Speakers & Seminars

For each cruise we bring you the very best speakers on a variety of topics about parrots and this year will be no exception. Our speakers will educate and enthuse you about training and behavior, the state of the parrots in the wild, and the work of the World Parrot Trust. As a part of this cruise, you will enjoy 2-4 presentations while at sea as well as having the option to participate in educational shore excursions on Puerto Rico, Bonaire and Dominica.

This area is under development. Please check back for a printable schedule of seminars, locations, and times with our two onboard speakers Steve Martin and Steve Milpacher.

In-country seminars about wild parrots and their natural habitat will be available on Puerto Rico, Bonaire and Dominica by researchers working to save wild parrots. Please check back for a speaker's list and printable schedule of seminars and locations.

Steve Martin Natural Encounters, Inc. Steve Martin has lived with parrots from the time he was five years old. By the time he was 16 his bird interest expanded to falconry and he has been a Master Falconer ever since. Steve began his professional animal training career when he set up the first of its kind, free-flight bird show at the San Diego Wild Animal Park in 1976. Since then he has produced educational animal programs, or consulted at, over 50 zoological facilities around the world.

Steve has produced three videos on parrot behavior and training and lectures frequently on parrot behavior. He has also written several articles on animal behavior and conducts training workshops each year at his facility in Winter Haven, Florida. Over two-thirds of his year is spent on the road consulting with zoos and aquariums on animal behavior issues or teaching staff the art and science of animal behavior.

Steve is president of both Natural Encounters, Inc., a company of over 20 professional animal trainers, and Natural Encounters Conservation Fund, Inc, a company dedicated to raising funds for conservation projects. Steve has been a long time fan, supporter, and a Trustee of the World Parrot Trust. He is also a core team member of the California Condor Recovery Team, and past president and founding member of IAATE, an international bird trainers' organization.

Steve Milpacher World Parrot Trust Steve’s interest in parrots began early in life and has continued for more than 30 years. He has kept over 40 species of parrots and participated in breeding loan programs with a number of Canadian Zoos. Steve attended university and later received a certificate in Endangered Species Management from Jersey Wildlife Preservation Trust (now Durrell Preservation Trust). He has spoken at numerous bird clubs, meetings and conferences and has had articles published in Bird Talk, Parrots, Parrot Society of Australia and PsittaScene magazines.

Steve enthusiastically joined the World Parrot Trust as their Director for Business Development in 2007. He is responsible for the Trust’s website and coordinates their campaigning, marketing, fundraising, and business efforts. He is an amateur wildlife photographer and most recently had the opportunity to achieve his dream to travel to Mexico and photograph wild Thick-billed and Maroon-fronted Parrots.

Bonaire: Sam Williams PhD. Conservation Bonaire Sam started keeping parakeets and parrots as a boy growing up in Yorkshire, England. At 16, Sam was already breeding Amazon parrots, his aviaries consuming nearly half his family's garden. The same year, Sam's love of parrots led him to spend two months working with the Mauritius Wildlife Foundation and the wild Echo Parakeets, where he learned a great deal from Carl Jones and the other conservationists.

Sam's career later led him to Brazil, where he spent six months observing the Lear's Macaw. Following that, Sam received support from the World Parrot Trust to complete his Ph.D. research on the Yellow-shouldered Amazon in Bonaire. Today he conducts an ecotourism and research project which he hopes will benefit the conservation of these magnificent birds.

	Dominica Speaker: to be announced Please check back for notification and related details.

	Puerto Rico Speaker: to be announced Please check back for notification and related details.

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