Andreas J. Helbig grew up in northwest Germany and became interested in birds at an early age. He studied biology in San Diego and Frankfurt, gaining his doctorate from Frankfurt University in 1989 with a study of the inheritance of migratory behaviour of Blackcaps. Since 1993, he has been Director of Vogelwarte Hiddensee, and a lecturer at Greifswalk University. His research interests include the evolutionary biology of bird migration, phylogeny of birds, molecular methods of phylogeny reconstruction, and taxonomy. He has travelled worldwide to study birds and has led tours on a number of occasions.
