Martin Byhower is director of Birding Southern California and Beyond, which consists of individually tailored, privately guided birding and natural history trips throughout Southern California (and beyond!)

He authored the chapter on his local region in the current edition of the American Birding Association's A Birder's Guide to Southern California, which is highly recommended for planning your birding trip to the area. He is an environmental activist on several fronts, serving as co-President of the Palos Verdes/South Bay Chapter of the Audubon Society and consulting and doing surveys for various groups and municipalities, voluntarily and professionally.

Mr. Byhower is also an award-winning science teacher at Chadwick School in Palos Verdes, California. He most recently received a Bing educational grant for his school in 2005. The Jaycees gave him their South Bay and California-wide Outstanding Educator awards for 1992. He has received several other awards and fellowships from his school and other groups, including the Palos Verdes Audubon Society Conservation Award and the L.A. County Volunteer Award.  He does environmental and habitat restoration, including guiding students and encouraging the return of native wildlife in an ongoing twelve acre coastal sage scrub restoration with his Ecology Club students in the Canyon adjacent to his school.  Other work includes habitat restoration consulting, golf course environmental certification consulting and environmental curriculum consulting and review.

He lives with his beautiful (and eagle-eyed!) wife and his bird-loving indoor cat in Lomita, California.