Tour Leaders
Dr. David Hof, Ph.D.
Dr. David Hof is an expert birder, ornithologist, teacher, and bird guide native to New England. He grew up in New Hampshire, and left to attend college at the University of Arizona in Tucson, where he began to develop his love for birding and ornithology. He then spent the next five years working as a field technician, birding, and traveling across North America – from Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine, to Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, California, Washington, British Columbia, Newfoundland, and many places in between. His work and travels also took him to Puerto Rico, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Brazil, Chile, and Argentina. He soon came to realize that there was no place he loved more than New England. He now makes his home in the heart of Vermont’s Green Mountains, and considers New England to be the most beautiful place on Earth and his favorite place to go birding.
Through his field research and birding, Dr. Hof has developed an intimate knowledge of New England’s birds, and the places to find the specialties throughout Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine. As an ornithologist, he specializes in songbird behavior and ecology, and in particular the songs and communication of warblers. He conducts most of his field research on Black-throated Blue Warblers and other warbler species in Vermont.
Dave also has a passion for teaching, and there’s nothing he enjoys more than sharing his love for birds and New England with others. He teaches courses in Ornithology and Animal Behavior, and especially likes giving public talks and leading nature walks and bird tours. Dave has an animated and warm personality, and his enthusiasm and excitement make him a delightful tour leader.
“Dr. Hof’s enthusiasm was contagious, a great time was had by all! We’d recommend one of his tours to anyone.”
Keenan Yakola is an expert birder and research scientist native to Cape Cod, Massachusetts. His coastal upbringing sparked a deep love for the ocean and New England coast. The earliest birding experiences he can recall from his childhood included watching Common Terns plunge dive for fish and Common Eider ducklings bravely tackling the waves crashing along the rocky Maine coastline. These experiences formed the foundation for his interest in birding and eventually the focus of his academic research.
Keenan is currently a PhD student at Oregon State University where he studies seabird foraging ecology and migratory behavior in reference to marine spatial planning and climate change. His research is focused in the Gulf of Maine working with Atlantic Puffins, Common and Arctic Terns, as well as Leach’s Storm Petrels. He received both his BS and MS degrees in Wildlife Conservation and Management at the University of Massachusetts Amherst where he studied long-term dietary shifts in the diet of four different tern species in the Gulf of Maine.
His work and travels have also taken him to Mexico, Colombia, Peru, Kenya and Tanzania. Though Keenan has a strong interest in the tropical ornithology, to him, coastal New England is his favorite place in the world. A day spent sea watching or crawling around on the mudflats with shorebirds can’t be beat!
During his “non-birding time”, Keenan loves to surf! Ultimately, it’s just a more active way to get him closer to seabirds and view the ocean from a different perspective. How many people can say they surfed with puffins…? Your next tour guide can!