Chris Balchin was a founder Council member of the NBC, and has been involved with the Club ever since, including a long stint as Secretary. During the 1980s Chris evolved from being a feverish British twitcher into a dedicated world birder who would spend every hour of holiday entitlement in the tropics. Chris’s passion for seeing rare and unusual species took him to places that often lay off the regular birding routes in those days and enabled him to contribute regularly BirdLife International publications. An electronics engineer by trade, Chris lives in Essex, UK, with his long-term partner Jan Rowland, who maintains the Club’s membership database and is the Club’s bookkeeper. Chris’s favourite Neotropical bird is the White-plumed Antbird, Pithys albifrons and considers his favourite Neotropical birding memory to be with Jan watching a Black-fronted Piping-guan that perched above a tent whose amazed occupants were rather tipsy on a stout bottle of malbec...

Diego Cisneros-Heredia is an Ecuadorian ecologist, ornithologist and herpetologist, and has been an avid birder since he was nine years old. Diego is member of the Council of NBC and Aves&Conservación (BirdLife Ecuador), and a professor at the College of Biological and Environmental Sciences of Universidad San Francisco de Quito, Ecuador. Diego conducts research on the evolution, biogeography, ecology and conservation of birds, amphibians and reptiles of tropical America. His interests include biodiversity conservation, natural resources management and, particularly, environmental education and scientific dissemination.

Rob Clay is a founder member of NBC and has been on Council for the past three years, recently with responsibility for the network of Club representatives. Rob is currently the Senior Conservation Manager for BirdLife International in the Americas, a job which enables him to enjoy many Neotropical birds in the backyards of different offices in the Americas, and to tackle key conservation issues on a daily basis. His interest in Neotropical birds and conservation began during an undergraduate expedition to Paraguay in 1992 and led to Ph.D. studies of manakins in Costa Rica and Panama. Since 1997, Rob has called Paraguay home (someone has to), but enjoyed a two-year break in Ecuador. The serious side to the photo is that, just before Christmas 2008, the highlight of a visit to Asunción Bay was six Jabirus (the first time Rob had seen them in the bay). Just after Christmas, he found five pairs of Jabiru wings...

Chris Collins is NBC Treasurer, and has been on Council since 1997. Although professionally qualified as a Chartered Accountant, Chris spends more of his time working as a bird tour guide. Among other trips, he is the driving force behing behind the 'West Pacific Odyssey' for Heritage Expeditions/WildWings. Such trips indulge Chris's passion for seabirds and cetaceans, but he is equally at home in rainforests, and has a particular interest in unravelling the avian treats of Guyana. Chris co-leads the NBC tour to Guyana in November 2009.

Brian Cox has long been fascinated by Neotropical birds and is in charge of procuring the Club's advertising income. Ostensibly he works for regional Government government in Sussex, but every so often the urge to see rare birds takes him and he heads to far-flung destinations to see little-known species.

Megan Crewe serves both on Council and as the Club’s rep in the USA. In her spare time, Megan is a tour leader for Field Guides Inc, guiding a number of trips each year to Central and South America.

Carl Downing alternates his home between Cali, Colombia and Cardiff, Wales. Carl has been birding since the age of seven and first branched out onto the international scene at the age of 15 with a trip to the Austrian Alps. In the late 1980s, he spent eight months birding and working in the United States, but his obsession with all things Colombian began in 1991. That year, Carl was a member of a successful university expedition to the Chocó region of Colombia, which resulted in the discovery of a species new to science, the Choco Vireo, Vireo masteri. After graduating with a degree in Environmental Science in 1994, Carl moved to Cali. Since then, he has travelled extensively in Colombia and has been leading successful private tours there since 1995. Carl has been an NBC council member since 1998, and was the Club’s Chair from 2003-2009.

Gordon Ellis has recently taken over as the NBC’s joint Secretary, having joined Council in May 2008. He also helps with assess applications for conservation awards. A pharmacist by profession, Gordon is now retired and devotes his time to conservation of Barn Owls, Tyto alba in Nottinghamshire, UK, and is also currently working on a Willow Tit, Poecile montanus nest-box scheme. A visit to Trinidad and Tobago sparked Gordon’s passion for Neotropical birds and their conservation.

Stuart Elsom lives in Cambridgeshire, UK, where he is a Business Manager in Regional Government; he also leads bird tours for Sunbird, a UK-based operator. Stuart's passion for wildlife conservation has seen him serve on several environmental and conservation forums and is a former chairman of his local bird club; Stuart has been a. A NBC Council member since 2008. H, he is a keen wildlife photographer and many images from his world travels can be seen on his website www.stuartelsom.co.uk and in numerous publications.

David Fisher is Chair of the NBC, having been a member of Council since 1997. David works as a bird tour leader for the UK company Sunbird. He has had a keen interest in Neotropical birds since 1976 when he spent ten weeks in the field in Trinidad & Tobago. Since then David has visited most countries in the Neotropics studying birds and leading tours, including multiple visits to Argentina, Brazil, Ecuador, and Venezuela.

Tom Stuart carried out fieldwork in remote northern Beni, Bolivia in 1996/97 and 2000. He travelled widely in South and Central America in those years and in 1993 and 2006, birding along the way. Tom worked for BirdLife International from 1998 to 2000 as a researcher/compiler/editor for Threatened Birds of the World and the ‘World Bird Database’. He is now a Policy Officer for Wealden District Council. Tom joined the NBC Council in 1998 and managed its Conservation Awards programme from 2001-2009.

Trevor Warren is a keen world birder who has served on NBC Council for several years, including a busy stint as its Secretary.

Charles Wilkins is an aficionado of the birds of the Neotropics who has been a Council member for several years. Charles and his partner Anna Hughes are stalwarts of the NBC stand at the British Birdwatching Fair each year. They live in France, preferring wine and cheese to steak ‘n’ kidney pudding.