About Us

In June 2013 Kathi Borgmann and Josh Beck embarked on an ambitious multi-year birding expedition. We started in San Diego, California and hope to reach the southern tip of South America. Our journey is about collecting valuable data on bird species, their status and distribution, current conservation issues, and more along the way.  We hope that our journey will provide important information about many Neotropical bird species as well as inform conservation.  Throughout our journey we are using eBird every step of the way and we are also recording bird sounds for the Macaulay Library at The Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Our recordings can be found online at the Macaulay Library website.

Kathi at Rancho Primavera in Mexico

 

Kathi Borgmann received her Ph.D. from the University of Arizona in 2010 in ornithology examining factors that influence the risk of nest predation in Wilson’s Warblers and Dusky Flycatchers in the Sierra Nevada Mountains.  Since completing her PhD, Kathi has lead numerous wildlife restoration projects throughout California and has helped build predictive habitat models for rail species in North America.  Kathi is an avid birder and nature enthusiast who has been birding for more than 15 years.  Kathi has birded throughout parts of Mexico and Panama and is looking forward to birding throughout the Americas while contributing to avian conservation. For a list of publications click here. Kathi is now a science writer at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.

Josh on top of the pyramid at Calakmul

 

Josh Beck was first a programmer and engineer, then a winemaker, but has recently decided to pursue biology and conservation full time. He has traveled  climbed and birded in Mexico, Panama, Peru, and Bolivia in the past and is looking forward to dirt roads, adventures, and being able to contribute positively to conservation and knowledge of species status and distribution while en route!