Federico Fiorillo is an Italian nature guide and content writer based in the magnificent Val de Bagnes, Switzerland. He’s an avid hiker and snowboarder and he travels to the great wilderness areas of the world to see the wildlife and birds he’s passionate about.
In 2008 and 2011 he joined two Brazilian wildlife field trips in Bahia and decided that observing birds in their habitat was going to be one of his driving passions. He completed a birdwatching course with EBN Italia in 2013, and then in 2014 and 2015 he travelled to South East Asia, Australia and the United States where he joined a photographic workshop at the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge in Utah.
From 2016 to 2018 he lives in New Zealand, where he collaborates in environmental projects at the Otorohanga Kiwi House, which since 1971 protects kiwi and other New Zealand native birds, among the projects he worked hands on the most rewarding was the one aiming to release Brown Kiwis into the wild.
In 2017, he completes a backcountry survival course obtaining the skillsets needed to thrive in-stead of just survive in the face of adversity in the wilderness. In 2017 he also joins a NZ Bird Photography Tour in Ulva Island and at the Royal Albatross Center of the Otago Peninsula, home to the world’s only mainland Royal Albatross breeding colony.
After his travels across the South Pacific, following his experiences in 2018 he moves in the Swiss Alps where he’s now a nature guide leading tours in the alpine region between Switzerland, Italy and France. Leading nature walks and overnight hiking trips, teaching tourists and locals the secrets of the plants and animals living in this alpine region.
Inspired by an alternative lifestyle he believes in the importance of being in connection with the natural environment and feels the responsibility of interpreting the natural wealth of a site, educating and informing other of the different aspects of that particular area.
Symbol of elegance and majesty, it’s precisely the mute swan that inspired the tale of the ugly duckling. Clumsy and greyish as a child, as an adult it becomes a large bird with completely white plumage, bright red-orange beak and long arched neck...
Moorhen prefer to make their nest in the dense vegetation along the banks of ponds, lakes and rivers and reveal their presence only when performing their guttural calls. In winter they are much easier to observe as they abandon their sheltered...
The Cape Barren goose belongs to the Anseriformes order, in the Anatidae family, its scientific name is Cereopsis novaehollandiae, from the greek “keros” meaning “wax” and “opsis” that means “similar” as its beak is covered with a waxy looking...
The Brahma chicken is an Asian breed of controversial origins. Many people, because of the name given to this breed, believe it originates from India, others from China. Most likely it comes from a cross made in India between the Cochin (a Chinese...
The great egret’s was once very rare but fortunately its population has increased enormously in the latter half of the 20th century. Its beautiful feathers, up to 50 cm long, were extremely popular as decorative plumes in ladies’ fashion in the 19th...
The oldest fossil of animals related to the ostrich, dates back to over 55 million years ago. Since then, this large bird has been plowing the savannahs not flying, but running! The ostrich is an animal that we all know, at least for its fame, but...
The ruddy shelduck lives in the steppes and in the semi-desert regions of Asia and North Africa. Since the 1960s, this popular ornamental bird has been increasingly observed in nature; in all likelihood they are re-wild specimens escaped from...
Native to the Asian continent and now spread all over the world, the Indian Runner duck is one of the most popular breeds for many reasons. It has an upright and unmistakable appearance, a proud and always attentive look. Raised extensively as a...
In the cold season, the black-headed seagulls are regular guests on our waterfronts and are able to cheer up more than a grey winter day: how can we imagine our beaches and lakefronts without their acrobatic flights, fast as lightning, with which...
The migrations of the wild geese have inspired many stories and the species was also one of the first birds to be the subject of behavioural studies, in particular by the ethologist Konrad Lorenz who highlighted the phenomenon of the imprinting of...