About Us
BirdingRio is run by Ricardo Parrini and Leo Haefeli and is based in the city of Rio de Janeiro.
Ricardo Parrini is a biologist and graduate of the Gama Filho University, Rio de Janeiro. Since 1984 he has made many expeditions all over Brazil to study birds and record their voices. Some of his regular companions on these trips have been his friends Jeremy Minns, José Fernando Pacheco, Arthur Grosset, Carlos Eduardo de Carvalho, Marcos André Raposo and Leonardo Haefeli.
The knowledge and expertise he had built up, especially in the fields of biogeography, taxonomy and bird vocalizations, led Ricardo to start a career as a birding guide in 1998. Since then he has organized trips for private customers and has also worked for birding companies such as Birding Brazil Tours (Brazil) and Birding Holidays (UK).
Together with José Fernando Pacheco, Marcos André Raposo and other important Brazilian ornithologists, Ricardo Parrini has a series of articles published in various Brazilian and international journals and magazines like Atualidades Ornitológicas, Revista Brasileira de Ornitologia, Iheringia, Cotinga, The Auk, among others. These articles focus on the areas like biogeography, taxonomy and feeding behaviour of Brazilian bird species, mainly on Southeast and Northeast region.
In 1996 he rediscovered the rare Kinglet Calyptura on the slopes of the Serra dos Órgãos National Park. This species had not been seen since the nineteenth century and was chosen as the emblem of the Seventh Brazilian Ornithological Congress held in Rio de Janeiro in 1998.
Leo Haefeli is an architect and amateur bird photographer. He has been Ricardo Parrini’s constant companion on birding trips, particularly in the last four years.
Their passion for birds, particularly for those of the Atlantic Forest, together with the convenient location of Rio de Janeiro, where they both live, were decisive factors in the creation of BirdingRio.
