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Birding Galapagos with WINGS

Naturalists

Rich Hoyer
Richard Polatty

Top: Swallow-tailed Gull, Creagrus furcatus, on South Plazas at sunset. (Richard Polatty)

Rich Hoyer

Before birds, Rich Hoyer had discovered reptiles, amphibians, bugs, plants and other creepy crawly things, most of which he and his brother kept in cages in their bedroom. He could identify at least 20 species of birds too, until a move to northern California at the age of 14 led to the discovery of a Plain Titmouse, the one that got him hooked on birding.

Combining a love of languages and natural history, Rich Hoyer completed a double major in German and Zoology at Oregon State University. He worked on various "biobum" jobs doing bird surveys in places such as southeastern Arizona, western Oregon, California and western Russia. His first professional guiding job during the summers of 1996 and 1997 was as a natural history interpreter on St. Paul Island in Alaska's Pribilofs, where he guided birding groups, explained the life history of the Northern Fur-Seal to German tourists and discovered North America's first Chinese Pond-Heron. He has been a field leader for WINGS since September 1997.

Rich has also studied Spanish and recently added Portuguese, honing his language skills at a school in the state of Alagoas, Brazil as well as during a two-month volunteer guiding job at Cristalino Jungle Lodge in Mato Grosso.

Today when Rich is at home between tours in Tucson, Arizona, he sings English madrigals with a group of friends and occasionally makes use of his several years of piano lessons. He also loves to garden and bake bread (skills from his mother) and will rarely miss an opportunity to catch a lizard or snake (influence from his father). When leading tours, Rich also enjoys pointing out butterflies, dragonflies and plants, provided of course, there's a break in the birding. The diversity of his natural history interests is well represented in Rich's blog, Birdernaturalist.

Richard Polatty

Richard Polatty will be a Naturalist on the Integrity yacht portion of the trip.

Richard is INCA's Galápagos Guide Coordinator, managing our guiding schedule and helping our guides with maintaining our commitment to excellence.

Richard has been guiding exclusively for INCA's Galápagos Island trips since 1990. He began guiding in the Galápagos in 1985 and quickly gained our attention with rave reviews.

Richard has also been guiding expeditions in Antarctica for over 18 years. He has been an expedition leader on four different ships and is a veteran of nearly 60 round trips to the Antarctic. Additionally, he has done research with the Antarctic Site Inventory for Oceanites (funded by the National Science Foundation).

Richard is originally from Atlanta, Ga but has been living in Ecuador for 26 years. He was educated at Vanderbilt University (undergrad study) and Emory University (graduate study).

"The pattern of the day was perfect, Richard was incredible, the snorkeling divine, and the crew so, so appreciated. What a wonderful group of people to take care of us, and we certainly did feel pampered and well cared for. So incredible having those gentle, respectful, good natured young men help us at every step."—Ellen Hayward, Fayetteville, AR

Some of Richard's accomplishments are as follows:

	working as naturalist in Galapagos for 26 years
	principal author of the "CD-ROM encyclopedia of Galapagos" under the auspices of the Charles Darwin Foundation
	chief naturalist on the M/V Bucanero in Galapagos 1985-1988
	chief naturalist Inca Floats 1990 to present
	spokesperson for Pentax binoculars and featured in full page ads in many international magazines (such as Audubon and Smithsonian)
	Board of Directors and lecturer for Siempre Verde Cloud Forest (in northern Ecuador) 1996 to present
	expedition leader maiden voyage of Polar Circle (now the HMS Endurance) 1990
	research associate for the Oceanites Foundation and researcher for the Antarctic Site Inventory funded by the US National Science Foundation 1992 to present
	avid astronomer (ground own telescope lenses and constructed telescopes) taught astronomy classes for the Galapagos National Park Naturalists Course
	travelled internationally to witness and photograph 7 total solar eclipses
	Expedition leader on over 50 expeditions to Antarctica
	collected late laying penguin eggs (under permit with the British Antarctic Survey) for various institutions
	traveled in over 70 countries (including trans-Siberian express in early 70s)
	Active Pilot with land and seaplane ratings in the US and Ecuador (patrol plane pilot with Galapagos National Park Service)