Meet the team

Member of the local environmental association ADENEX (from Extremadura) and co-founder of the SEO-Cáceres group, Santiago runs Spainbirds Nature Tours since the beginning in 1999. He has also led tours for some of the well known UK and American tour companies such as Sunbird, Wings, Heatherlea, The Travelling Naturalist, Celtic Bird Tours (now Oriol Birding), Wildside Nature Tours and Victor Emanuel Nature Tours (VENT) as well as for ABA (American Birding Association) and several RSPB local groups. Santi has also taken part as an expert in Ecoturism in meetings and conferences in different localities of Spain such as Madrid, Cádiz, Trujillo, Monfragüe and Doñana, as well as in Lisbon (Portugal). He also has a proved experience leading tours into another countries such as Morocco, The Gambia, Costa Rica, Portugal, Scotland and Norway... and he has co-led tours to Uganda, Romania, The Netherlands, Poland, Estonia, Turkey, Ecuador, Colombia, Panama, Kirgiztan, Kazakhstan and India.  

A naturalist at heart, including a particular interest in orchids, dragonflies, butterflies and moths, birds however have been his principal focus from the beginning, having accrued almost 40 years of birdwatching experience. Following post-graduate research work on passerines at Oxford University extensive volunteer work in Armenia lead to almost a year in the United States helping write and giving advice on production of the Field Guide to the Birds of Armenia. A translator and writer too, he published A Birdwatching Guide to Extremadura in 2000 and is working on The Birds of the Balearic Islands too. Apart from specialising as a guide in Spain -from the Canary Islands to the Balearics, the Pyrenees and Picos de Europa-, he has also lead in such classic destinations as Scotland, Finland, Estonia, Poland, Romania, Bulgaria and Lesvos, as well as further afield in Canada, Galápagos & Ecuador, Trinidad & Tobago, South Africa and New Zealand.

Javi Elorriaga has worked as field ornithologist on international projects including the conservation of the Cinereous Vulture in the Balkans (WWF-Greece) and the Bearded Vulture in the Pyrenees and Picos de Europa (FCQ), monitoring of bird migration in the Strait of Gibraltar (Migres), the Osprey in the Basque Country, and the migration geography of the Turkey Vulture (Hawk Mountain Sanctuary, USA). Javi has participated in over 30 scientific papers and has also been a member of the Spanish Committee of Rare Birds (SEO/Birdlife). Wildlife photography is another of his great passions. Since 2012 he is a full time nature guide based in Tarifa and leads tours for international tour operators throughout Spain and Morocco. 

Ricardo was born in San Sebastian (Basque Country) but spent his early childhood in Barcelona before moving definitively to Exremadura. He now lives near the well-known Monfrague National Park in Extremadura, where he has worked almost exclusively around  the southwest corner of Spain and the Extremadura region as a private nature and birdwatching guide for independent travelers for more than 15 years. Currently he is collaborating with the Extremadura Regional Government on several projects such as organizing the first ever Spanish Birdwatching Fair (FIO), the Crane Festival and other promotional activities related to Eco-tourism. The mountains of Gredos, the Caceres steppes, Monfrague National Park and the Arrocampo wetlands are his main birding spots. He also collaborates as a bird guide for Spainbirds, Iberian Nature, ECOTUREX, Norfolk Birding or Ramblers, just to mention a few of the most well-known companies. He is a member  of GUIDEX (Extremadura Professional Nature Guides Association).

Yeray was borned in the Canaries but is also strongly liked to North Spain. He has travelled all around Spain and North America, first as a vet and then as ornithologist, getting involved in ecoturism in 2011, being a co-founder of both travel agencies in Spain and Central America. After this he moved down South to Tarifa, a real hotspot for the raptor migration in Europe where he currently lives. Yeray is currently very focused on guiding around his hometown besides many other Spanish destinations, as well as leading overseas tours in Africa, America and Asia. He started his collaboration with Spainbirds in 2013 and has led tours in Costa Rica and Brazil.