I was born in 1968 in Madrid, where I have lived all my life except for two and a half years I spent in France, finishing my university degree. I currently live some 15 km north of downtown Madrid.

I have been interested (obsessed might be more accurate) in animals for as long as I can remember. As a child and a teenager, reptiles and amphibians occupied most of my attention (and my family’s, as they regularly found the snakes and lizards I kept around the house). To this day they are one of my main interests, and I keep the habit of turning over any log or rock that I can lift.


During the 1950’s my father’s family spent several years in the former Spanish colony of Guinea, and from a very early age I heard stories about Africa and its animals. My first opportunity to travel abroad looking for wildlife was when a Spanish missionary invited me to Peru, in 1987. That was a time of heavy insurgent activity in the country, and Peru wasn’t very safe as a tourist destination, but I enjoyed it so much that I went back the year after.

I became a birder once I realized that 90% of the wildlife one can see when going out in the field are birds. So, instead of spending many hours trying to find exciting predatory mammals (which is all you want to see when you’re a kid) I started to pay attention and try to identify the many birds around me.

Over the years I have traveled around the world in search of wildlife in general and birds in particular. My main areas of interest are Africa and the Palearctic (roughly the area that comprises Europe, Central Asia and the Middle East), although I have made trips in South, Central and North America as well as SE Asia. In the last few years my interests have leaned more heavily towards nature photography (see Photography section in this website). I am also narrowing down my traveling to places that are off the beaten track, and if possible rarely birded or photographed. I have a preference for open spaces: steppes, deserts, tundra, and high mountain areas.

Near Ibid, Chad, 2006

In 2007, together with some friends and associates I created the Emberiza Fund (www.emberiza.org), a small organization with the goal of contributing to wildlife and habitat conservation, both in Spain and abroad. We are currently trying to purchase some tracts of land in NE Spain vital to the protection of steppe birds, and also working with the Uganda Birdguides Club helping to equip their trainees.

I am an occasional Birding Tour leader, guiding groups for my friend Josele Saiz’s Boletas Birdwatching Centre (www.boletas.org), mostly in central Spain and the Pyrenees.

Dogs are my other big passion. For many years I have been involved in the official Dog Show world, being part of the Spanish Terrier Club board and showing my dogs in Spain and abroad. Currently I am less interested in shows, although I still occasionally attend them, and more into behavioral aspects of dogs, and Spanish ancient breeds, their history and recovery.