Congratulations to James Park.: nominated by Carlo Giovanella

In nominating James, Carlo Giovanella says: James Park is from Korea, and has been birding around the Lower Mainland for about two years.  When I first met him, at age 13, he told me he came there specifically because he “wanted to be an ornithologist”.  To that end his mother has brought him here so he can get Canadian schooling.  Since arriving he has become known to most of the local birding community, as he shows up at all ‘rare’ sightings.  In the field, James is exceptionally motivated and focused.  He approaches bird-finding with skills that are well advanced for his age, and he can identify most birds immediately by sight and by sound.  He understands when ID’s are difficult, and carefully tries to work them out, freely asking and accepting help from others. James usually birds alone, and submits many reports to eBird, (97 lists, 232 species in 2021) which demonstrates that he finds lots of ‘good’ birds.  

I am taking the role of his sponsor/nominator because he generally birds alone, and does not have an on-going relationship with any BCFO member.  I  have met and interacted with him in the field on three occasions, and each time was impressed by his relative-to-age skills, and the rapid progress he is making.  There is no doubt that this young lad has birding skills well beyond what we would consider a threshold for our Award.

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