terns are a particular passion and Martin is currently planning a book on the group. With a 25-year history of leading wildlife tours, he looks forward to working alongside friends and colleagues, especially those from South Africa who know the birds and mammals of their waters better than anyone. Trip dreams include a handful of lifers and the fantasy of a nomadic Kerguelen Tern checking out the ship.

Vincent Ward
Birding Africa / Cape Town Pelagics
Vincent Ward is a tour leader for Cape Town Pelagics and Birding Africa and visited Marion Island as a member of the 2001 Seabird Summer Survey. His other seabird experience includes conducting research while living on several of the South African coastal islands, and a number of research cruises including a trip to Antarctica in 2019. Vincent was a guide on the 2022 Flock to Marion.

Dalton Gibbs
Birding Africa
Dalton Gibbs is a nature conservator, having worked in Cape Town for many years. He leads pelagic day trips in Cape Town as well as birding tours across Southern Africa when he gets the chance. He has been fortunate to have spent some time on Gough Island and has guided on all the Flock at Sea trips.

Dylan Vasapolli
Birding Ecotours
Dylan Vasapolli is a senior tour leader for Birding Ecotours, and additionally runs the South African office for Birding Ecotours. When not overseeing all of Birding Ecotours’ African tours, he is out guiding specialist birding tours all through Africa, and many other places around the world. Dylan has extensive seabird experience off southern Africa, guiding onboard many of the past Birdlife South Africa Flock@Sea events, along with regular pelagic outings off coastal South Africa. He considers pelagic birds to be amongst his favourite group of birds.

Niall Perrins
Bustards Birding
Niall Perrins is a fulltime guide who in addition organises pelagic trips out of Durban, Cape Town and Mozambique. He has spent time monitoring birds on the SA Agulhas II in 2017, as well as guided on Previous Flock trips. Pelagic birds are amongst his favourite bird families.

Jordan Ralph
Jordan Ralph is a freelance specialist bird guide, specialising in southern Africa and having experience in Madagascar and the Indian Ocean Islands. He currently works for AfriAvian Environmental as a Bird Specialist Field Observer for prospective renewable energy projects, conducting surveys countrywide across South Africa. He also has extensive experience in the Southern Ocean, having been privileged to visit Antarctica on a Summer visit to SANAE IV on the SA Agulhas II in 2020. He has also visited Marion Island waters on two previous occasions in addition to guiding on the previous BirdLife South Africa “Flock at Sea” events.

Professor Ken Findlay
Afriseas Solutions (Pty) Ltd.
Ken Findlay is, by background, a marine mammal biologist (mainly working in large whale population biology) with extensive experience conducting field surveys in the Southern Ocean, Antarctica, the sub-Antarctic, and the western Indian Ocean. He is also a member of the IUCN cetacean and IUCN sirenian specialist groups, and the IWC Scientific Committee. He currently directs Afriseas Solutions, a consulting company specializing in ocean governance and sustainable ocean development. He is a keen ocean and underwater photographer.

Bruce Dyer
Bruce Dyer has worked professionally with all of southern Africa’s seabird species for 43 years at localities ranging from Angola, KwaZulu-Natal, and Latham Island (Tanzania). Bruce has undertaken 29 voyages to the Prince Edward Islands and several others to Antarctica, Tristan da Cuhna, Gough, South Georgia, and Bouvet. It’s hard to single out one as his favorite, given his unwavering passion for them all. His stand-out “spark birds” are e Bank Cormorant, Crozet Shag, and Emperor Penguin.

John Kinghorn
BirdLife South Africa – Avitourism Project Manager
John has always had a deep-rooted passion for birding and conservation and will oversee the seabird and mammal expert team for the 2025 voyage. At age 29, he has been an avid birder for 18 years and a professional specialist bird guide for 11 years. He has spent countless hours birding the southern oceans as both a guide and bird observer for the Atlas of Seabirds at Sea project, prior BirdLife South Africa Flock at Sea events, and pelagic day trips across the country. John relishes the opportunity to share his passion for birding and bird conservation with everyone on board.

Vernon Head
Vernon Head is past chairperson of BirdLife South Africa, and presently serves on the Board as Marketing Director. He is vice-chairperson of African BirdLife Magazine and sits on the Advisory Board of the FitzPatrick Institute of African Ornithology. He is a bestselling, award-winning international author, writing about the natural world and is a Fellow International of the Explorers Club in New York.

Justin Nicolau
Unearth Safaris
Justin Nicolau is the founder of Unearth Safaris and an avifaunal specialist in the renewable energy sector. Post his BSc (Hon) degree in Biodiversity & Conservation, he commenced his journey as a bird guide, leading trips across four continents. He sits on the SA Rare Bird Committee and is an avid lister, photographer and outdoor enthusiast. He doesn’t own long pants.

David Hoddinott
Rockjumper Worldwide Birding Adventures
David Hoddinott is a senior tour leader at Rockjumper and has been leading tours worldwide since 2001. He was a tour leader on Rockjumpers maiden Antarctica, South Georgia & Falklands tour in 2008. David has lead numerous pelagic trips off Durban and Cape Town and was a tour leader on the previous Flock to Marion.

Keith Springer
Mouse-Free Marion Project 
Keith Springer is the Operations Manager for the Mouse-Free Marion Project. In this role, he works with Anton Wolfaardt to deliver the project’s planning phase. Keith has a background in conservation and forestry and has been involved with several eradication projects on sub-Antarctic islands. He has worked as a naturalist, guide, and zodiac driver on expedition and cruise ships to the Antarctic and sub-Antarctic islands for over 25 years and has lectured on board on seabirds, penguins, marine mammals, and island restoration work. Keith is based in New Zealand.

Dr Anton Wolfaardt
Mouse-Free Marion Project 
Anton Wolfaardt has worked for 30 years in seabird and marine conservation. His journey started on Marion Island in 1994, where he spent a year as a seabird field researcher. Anton subsequently spent five years on Dassen Island, off the west coast of South Africa, working initially as a contract researcher and later as the conservation manager of the island. In 2008, Anton headed to the Falkland Islands to take up the newly created position of ACAP (Agreement on the Conservation of Albatross and Petrels) Co-ordinator but ultimately returned to South Africa in 2013, where he continued to serve as the Co-convenor of ACAP’s Seabird Bycatch Working Group. In February 2021, Anton was appointed as the Project Manager for Mouse-Free Marion.

James ‘Wade’ Lee
Rockjumper Worldwide Birding Adventures
Wade has been surrounded by nature his entire life, having grown up on the Manyoni Private Game Reserve in South Africa. He took up birding at the tender age of 8 and qualified as a professional nature guide as soon as he completed his school career. To further his global experience, Wade took a sabbatical from the African savannas and spent months guiding in the Andean Cloud Forests of Ecuador.

Mark Beevers
Rockjumper Worldwide Birding Adventures
Mark is a U.K. based birder based in Derbyshire where he is joint county recorder (rare birds) and chair of the county rarity committee. A 35 year career as a police officer has given him enviable people skills and since retirement he has concentrated on his local patch, visible migration and on travelling, particularly through Africa, where is one on very few people to have seen more than 2,000 species (currently 2052). Although most of his pelagic experience is in the northern hemisphere including several trips off Morocco, Madeira and Cape Verde he has completed two tours to Antarctica and has been on pelagic trips out of Cape Town.

Holly Faithfull
Rockjumper Worldwide Birding Adventures
Holly’s passion for nature and wildlife began at a young age growing up in rural England. Her curiosity about the world took her traveling at the age of 17, and she has not looked back since, with her interest in wildlife taking her to more than 100 countries. While continuing her travels Holly qualified as a lawyer, spending seven years as a commercial litigator for an international law firm in London before her wanderlust finally drew her away. Since 2000 she has been involved in ecotourism full-time, scouting and operating wildlife-watching trips all over the world, as well as guiding tours to more than 50 countries on all seven continents.

Daniel Danckwerts
Rockjumper Worldwide Birding Adventures
Daniel Danckwerts is the Tailormade Manager at Rockjumper Birding Tours and has nearly a decade of guiding experience covering both Africa and Asia. Dan has a passion for seabirds in particular and, as an aside from his guiding career, has a PhD on the genetic structure of tropical seabird populations. He has published several articles based on this research as well as other topics including seabird-fishery interactions, rat eradications on tropical islands, and diet studies. His favourite place in the world is Antarctica, the ultimate seabird paradise.

Julian Parsons
Rockjumper Worldwide Birding Adventures
A South African by upbringing, Julian’s passion for nature, birding and photography have taken him all over southern and West Africa, as well as South Asia. The incredible experiences gained along the way have developed and refined his style as a guide and photographer, further fuelling his passion to explore and discover the hidden beauties of this planet’s breath-taking natural history.

Tim Carr
Tim Carr is a Birding guide on the Garden Route and has guided many Pelagic birding trips from Knysna. He was a Guide on the previous Flock to Marion and has done 1 trip as a bird observer on the SAS Agulhas to Antartica. Tim has been guiding across Southern Africa for 29 years and currently involved in a conservation and biodiversity stewardship project in Wilderness.

Garret Skead
Garret Skead is a part-time pelagic guide for Cape Town Pelagics and Zest for Birds, and guided on Flock to Marion 2022. Garret serves as the Prince Edward Island and Western Cape pelagic eBird reviewer, and is the chair of the SABAP2 National Atlas Committee. His favourite sea bird is Light-mantled Albatross.

Rob Leslie 
Rob Leslie grew up in KwaZulu-Natal and started birding at a young age. He worked as a Fisheries Scientist (1980-2018) and Fisheries and marine Mammal Observer (2018-2024), spending over 2,500 days at sea, mainly on commercial fishing and research vessels. This included 12 months in the Southern Ocean working on fishing vessels in the South African EEZ and near Marion Island. He has guided many birding pelagics, including Flock-at-sea 2017 and Flock-to-Marion 2022.

Gary Alport 
BirdLife International 
Gary Allport is an Adviser to the CEO at BirdLife International. He has worked for BirdLife since 1990 having been in charge of the Africa programme, the Pacific region, developed a policy office in Washington DC before moving to the CEOs team. He currently works on strategic relationships for BirdLife and the development of broad scale initiatives for flyway conservation. He has lived in Mozambique, Sri Lanka and, now, Bangladesh (where he misses his favourite bird, the Manx Shearwater).

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Tristan Spurway
Bustards Birding Tours
Ryaristan Spurway is an experienced free-lance guide for Bustard’s Birding Tours. He has led multiple pelagic trips off the coast of Durban, KZN, as well as various tours around the southern Africa sub-region. Tristan was also a guide on “Flock to Marion 2022“, seeing his dream bird and his namesake for the first time – the Tristan Albatross. When not birding, Tristan can be found playing rugby or in the gym and is always ‘down’ for a long chat, so feel free to stop him and chat about anything birding to your favorite wine. His favourite bird is a hard choice between Narina Trogon and White-headed Petrel.

Jonathan Balmer
Eastern Cape Pelagic Seabirding
Jo “Buggs” Balmer has been birding since the mid 90’s at the tender age of 3, but only experienced his first pelagic in 2016. Since then, he has attended both Flock trips (Flock to Nowhere in 2017 and Flock to Marion in 2022), and took over as lead guide for Eastern Cape Pelagic Seabirding in 2019, conducting semi-regular tours from PE and Port Alfred. Jo is currently employed full-time as a faunal specialist at CES, where he started after completing his M.Sc on the African Barred Owlet in early 2023.

Jason Boyce
AfriAvian Environmental
Jason Boyce is an Avifaunal Specialist and field-team manager at AfriAvian Environmental and has enjoyed working alongside some of South Africa’s top avifaunal specialists since 2020. Before that Jason worked as a senior tour leader and office staff for Birding Ecotours from 2013 – 2019. During this time he led many birding tours, day trips and pelagic trips across Africa, Europe and Asia. Jason also assisted as a guide on BirdLife South Africa’s Flock at sea in 2017.

Gerald Broddelez
Apex Expeditions
Gerald Broddelez is a seasoned Expedition Leader and lecturer aboard expedition ships, with his journey having carried him across all the world’s oceans and 170 countries, with his heart firmly anchored in the majestic realms of the high Arctic, the Antarctic, and Polynesia. With an unshakable devotion to nature and conservation, he has seen more than 8,800 avian species, encountered over 1,500 magnificent mammals, and studied the vibrant butterflies of Europe extensively. In recent years, Gerald has expanded his mission, nurturing the next generation of nature guides through field training courses and by forming partnerships with local tourism boards in multiple European countries, sowing the seeds of a shared vision for sustainable and responsible travel. Belgium is home, and in addition to speaking his first languages of French and Flemish, he is also fluent in English, German, and Spanish. Gerald’s extraordinary journey reflects his boundless love for our world’s wild wonders, and he hopes to inspire and lead the way toward a harmonious coexistence between humanity and nature.

Cassie Carstens
BirdLife South Africa
Cassie Carstens is the Secretarybird Project Manager at BirdLife South Africa and has been involved in the tourism industry for more than two decades. He is a highly qualified field guide, with specialisation in forest birding. However, he has earned his sea legs on several pelagic trips and still gets giddy when spotting the first albatross soaring over the waves.

Callan Cohen
Birding Africa / Cape Town Pelagics
Callan is Director of Birding Africa, a bird tour company he founded, and loves sharing his passion for birds, having led over 150 tours across Africa and Madagascar. He also coauthored the Southern African Birdfinder, and is a Research Associate at the FitzPatrick Institute at the University of Cape Town. He watches seabirds daily from his home on the Cape Peninsula.

Mark Dixon
Garden Route Trail
Mark Dixon is a birding and nature guide for Garden Route Trail as well as the founder of Strandloper Project which focuses on marine research. His passion for Antarctic and Sun-Antarctic marine life was triggered when was a CCAMLR Scientific Observer for 5 years on Toothfish Longlining boats operating in the Prince Edward island archipelago and Ross Sea which included recording Antarctic pelagic birds. Without a doubt, his favourite Antarctic seabird is the Light-mantled Sooty Albatross

Daniel Engelbrecht
Birding Ecotours 
Despite growing up miles from the ocean in the Limpopo Province, Daniel Engelbrecht has always had a soft spot for seabirds. Over the years, he’s been fortunate enough to spend a fair amount of time at sea and has been aboard all of the previous “Flock at Sea” events. He currently works as a guide for Birding Ecotours.

Luke Goddard
Birding Africa Tours & Cape Town Pelagics
Luke fell in love with birding at a young age and is becoming well known around Cape Town for the rare and unusual birds he’s able to find, and the passion for which he shares his sightings with guests. He’s an all-round naturalist and also enjoys searching for reptiles and amphibians.

Amanda Guercio
Rockjumper Worldwide Birding Adventures
Amanda is a biologist and guide from Toronto, Canada, and has pelagic guiding experience off the Atlantic and Pacific coasts of Canada and the USA. She has a strong affinity for gulls and skuas, but there is nothing quite like watching a Pterodroma.

Richard ‘Stratton’ Hatfield
Rockjumper Worldwide Birding Adventures
Stratton is a passionate guide, and his love for birding and conservation is contagious. He was born in Zimbabwe to American parents. He began birding at the age of 7 in Nata, Botswana. His immediate family now lives in Kenya and the Netherlands – and he is proud to call both countries home. Stratton is currently pursuing a PhD at Wageningen University in the Netherlands studying Martial Eagle ecology in the Maasai Mara ecosystem of southern Kenya.

Juan van den Heever
AfriAvian Environmental
Juan van den Heever is a bird specialist and field observer at AfriAvian Environmental, where he conducts countrywide bird surveys for potential Wind Energy Facilities. In addition to joining the past two “Flock at Sea” events, Juan has participated in numerous Pelagic tours and embarked on a month-long voyage to Antarctica via The Drake Passage. Seabirds are a favourite of his, and he thoroughly enjoys identifying and studying them. His favourite Seabird is the Light-Mantled Albatross.

Decklan Jordaan
Bustards Birding Tours
Decklan Jordaan is a studying guide in South Africa and has assisted in leading numerous pelagic trips off the coast of Durban, KwaZulu-Natal. He has been privileged to have been on the previous Flock to Marion in 2022. Decklan’s favourite sea bird is a Bullers Shearwater.

Michael Mason
Michael Mason is an obsessive birder and wildlife photographer with a lifelong passion for all things nature. He has been a regular on pelagic trips from Cape Town for nearly 3 decades and more recently a part-time guide for Zest Pelagics. In 2002 he was fortunate enough to spend 10 days on Marion Island during the summer survey of surface-nesting birds by Marine and Coastal Management. It was a real privilege for him to spend time in those waters again on the first Flock to Marion.

Joshua Olszewski
Birding Ecotours
Joshua Olszewski is one of Birding Ecotour’s newest guides and has been an avid birder for 20+ years. He has done many pelagic trips in South African waters and is equipped with a broad knowledge of the world’s bird species. With an aptitude for seabird identification, Josh’s top seabird on his wish list is the Ringed Storm-Petrel.

Justin Ponder 
Justin Ponder is a young birder from the Garden Route whose love for birds has gotten him involved in bird guiding and identification since he was fifteen years old. Justin has assisted with seabird identification on multiple pelagics off of Knysna and has experience with pelagics off of Cape Town as well. Since his first pelagic birding experience, Justin has fallen in love with seabirds, with Albatrosses, in particular, being his favorite bird family.

Joel Radue
Birding Africa and Cape Town Pelagics
Joel Radue is a guide for Birding Africa and Cape Town Pelagics, with four years of pelagic guiding experience. He is a passionate birder and naturalist, and loves sharing about the natural world with others. Joel is also doing his Masters at the Fitzpatrick Institute of African Ornithology.

Lance Robinson
FreeLance Birding / AfriAvian Environmental
Lance Robinson is an avid nature enthusiast, with a particular interest in birds. He currently works as a field specialist in avifauna and also as a freelance bird guide. Lance has participated in several pelagic expeditions in South African waters and is always eager to share his knowledge and help beginner birders.

Pieter Scholtz
Pieter Scholtz is currently the Africa Lead for Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) at KPMG. In this role he leads the KPMG teams across the continent that work with the public and private sector to improve their sustainability performance for the benefit of the environment, their shareholders and society at large. In his spare time he is an avid birder with a particular passion for pelagic birding. Pieter has done more than 40 pelagic trips from Cape Town and Durban and claims the previous Flock to Marion was one of his birding highlights.

Anton Schultz
Anton is a young birder with a love for adventure. In 2019, Anton set out on the Southern African Big Year challenge aiming to see 800 species of birds in one calendar year. He later became the youngest birder ever to achieve the milestone at the age of 19, with a year total of 804. Included in this total was a wide variety of seabirds seen across multiple pelagic trips. He is currently on yet another gap year before pursuing his honours in zoology. Anton loves to share his knowledge and enthusiasm with everyone as he continues exploring his passion.

Jade Sookhoo
SANCCOB
Jade Sookhoo is an outgoing, enthusiastic, conscientious, and self-motivated individual with a passion for marine wildlife. Currently working as a seabird rehabilitator at SANCCOB to bolster the African Penguin population in the wild, she would consider the African Penguin one of her favourite seabirds. Prior to this, she has also been a marine guide and biologist aboard a whale-watching vessel and therefore has knowledge of cetaceans as well as pelagic seabirds encountered on those trips and has also aided with great white shark data collection and tagging expeditions. Jade is friendly, energetic, responsible, reliable and fast learning which makes her work hard and strive to do her best at all times. Her passion for the ocean makes her willing to learn and expand her knowledge on wildlife.

David Swanepoel
Cape Town Pelagics
David Swanepoel is a birding guide at Cape Town Pelagics and Birding Africa and has more than five years of experience leading pelagic tours out of Cape Town. He was fortunate to have been on the previous Flock to Marion cruise in 2022.

Ryan Tyrer
Rockjumper Worldwide Birding Adventures
Ryan Tyrer is a Tour Leader with Rockjumper who has been in the tourism industry since 2014. He was privileged to be on the first “Flock to Marion” voyage and will be joining as a guide for the first time on this voyage. Ryan has a growing passion for pelagic birding and hopes to be involved in a lot more in the years to come. King Penguin and Light-mantled Albatross are his top birds seen on a pelagic to date.

Jandré Verster
AfriAvian Environmental
Jandré Verster is a bird specialist and field observer for AfriAvian Environmental. He conducts bird surveys countrywide for prospective renewable energy facilities. He joined the previous Flock to Marion and despite it being his first pelagic, he flourished and quickly came into vogue with identifying all the different seabird species. Not only does he have a great passion for birding in general, but pelagic birds quickly become one of his favourite. His favourite Seabird is the Sooty Albatross.

Melissa Whitecross
Reconnect
Melissa Whitecross (PhD) is Co-Founder of Reconnect and a Senior Conservation Officer at Conservation Alpha. Melissa has guided birding trips for over five years including the Kruger Challenge. Melissa has joined every Flock at Sea voyage since their inception in 2013. Melissa still lights up with excitement every time she sees an Albatross.

Robert Williams
Rockjumper Worldwide Birding Adventures
Rob Williams is a British ecologist who earned a PhD on population dynamics of the Long-eared Owl and then worked for international conservation organisations across the globe but mainly in South America where he worked on threatened species including White-winged Guan and Andean Condor. He has been guiding bird tours since 1997, and for Rockjumper for the last 15 years. He has led pelagic trips out of Peru and tours in Antarctica. He is a keen photographer and has worked for magazines including National Geographic. His favourite bird is Crescent-faced Antpitta.

Leandri de Kock
Mouse-Free Marion
Leandri de Kock has an MSc in Statistical Ecology from the University of Cape Town and a BSc (Hons) in Zoology from the University of Pretoria. She also has several years of fieldwork experience, including working as an overwintering field assistant on the 77th expedition to Marion Island (in 2020/2021). In this role, she installed, maintained, and downloaded data from wind stations and carried out carcass searches. She also assisted with the population monitoring of the island’s seabirds and seals and collected GPS data from various seabirds. Leandri’s MSc thesis focused on the behavior of penguin species from the Antarctic Peninsula. Currently, she works as a Junior Zoologist, where she is involved in live bird and passive acoustic bat monitoring at wind farm sites. In her spare time, she is an active birder, sports enthusiast (running, cycling, and swimming), and an adventurous traveler.

Martin Taylor
Martin Taylor is a FGASA accredited specialist bird guide with over twenty years’ experience birdwatching and working in the conservation field in Africa. He is passionate about threatened bird species and was the lead editor of the 2015 Red Data Book of Birds of South Africa, Lesotho and Swaziland, the author of the 2018 State of South Africa’s Bird Report and a member of BirdLife South Africa’s List Committee for several years. In the past he has acted as coordinator of SADC region for the East Atlantic Flyway Initiative, which aims to protect habitat for Palearctic migratory bird species and was involved in several capacity building initiatives assisting conservation organisations across southern Africa. His birdwatching travels have taken him across Africa including Angola, South Africa, Mozambique, Malawi, Namibia, Egypt, Kenya, Lesotho, the Seychelles, Central African Republic and Zimbabwe.

Andrew de Blocq
Andrew de Blocq is a Member of Parliament and the Democratic Alliance’s Spokesperson on Forestry, Fisheries, and the Environment. Andrew is the former Avitourism Project Manager at BirdLife South Africa and oversaw the team of seabird experts on the previous Flock to Marion cruise in 2022. After joining BirdLife South Africa in 2018, Andrew worked on African Penguins for two years before changing roles within the organization. Before joining BirdLife South Africa, Andrew guided over 30 pelagic trips out of Cape Town and also joined the SA Agulhas II in 2016 on a voyage to the edge of Antarctica as a seabird observer.

Tuomas Seimola
Rockjumper Worldwide Birding Adventures
Tuomas Seimola’s birding has grown from a passionate hobby to a full-time career as an ornithologist. The part of his work that he enjoys the most is being able to show remarkable sightings of rare and desirable birds to fellow birders around the world. During the last 15 years, he has guided wildlife and birding tours across four continents, but in his heart, nothing can rival South America. Two years ago, Tuomas had an unforgettable moment when his team set a new “Big Day” world record in Ecuador, observing 431 species in a single calendar day.