Luis Gles

Luis Eduardo Gles is a naturalist from Colombia, where he grew up exploring the country. In his homeland he fell in love with nature, and that is when his fascination with birds began. Luis is currently living in Miami and is a well-known member of South Florida’s birding community. He has dedicated much of his time in recent years to counting hawks for the Florida Keys HawkWatch and volunteering at the Cape Florida Banding Station on Biscayne Bay. He is a founding member of Valley of the Colors, an organization focusing on developing ecotourism in Colombia and Florida and coordinating with bird tracking agencies. From Miami he leads tours to North America, the Caribbean, and Colombia. Luis is bilingual and will be an asset to our Spanish-speaking nature lovers.

Luis has been guiding in the Caribbean for the last four years, especially in Jamaica and the Dominican Republic, where he recently guided a successful tour for Birding Ecotours. His knowledge about and expertise with Caribbean birds attests to his love for the history and culture of the region.

Luis is also a sport optics expert and avid digiscoper. For the last three years Luis has been working for two of the most important optics companies in the world. First he worked for Leica Sport Optics, participating in many bird fairs and festivals like The Biggest Week in America Birding and Space Coast Birding and Wildlife Festival. Now he is with Kowa USA as an ambassador and attending shows when he is no guiding.

Luis is charismatic and passionate about everything related to nature. And when he is not chasing or studying birds he is looking for reptiles, his ‘new attraction’, as he says.

When he is not birding or studying he enjoys spending time watching sports (all sports, but especially tennis and basketball), relaxing with his family and girlfriend, and exploring other aspects of the natural world like plants and insects.