Rafael Sánchez Pérez (born 1964), zoologist and agricultural expert.

His first book, “Las Aves de Cuba y Fermín Zanón Cervera” (Padilla, 2002), tells the fascinating story of a Civil Guard officer and naturalist in Cuba. This story was later brought to the small screen through two noteworthy productions:

• Short film: “Ausencia: una historia olvidada” (Absence: a Forgotten Story).

• Feature-length documentary: “Descubriendo las ciénagas cubanas” (Discovering the Cuban Swamps), winner of the Zaragoza International Scientific Film Festival, 2006. Available on YouTube.

Since 2004, he has devoted himself exclusively to following the traces left by this enigmatic figure—writer, politician, anthropologist, naturalist, and farmer. He is currently immersed in the pre-production of another feature-length film aimed at bringing to light the life of the humanist from Lebrija, Miguel Rodríguez Ferrer (1815–1889), author of the first complete list of Cuban birds.

The author has collaborated with various Cuban publications (El Humedal, Medioambiente, Revista Arqueológica, among others) and Spanish ones (Quercus, Diario de Levante, Andalus, etc.). His work focuses on individuals who meet several criteria:

• Forgotten in their land of birth.

• Pioneers in some field of knowledge.

In parallel, he has maintained a constant online presence through his website, www.birdingcuba.com, which for 20 years has been disseminating, on a non-profit basis, the natural values of Cuba. The majority of its visitors are English-speaking.