Meet your High Lonesome BirdTours Guides!

Stephan Lorenz

Stephan Lorenz began birding in Texas, one of the richest areas for birds and biodiversity in North America. After completing a Bachelor of Science in Biology at the University of Houston, he continued at the University of Texas earning a Master of Science in ornithology. His main area of research focused on the landscape ecology of grassland birds. Stephan has worked on a wide range of field studies for the Max Planck and Smithsonian Institutes, Indiana State University, Memorial University, and the US Fish and Wildlife Service. In addition, he has worked as a field biologist in environmental consulting. He began his guiding work in 2008 in southwest Costa Rica and has since then worked as a resident guide in Alaska and Brazil. Since 2010 he has led more than 150 birding tours on five continents. His specialty areas in the United States include Alaska where he has done research and led tour for 20 years plus Colorado, Texas, Arizona, and Florida. Internationally Stephan has birded extensively and led many tours in Central and South America, Africa, and Asia. Having a strong interest in photography, his bird images have appeared in several magazines and books. He has published several peer-reviewed articles on natural history, ecology, and bird distribution and has authored more than 50 articles on birds, birding, and travel. His writing and photography appear regularly in Bird Watcher’s Digest Magazine, ABA Birder’s Guide,  and BirdWatching. He enjoys birding in every environment, but skulky antbirds in dense jungles are always near the top of the list.

Claudia Cavazos

Claudia’s passion for wildlife and birdwatching has led her to travel to 45 countries and all 7 continents. Her diverse interests are reflected in a storied career made up of positions that always combined her love of science, the outdoors, and the human condition. She began her career in clinical trial research and, over the course of seven years, worked at institutions such as the University of Texas Health Science Center, St Luke’s Hospital, and MD Anderson Cancer Hospital. Currently, her career focus is exploring the great outdoors and the natural world. For the last several years she has worked as a field biologist in Texas, Wyoming, and the Midwest, as an ecotourism guide at the renowned Cristalino Jungle Lodge in Brazil, and as a bird guide on St. Paul Island, Alaska. She has also led birding tours for the past four years in Alaska, Texas, Colorado, and Florida. From watching birds-of-paradise in West Papua to racing after vagrants in western Alaska to finding insects with wonderful cordyceps fungi in the Amazon, and trekking after rare mammals, Claudia enjoys sharing all aspects of the natural world. One of her personal birding highlights was completing the trek to see the rare Blue-bearded Helmetcrest in northern Colombia.

Kip Miller

Before moving to Colorado in 2019, Kip Miller worked for over 30 years as a nature center manager in southwest Michigan, where he regularly led local bird outings and organized birding events and festivals. He started leading birding tours in 1989 and has guided throughout the US and Canada and co-led tours in Belize, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Mexico, and Kenya. He has previously led tours for High Lonesome BirdTours in Alaska, Colorado, Florida, and Texas. Kip greatly enjoys the sharing aspects and camaraderie of group birding.