Reef is an excellent birder. It was fun to be with someone with deep local knowledge, and his selection of places to take us was great. It was a disappointment that he did not bring a scope. (We traveled to California by plane and did not bring ours.) The first site we visited, the reservoir, was just beautiful on a foggy morning and it was wonderful to see a bald eagle fly across. But in that setting it was pretty impossible to get good looks at the waterfowl just using binoculars. I'm in the process of removing a high percentage of the birds he listed on eBird from my own account. For the other sites, too--I don't doubt that Reef saw and heard all those birds, but the group didn't. We definitely enjoyed the trip, but it didn't seem as organized as onewould expect from a professional trip at the price we paid. --I feel BIJS bears some responsibility here--if I'd been informed that an experienced guide with a scope wasn't available I could have decided if that was OK with me, or decided to book with another company.

This trip/tour surpassed all my high expectations. I was totally stunned by the range of birds Alexander managed to find in such a short time. He is expertly aware of where to go to finds birds in the wider LA area, and his passion and enthusiasm is amazing. Having a list of birds ebird really helps because coming from New Zealand I didn’t really know all the species we saw prior to going on this tour (esp since mt camera decided to play up). He also catered to my mobility needs well. Even though I came to LA for other reasons this trip was the highlight of my tourist trip to LA. I felt comfortable with him from the moment i got in the car. Well worth the money and the effort. I cannot recommend Birds by BJS highly enough. It all I will be talking about about for months

Our birding session with Benny was excellent. He maximised the time we had with visits to two sites ensuring a great spread of birds. Benny is thorough, knowledgeable and heaps of fun. He was super easy to contact. We would highly recommend him as bird guide.

Best birding trip that I have been on by far! Excellent planning, good birding locations and a good vibe. Benny brings such energy, passion, deep insight about people and nature, fun, laughter,, and caring to his tours. The local guide, Fernando, was extraordinary, with such knowledge of not just the birds, but the other flora and fauna as well. He shared generously about Brazilian culture and really kept the tour well-organized with local providers. Well done. I look forward to traveling with Benny again!

Great 12 day trip. Brazil is a beautiful, modern country. We scored 379 species of which 216 were new lifers for me. Fellow birders on the trip were excellent travel companions. And, as usual, Benny’s great sense of humour made for a very fun trip.