Pablo Rodriguez, eBirder of the Month
Please join us in congratulating Pablo Rodriguez, of Puntarenas, Costa Rica—winner of the October 2024 eBirder of the Month Challenge, sponsored by ZEISS. Pablo’s name was drawn randomly from the 5,485 eBirders who submitted five (5) or more eligible checklists on 12 October. Pablo will receive a new ZEISS binocular for his eBirding efforts. Lastly, thank you to everyone who participated in the October eBirder Challenge, we are grateful for your support and continued dedication to data collection and conservation. Here’s Pablo’s birding story:
Since I was a Little kid I was always very passionate about wildlife. 15 years ago while starting studying Tourism at University of Costa Rica, I saw how all my colleagues felt attached to different groups of animals like frogs, snakes, birds and others. There, I discovered that my passion was for birds. I was influenced by other birders with experience, as it was incredible to see their ability to identify birds. And that is where my journey started.
After few years I had to take a break of birding for some circumstances, and returned by 2017. I used to be the kind of birder who made lists on papers and added notes at the field guide. When I returned to birding I notice that many friends were using eBird, they showed me and talked to me about how easy was to keep your records but also offered me a great scientific tool that not also was going to help me, that was for all community and would help to conservation and to understand more this amazing world of birds. Nowdays I can tell I carry my binoculars wherever I go.
I want to thank all people behind eBird, Cornell Lab for their efforts, and Zeiss for the prize and their compromise.