BIOGRAPHY
Romey Swanson is the Director of Conservation Strategy for Audubon Texas where he works with state, national, and international partners to identify and advance important conservation strategies to benefit birds, landscapes, and the communities that depend on them. He has spent over a decade as private lands biologist and technical guidance consultant working on a variety of land and wildlife conservation issues throughout Texas. Romey is a Certified Wildlife Biologist and President of the Texas Chapter of The Wildlife Society - Texas’ largest professional society of wildlife managers and researchers. He is active within the Texas Land Trust Community and formerly served as Conservation Program Manager with Hill Country Conservancy. He received a Master’s Degree in 2009 from Texas State University studying Wildlife Ecology. Romey lives in Austin and enjoys spending time with his family hunting, camping, and photographing wildlife.

Gino Ellison - is a lifetime resident of Massachusetts. He is happily married to his wonderful wife Kate (38 years) and they have 3 fun kids and 4 active grandkids. Gino is now retired from the investment business as well as the Professional Bass Fishing Tournament circuit. Gino has been affiliated with Bass Pro Shops for over 25 years and still makes several store appearances each year. Gino is a hunter, fisherman, conservationist and passionate birder who leads dozens of walks each year. Gino is a bander, a Hawk Trapper, a breeding bird surveyor and a daily lister. Gino completed a successful ABA Birding Big Year in 2023 and is scheduled to speak at birding festivals, Birding Associations and birding clubs in New England and nationwide.

Birder Gino Ellison is only the 12th person to ever report and have confirmed 800+ birds in the ABA area in 1 year! Come and learn about the mishaps, the successes, the lessons learned along the way, the hilarious birding stories, the new life-time friends met along the way and the joy of reporting 802 bird species during 2023 ! But be warned … Gino is a fun and dynamic speaker … if you attend, you just might get the urge to plan a Big Year yourself ! Please come and meet Big Year Birder Gino Ellison and see tons of beautiful bird photographs while hearing one birders tale about a 12-month quest of a lifetime

At the age of 16 Lee’s mother gave him a Canon AE-1 with a broken meter and a 50mm lens. He purchased a copy of John Shaw’s The Nature Photographer’s Complete Guide to Professional Field Techniques and quickly learned the sunny f/16 rule and bought some rolls of Kodachrome 64. Trips to the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge and the Oklahoma City Zoo provided plenty of practice in calculating exposures and learning to read light. It wasn’t until 2018 when Lee decided to pursue a full-time career as a professional photographer. His photographic interests include wildlife, landscape, macro, night sky, and camera trap photography. He is proud to serve as a North American OM System Ambassador. In addition, he also leads photography workshops around the world, teaches an OM System Mentorship Program, and is a contributing author to The Journal of Wildlife Photography. His favorite photography destinations thus far include Zimbabwe, Brazil's Pantanal, Galapagos Islands, Faroe Islands, Big Bend National Park, and Yellowstone National Park in winter. When not out photographing, you will find him on his mountaintop cabin in the Davis Mountains of west Texas enjoying all the wildlife in his yard. His favorite part of photography is equipping and teaching others, in the field and online, to capture better nature images. 

Join Lee Hoy for an entertaining, educational, and information discussion of the mistakes most wildlife photographers make.

BIOGRAPHY
Romey Swanson is the Director of Conservation Strategy for Audubon Texas where he works with state, national, and international partners to identify and advance important conservation strategies to benefit birds, landscapes, and the communities that depend on them. He has spent over a decade as private lands biologist and technical guidance consultant working on a variety of land and wildlife conservation issues throughout Texas. Romey is a Certified Wildlife Biologist and President of the Texas Chapter of The Wildlife Society - Texas’ largest professional society of wildlife managers and researchers. He is active within the Texas Land Trust Community and formerly served as Conservation Program Manager with Hill Country Conservancy. He received a Master’s Degree in 2009 from Texas State University studying Wildlife Ecology. Romey lives in Austin and enjoys spending time with his family hunting, camping, and photographing wildlife.

Mike's interest in birds began in 2002 when a pair of Blue Jays nested outside his kitchen window, leading to 20 years of birding across the eastern U.S. and Texas. After retiring from the Army in 2019, Mike pursued his passion for ornithology at The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, where he completed his M.S. in Biology studying Gray Hawks. He lives in Alice, Texas, with his wife, Yvette, and their Green-cheeked Conure, Greenlee. In January 2022, Mike began his Ph.D. studies at Texas A&M University-Kingsville, where his current research focuses on Gray Hawk habitat selection, range establishment, population growth rates, and identifying additional suitable areas.