about us

About Us

Sergio H. Seipke

Sergio started watching birds in Eldorado, Argentina in September 1992, but three months later decided to devote all his birding time to raptors only. In 2005 Sergio became a Hawk Mountain Sanctuary International Intern and officially started working on the Raptors of South America project with support from Hawk Mountain. Sergio enjoys helping others to find and identify raptors in the field. He traveled to several Central and South American countries to observe and photograph raptors, and spent time in the field with raptor experts such as Bill Clark, Jean-Marc Thiollay, Russell Thorstrom, and Keith Bildstein from whom Sergio learned vast amounts about raptor identification and biology. Sergio currently lives in Lincoln, NE with his wife Juliana, and their baby boy Sean.

Frederick Pallinger

Brazilian graphic designer, falconer, and raptor captive breeder Frederick Pallinger started painting raptors with watercolors in 1992. He decided to experiment with computer programs a few years later “because classic techniques were too time consuming and were not flexible enough”. Freddy creates his artwork 100% in Photoshop -stroke by stroke- with his virtual brush. He works at home in Sorocaba, Sao Paulo, Brazil, where he lives with his wife Mariana and their baby boy Nicholas. Freddy’s plates are inspired on actual photographs to ensure accuracy in coloration, pattern and proportions.

Darío H. Podestá

Nature photographer and biologist Darío Podestá started taking photographs in 1985 in his hometown Zapala, Neuquen province, Argentina. Darío works closely with the author to make sure that raptor photographs are taken at the right angles to maximize identification information. Darío has taken literally tens of thousands raptor photographs for this project and many of them will be included in the book. But most importantly, Darío provides much of the ‘raw material’ that Freddy uses to produce his breath-taking, hyper-realistic plates. Darío currently lives with his wife Ana and their baby girl Anita in Puerto Madryn, Chubut, Argentina.

Visit Darío’s website to learn more about his work.

The information presented here is for promotional purposes only. The contents in the actual book may differ from those presented here. Princeton University Press, the author, the sponsors, and other third parties involved in this project assume no responsibility for such differences.