ABOUT US
Mountain Chickadee © Jack Parlapiano
Professional Birding Guides
New Mexico 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 New Mexico’s birds with you!
Matt Baumann – Guide
Matt received his bachelors and masters degree from the University of New Mexico where he studied stable isotope composition in birds and small mammals across elevational gradients. He has also participated in field expeditions to South America with the Museum of Southwestern Biology on several occasions.
Matt is currently a member of the New Mexico Birds Records Committee, a statewide eBird reviewer, and helps compile seasonal reports for North American Birds. He is the vice president of the New Mexico Ornithological Society and a Research Associate at the Museum of Southwestern Biology.
Jodhan Fine – Guide
He appreciates any opportunity to look at birds but especially enjoys birding at migrant traps or sorting through shorebirds. 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 based land conservancy. Jodhan researched nest parasitism of Bell’s Vireo at the Sevilleta NWR and has spent the last few years studying wildlife corridors and connectivity in LA’s urban ecosystem.
Ben Guo – Guide
Ben first moved to the southwest in late 2019, and has birded across Arizona and New Mexico in the years since. Since moving to the southwest, he has become particularly interested in the identification of birds by vocalization.
In 2023, he began working with the Cornell Lab of Ornithology as an annotator for the popular app ‘Merlin Sound ID’. He is also currently collaborating with the Finch Research Network to create a Machine Learning Model to identify Red Crossbill call types. His website, Earbirder.com, was built to help people improve their earbirding skills.
When he goes back to visit home, Ben helps guide the very same Audubon walks where he learned how to bird— spotting eye-catching Magnolia Warblers and Yellow-throated Vireos. He’s also interested in Nocturnal Flight Calls, and loves to sit outside during the night to hear the sounds of migrating birds overhead.
Jack Parlapiano – Guide
Jack currently studies Biology, Chemistry, and avian migration at the University of New Mexico. Here, he hopes to apply his extensive knowledge of the state and its avifauna toward the conservation of imperiled areas. His fascination with migration has led him to spend many hours at migrant traps, observing morning flight, hawk-watching, and studying how birds use their habitat. In the summer, he conducted endangered Southwestern Willow Flycatcher surveys south of Albuquerque, and worked with Leiothlypis warblers in Texas’s sky islands. When the holiday season rolls around, there is only one day Jack looks forward to, the Albuquerque Christmas Bird Count: where he has been an annual participant since he was a young birder.
To extend his passion for birds and the community, Jack has fallen in love with guiding, both within New Mexico and across the United States. He has been fortunate to guide with Sabrewing Nature Tours in High Island, Texas, become a Junior Instructor at Hog Island Audubon, Maine, and lead bird walks around Albuquerque with the Bird Alliance of Central New Mexico. He loves nothing more than sharing a special moment with clients, friends, and his grandmother.
David Griffin – Guide
He conducted the first in-depth breeding bird surveys of the Organ Mountains, initiated a study of seasonal movements and nest site selection by band-tailed pigeons, and studied the ecology of yellow-eyed juncos and discovered the first instance of their hybridization with dark-eyed juncos. For his graduate work David wrote a Status and Conservation History of the Peregrine Falcon in New Mexico.
David also has in-depth knowledge of reptiles, amphibians, mammals, butterflies, and plants of New Mexico. Dave’s an adventurer and loves to explore new and overlooked areas for birds and wildlife, such as the “Sky Islands” of New Mexico (e.g., Big Burro, Alamo Hueco, Animas, Peloncillo and Organ Mountains). He loves to learn from others, and to share, educate and expose people to the wonders of the natural world.
For 5 years David served as President for the Mesilla Valley Audubon Society where he advocated for bird conservation, led field trips, and organized monthly programs; he was an advisor for New Mexico Game and Fish’s Gray Vireo Recovery Plan, an invited Instructor for the Doña Ana County Master Naturalist program, assisted with bird banding at San Andres NWR, was Leader for New Mexico Audubon’s Birdathon Team, Field Trip Leader for New Mexico State University’s Advanced Ornithology Graduate course, coordinated the Las Cruces Christmas Bird Count, and organized volunteer bird surveys. Outside of birding, David is an avid cyclist and bikepacker, and has also volunteered his time as a Bicycle Mechanic for a Children’s Holiday Bike Program and as a Children’s Bike Safety Course Instructor and Criterium Race Marshall.
Felipe Guerrero – Owner & Guide
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.
New Mexico was where Felipe landed when he made his ultimate return to the southwest in spring of 2012. Based in Pleasanton, NM he embarked on a project with a former co-worker at Hawkwatch International surveying the Gila and San Francisco Rivers for Common Black Hawks. New Mexico and its unique mix of southwestern US and northwestern MX avian diversity feels like home to Felipe.
Felipe is the owner and lead guide of American Birding Guides and New Mexico 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.
