What is your favorite bird species?
I have a long list of favorite species, but if I had to choose just one… My favorite bird species would be the Green Jay. I only have one bird tattoo, and that’s the species I chose, although I do hope to get some more tattoos of birds in the future. I love the Green Jay because it’s a corvid, which means it’s an intelligent and mischievous species. Green Jays are social, obnoxious, loud, and funny. I’m also a sucker for a colorful bird, and I find the color combination of the Green Jay—with the lime green, yellow, blue, and black—just absolutely beautiful.
Hermit Warbler by jmaley on iNaturalist
What is your name, and where do you live?
Ivan Phillipsen, Oregon, in the U.S.
What are the main regions or locations you cover as a bird guide?
As a bird guide, I cover many regions around the world; I’ve led tours to all continents except for Antarctica. If I had a specialty, I think it’s starting to become Asia. I’m particularly fond of the region. I’ve led tours in Vietnam, China, and Cambodia, and I have upcoming tours in Bhutan, Mongolia, Japan, and Borneo. However, I also really enjoy Iceland, Patagonia, Spain, Ecuador, and the list goes on. Most of my tours are in places very far from where I call home.
Lewis’s Woodpecker by trevor_l on iNaturalist
How long have you been a bird guide?
I’ve been a birding guide for a little over 10 years. I got into bird guiding after I left academia.
How did you get into bird guiding?
I made the big shift to local guiding in the Portland, Oregon area, initially focusing on general nature hikes and walks. Birds were often the creatures of focus on many of my guided walks, and I got connected with the local Audubon Society here in Portland (now the Bird Alliance of Oregon). I started to get more and more immersed in birding and guiding. I began leading multi-day guided trips here in Oregon and this part of America, and the next thing I knew, I was leading trips to Australia and places further afield than North America.
Tufted Puffin by terathopius on iNaturalist
What are the aspects of being a bird guide that you like best? Which aspects do you dislike most?
The aspects I like the most are, of course, being out in nature among the birds, but being there with a group. Often, many of the people in my tour groups are not super hardcore birders; they like to take time appreciating many aspects of natural history. We get to enjoy the birds, but we also get to really immerse ourselves in the ecosystems—from the plants and geology to the invertebrates, reptiles, amphibians, mammals, and the whole thing. I especially love vicariously experiencing birds through my tour participants’ eyes and ears. I actually enjoy guiding people who are relatively new to birding into those experiences because you get to see how exciting it is for them. They’re taking the world in with fresh eyes and ears, and I really enjoy the enthusiasm they have. It’s such a privilege and a joy to do this kind of work.
There isn’t much that I dislike about my work. I guess sometimes it can be a little stressful just managing a group—trying to get everyone to a particular restaurant or another location at a certain time. The logistics sometimes can be a little frantic. But usually, with good preparation, that isn’t a problem. There are occasional tour participants who have strong personalities, and that can be a challenge. You know, just dealing with humans can be tough sometimes, but even that is pretty rare on my tours. I feel very thankful that pretty much every aspect of what I do is something I enjoy.
What are the top 5-10 birds in your region that are the most interesting for visiting birders?
My home region is the Pacific Northwest, and for this region, I would say some of the top birds are:
- Sooty Grouse
- Mountain Quail
- Tufted Puffin
- Varied Thrush
- Hermit Warbler
- Townsend’s Warbler
- Western Tanager
- Lewis’s Woodpecker
Varied Thrush by bluejaybluejay on iNaturalist
Can you outline at least one typical birdwatching trip in your area? Please briefly describe the locations, the key birds, and the approximate duration of such a trip.
If you had about ten days in Oregon, I would outline a trip like this:
- Hit one of the birding hot spots in the Portland metro area, such as Sauvie Island.
- Head to the Northern Oregon Coast for a mixture of forest, wetland, and coastal habitats.
- Go up into the Cascades to see some of our higher elevation species.
- Visit the area around Bend, Oregon. There’s a nice transition from mountains to high desert there, so you get a good mixture of species and different ecosystems, and the high desert itself has some specialties.
- No birding trip to Oregon would be complete without a multi-day experience at Malheur Wetlands. Out in southeastern Oregon, it’s an amazing birding hotspot for many resident and migratory birds that come through in the spring and autumn.
What other suggestions can you give to birders interested in your area?
Be prepared for rain between October and June. May is a great month for birding here.
Western Tanager by bluejaybluejay on iNaturalist
If any readers of 10,000 Birds are interested in birding with you, how can they best contact you?
They can get in touch through my birding tour company, Wild Latitudes.
Is there anything else you would like to share with the readers of 10,000 Birds?
In addition to guiding, I host a podcast called The Science of Birds.
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