Our Guides
Keith Eric Costley is a Baltimore native who has been birding for over twenty years. He is an experienced field trip guide and has lead walks for the National Park Service, the Department of Natural Resources and The Baltimore Bird Club. As an avid eBird user and supporter, Keith has a passion for sharing wildlife sightings and is an enthusiastic new contributor to the Maryland Biodiversity Project. He is currently involved in several local breeding bird monitoring projects, including the Northeast Nightjar Survey, and in habitat restoration sites for the Maryland Stream Restoration Association. Recently, he became a member of the Maryland Ornithological Society’s MD/DC Records Committee. Keith also enjoys birding while biking, birding while kayaking — okay, I know you get it…Keith likes birds!
Nico Sarbanes is a Baltimore native and a veteran of the Baltimore birding community. He is very excited to lead walks at this year’s Birding Weekend at two of his favorite Baltimore spots – Druid Hill Park and Cylburn Arboretum. As a 14-year-old, Nico was one of four birders chosen to represent the American Birding Association on their “Tropicbirds” youth team in the Great Texas Birding Classic in the Rio Grande Valley. The team finished first in the competition, identifying 195 species in a span of 24-hours. Nico was later selected as the winner of the photography module of the ABA’s Young Birder of the Year competition. Nico currently is a working jazz musician, and is also completing his education certification at Towson University. A sampling of his nature photography, as well as his music, are viewable at www.nicosarbanes.com.
Kim Tomko has been birding on and off for the last twenty years. She is currently working on the MD-DC Breeding Bird Atlas which is a five-year project to document the distribution, relative abundance, and timing of breeding for birds in the MD-DC area. Kim is also an avid gardener and has planted tons of native plants in her yard for birds. In 2017, she received the Audubon Bird-Friendly Habitat certification from the Patterson Park Audubon Center. Kim has volunteered at past PPAC events educating people about the benefits of using native plants. She is excited to branch out into leading bird walks!
Bud Poole is a resident of the Patterson Park neighborhood and frequent birder in the park. Per eBird, he has a total of 192 species in Patterson Park with his sights set on a goal of 200 for the hotspot. As a volunteer with local nonprofit Friends of Patterson Park, Bud is active in bringing native species of trees and plants to the park in order to sustain and grow the bird diversity that the park enjoys. While not birding, he assists in the surrounding park neighborhoods with hands-on rescues, coordination, and transportation of injured birds to local licensed wildlife rehabilitator – Phoenix Wildlife Center, Inc.
Hugh Simmons is a Baltimore native and has been birding for over 30 years. He is the current President of the Chesapeake Audubon Society and leads their Birding Basics walks for new birders. From 2012 through 2017 he served on the board of the National Audubon Society as Regional Director for the Atlantic Flyway, South. He has also served on the board of the Pickering Creek Audubon Center and Audubon Maryland-DC. He is a board member and active volunteer for the Phoenix Wildlife Center in Baltimore County and volunteers for the Cape May Bird Observatory during his frequent visits to Cape May, New Jersey. Retired from his career as an academic medical practice administrator, he is now a freelance photographer.
Tim Carney has been interested in birds since age 9, but credits eBird and working at one of the premier birding sites in Maryland with turning his interest into a passion. As an Environmental Specialist with the Maryland Environmental Service (MES), Tim conducts bi-monthly censuses at the Cox Creek, Masonville, and Poplar Island projects operated by MES on behalf of the Maryland Department of Transportation Maryland Port Administration. Tim holds a Bachelor’s in Environmental Biology from Towson University, and is also an eBird reviewer and served on the Maryland Ornithological Society Records Committee from 2015 – 2018. His favorite Maryland bird is the Blackburnian Warbler. He loves birding the diverse habitats Maryland offers and is attempting to observe 200 species in all 23 Maryland counties.
Eric Fishel is a Conservation Biologist specializing in urban ecology of birds. Eric grew up just outside of Baltimore, in Owings Mills, MD, and attended Johns Hopkins University where he earned a bachelor’s degree in biology while working as an intern and naturalist with the Maryland Zoo in Baltimore, and Marshy Point Nature Center. After college, he spent the next 11 years working on a variety of avian conservation research projects in seven states and seven countries. In 2016 he received a master’s degree in Natural Resources from the University of Missouri studying the impacts of land management practices on breeding bird and plant communities in an urban residential area. He is the Program Director for B.Ur.B and the forest Program Manager for Baltimore Green Space. Eric currently lives in the Hampden Community of Baltimore with his cat Uncle Eric.
Mike Hudson is an educator and biologist who was born and raised in southeast Baltimore City. He has a bachelor’s degree in Biology, with a concentration in physiology and organismal science from Washington College. During college he worked at Foreman’s Branch Bird Observatory, a migration banding station on Maryland’s Eastern Shore, while also teaching in the college’s writing center and general biology labs. Since then he has worked as a field biologist across the United States and as an educator at the Maryland Zoo in Baltimore. He was also an Editor of North American Birds, has taught at numerous youth birding camps, and is a sought-after speaker on topics of bird identification and natural history. Mike has spent much of his life in Baltimore and believes that access to the natural world is of critical importance for all communities. It is this belief that informs and compels his work with Birds of Urban Baltimore, where he is currently the Program Manager. Mike splits his time between Baltimore’s Charles Village neighborhood and his partner’s home in Harrisburg, PA. He has a gecko, Chester and cat, Minnie, whom he shares his home with.
David Curson has worked as Director of Bird Conservation for Audubon in Maryland since 2004. His duties include designing and implementing ornithological conservation programs and research, directing the science department, policy outreach, and coordinating advocacy. Dave grew up in London, England, and has been avid birder since the age of 8. In 1985 he received his BSc in Ecology at the University of East Anglia. He came to the United States in 1993 to begin graduate studies and received MS (1996) and PhD (2003) degrees in the Department of Wildlife Ecology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. His graduate research focused on the ecology and behavior of Brown-headed Cowbirds and their hosts in northern New Mexico.
Tobias Pessoa Gingerich is a relative latecomer to both Balimore and birding, but has jumped into both with enthusiasm! He’s an active member of the Baltimore Bird Club and contributor to the third MD and DC Breeding Bird Atlas, and has enjoyed co-leading the monthly Audubon walks at Druid Hill Park. A resident of the Reservoir Hill neighborhood, Druid Hill Park is his favorite and go-to spot. Toby also enjoys exploring other city parks and is occasionally drawn further afield for a change of scenery. When he’s separated from his binoculars, it’s usually to teach math at Baltimore City College high school.
Peter Martin, a native of Massachusetts and alumni of the University of Vermont, has worked in various positions in the Education Department at the Maryland Zoo in Baltimore and is currently the Zoo Naturalist. He has come full circle from leading weekly bird walks at Roland Park in his former life as Senior Naturalist at the Irvine Nature Center and leads the monthly Audubon walks at Druid Hill Park. He held a bird banding subpermit for more than a decade and has run a Breeding Bird Survey route in Pensylvannia for twenty years. A confirmed generalist, Peter enjoys observing all forms of fauna and flora and frequently contributes data to eBird, FrogWatch USA, BumbleeBeeWatch and INaturalist. Despite all these shortcomings, his greatest joy involves developing interactive and educational natural history programming and presenting programs in unique and entertaining ways.
Scott Housten, a resident of Ocean City, Maryland, has been birding on Maryland’s Eastern Shore for over 20 years. As an avid traveler, he has spent many years birding in Central America and Southeast Asia. Scott has lead birding tours for the Delmarva Birding Weekend and the Eastern Shore of Virginia Birding & Wildlife Festival. He has also guided birding and wildlife tours in El Salvador. Scott is a frequent contributor to the Maryland Biodiversity Project, contributing over 1,700 photos of birds and insects to the project database. In addition to birding, Scott enjoys traveling, archaeology, and lucha libre wrestling.
Jim Rapp currently serves as director of the Hazel Outdoor Discovery Center in Eden, Maryland. Prior to holding this post, he was the director of the Salisbury Zoo for 14 years before being tapped in 2007 as the director of Delmarva Low Impact Tourism Experiences, a business-sponsored nature tourism outfit created to entice tourists with hiking, biking, cycling and birding trails and events on the Delmarva Peninsula. Rapp is the past president of the Wicomico Environmental Trust, Lower Eastern Shore Heritage Council, Assateague Coastal Trust and Nanticoke Watershed Alliance. Rapp was named Tourism Person of the Year in both Wicomico and Worcester counties in 2004 and 2006 respectively. He lives in Baltimore, where he enjoys exploring the city’s natural areas with his daughter.