Paul Prior
Biologist & Birding GuideAbout Paul Prior
Paul cannot recall a time when he was not birding, and his passion has always been for migrant songbirds. Through the 70s and 80s in Britain he concentrated on those birds that were heading to and from sub-Saharan Africa; but since 1991 he has spent literally thousands of hours in the field in southern Ontario watching and studying those that make the parallel journey to and from South and Central America. Throughout the 90s Paul ran the field aspect of the Migration Monitoring Project at Long Point Bird Observatory, training hundreds of volunteers and amassing an unlikely list of species for the Long Point area!
Paul’s passion for birds has taken him to passerine monitoring / banding stations in Israel, Costa Rica, northern Ontario and northern British Columbia. In the late 90s his attentions were steered more to work with Ontario’s endangered breeding species, specifically with Bald Eagles, Loggerhead Shrikes and Prothonotary Warblers. However, he still found time to indulge in grass-roots migration monitoring with the Toronto Bird Observatory, where as a certified banding trainer with the North American Banding Council he continued to pass on his experience from 15 years of banding on 3 continents.
Having spent so much time in the field studying birds it was inevitable that other things would likewise catch Paul’s eye. Part of the daily routine at Long Point in the fall was the Monarch butterfly census, and earlier in the season time was spent marking turtles for a long-term study in turtle movements and longevity. Paul has lead day-trips to local marshes in search of turtles, and over the course of his ten years with Long Point Bird Observatory shared his knowledge and enthusiasm for birds and nature in general with thousands of visitors. For the past decade Paul has worked as a fauna biologist with the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority, conducting breeding bird, frog and salamander inventories, point counts and surveys throughout the spring and summer months.
Paul has led our Guyana, Costa Rica, Trinidad & Tobago, Dominican Republic & Puerto Rico, and Newfoundland tours among others.
Trip Reports & Blogs
- Patagonia Wildlife Safari 2024 Trip Report
- Iguazu Falls Extension Trip Report 2024
- Puerto Rico Trip Report 2024
- Touring the Wilds of Guyana in search of Avian Gold (Trip Report Jan 2024)
- Patagonia Wildlife Safari Trip Report Nov 2023
- See More...
- Iguazu Falls Extension Trip Report (Nov 2023)
- New Brunswick & Grand Manan with Canadian Geographic Trip Report 2023
- Get to know your guide: Paul Prior
- Colombia - Santa Marta 2023 Trip Report
- Panama: The Canal Zone and Darien Trip Report March 2023
- Patagonia Wildlife Safari Trip Report 2022