Dan Lane was barely out of diapers when his love for birds manifested itself. He was an active birder in his home state of New Jersey until he graduated from college in 1995 and moved to Louisiana to pursue a Master's Degree studying Neotropical birds at Louisiana State University. By 1999, he'd received his degree and participated in three LSU expeditions to Peru and Ecuador, discovering a new species of bird (Scarlet-banded Barbet) along the way. After receiving his degree, Dan became a part-time tour guide and continued as a regular member of LSU expeditions, primarily to Peru. His increasing experience with the Peruvian avifauna, coupled with having the luck of being "in the right place at the right time," landed Dan coauthorship on the recently published Birds of Peru--alongside his childhood heroes Ted Parker and John O'Neill (how many folks have been lucky enough to be able to work as a colleague of their heroes?!). Meanwhile, his continuing fieldwork has resulted in uncovering additional new species to science (although writing these up, sadly, takes far more time than finding the birds, and Dan's way behind schedule...but don't worry, he's trying to make good!).

Dan's interests in birds also include illustration (he's provided artwork for several books, journals, and magazines, with perhaps some of his most successful pieces appearing in the aforementioned Birds of Peru), building up his knowledge and collection of recordings of bird vocalizations (with hopes to co-produce a publication of Peruvian bird voices as a companion to the field guide), and his understanding of bird biogeography and evolution.

Dan was pleased to start working for Field Guides in 2006 and has ever since enjoyed the friendship and fun the Field Guides family provides...and isn't that the kind of work environment we all want? He's found touring a pleasure; at its essence is the chance to share experiences and knowledge with others as well as another opportunity to learn yet more.

Dan's non-bird interests involve travel (a plus in this line of work), learning about other cultures and languages (he speaks Spanish fluently, and knows just enough German and Portuguese to get himself in trouble...but perhaps not enough to extract himself from it), music, and playing pool with other FG guides. Dan's areas of expertise are largely in tropical Latin America, but on occasion he has led tours to other corners of the globe and of course (somewhat) regularly birds near his home in Louisiana.