What is your favorite bird species?

My favorite bird species is the Gray Hawk – simultaneously beautiful and badass.

What is your name, and where do you live?

Tiffany Kersten, I grew up in Wisconsin, bounced around the US, and wound up in Mission, Texas!

What are the main regions or locations you cover as a bird guide?

The Rio Grande Valley of South Texas with about 10 tours a year there! I also guide in Panama, Costa Rica, Colombia, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, Ecuador, and Taiwan.

Groove-billed Ani

How long have you been a bird guide?

I’ve been guiding in some capacity since 2006, leading birding walks for the US Forest Service, US Fish & Wildlife Service, New Jersey Audubon, and Massachusetts Audubon, and began guiding full-time in 2022, after completing a Lower 48 States Big Year in 2021, breaking the record, and then starting my own guiding company, Nature Ninja Birding Tours!

How did you get into bird guiding?

Before COVID, I was managing a nature center. COVID shut it all down, I lost my job, and then I wound up guiding temporarily to make ends meet. After traveling most of 2021, I decided to give up the job search and start my own bird guiding company! It has been a wild and amazing handful of years.

What are the aspects of being a bird guide that you like best? Which aspects do you dislike most?

Two things: I love the joy on someone’s face when they see a Green Jay for the first time! Birds are my second love: Connecting people with birds is my first love. I also find a lot of satisfaction in the community building that happens on my tours. There are several communities of birders who love to go on trips with me to new locations, many of whom were strangers when they met on a tour of mine, and now take trips together.

What are the top 5-10 birds in your region that are the most interesting for visiting birders?

• Green Jay
• Great Kiskadee
• Audubon’s Oriole
• Altamira Oriole
• Gray Hawk
• Plain Chachalaca
• Buff-bellied Hummingbird
• White-tailed Hawk
• Aplomado Falcon
• White-tipped Dove.

Green Jay

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.

I lead “Texas Birding Retreats” – short, upscale tours based out of a Bed & Breakfast in McAllen. The tours are five days long, with three full days of birding in various habitats spanning from the brush lands in Starr County (Salineno Birding Center, Falcon State Park), to the Tamaulipan thornscrub in Hidalgo (Bentsen State Park, National Butterfly Center, Santa Ana NWR and Estero State Park), to the coastal prairie in Cameron County (Laguna Vista area and South Padre Island). I also offer longer tours for private groups who would like to book, and also offer my Texas Birding Retreats as fundraisers for bird clubs and other non-profits!

What other suggestions can you give to birders interested in your area?

The best birding in South Texas is any time of the year! That said, it can be triple digits June through October. Early November through early May are the best times to come! December to February, we have the best chance for Mexican rarities to be around, and the second half of April and the beginning of May, we get great numbers of neotropical migrants coming through! There are tons of year-round residents that will be new to most people, so I often recommend two separate trips for those new to the area – one in winter and one in spring.

Buff-bellied Hummingbird

If any readers of 10,000 Birds are interested in birding with you, how can they best contact you?

• Website: NatureNinjaBirding.com
• Email: [email protected]
• Instagram @NatureNinjaBirding

Altamira Oriole

Is there anything else you would like to share with the readers of 10,000 Birds?

More than 60% of birders are women, but only about 5-8% of guides are women. I specialize in women’s tours, including women’s guiding training. I read “The Art of Gathering” by Priya Parker several years back, and it’s inspired me to lead more and more specialized tours. It’s not about keeping others out; it’s about the shared connection between those gathering who share common life experiences. You can find women’s tours on my schedule, and I will soon be offering tours for cancer survivors, for ages 50 and under, and tours that combine birding with another special interest (yoga, dancing, archery), and more.