Leader Details

Curtis Marantz Curtis lived on the Central Coast from 1980 to 1988 while attending Cal Poly State University, where he received a B.S. in Environmental and Systematic Biology and a M.S. in Computer Science. He went on to get a second M.S. in Zoology at Louisiana State University and a Ph.D. in Biology at the University of Massachusetts, both concentrating on song variation and systematics in a group of Neotropical birds known as woodcreepers. For his research, Curtis spent parts of 15 years in South America recording the songs of woodcreepers and other birds, yet he has always retained an interest in the birds of California and in particular San Luis Obispo County, for which he and Tom Edell are currently working on a book covering the status and distribution of birds found in the county. Curtis is currently employed an a biological consultant, a job that takes him to various sites across central and southern California.