Congratulations to Adam Ross and Seth Benoit, the 2024 BCFO Young Birder Award recipients. They join the ranks of a very talented and growing group of British Columbia young birders.

Seth Benoit    

Nominator:  Gary Davidson 

In his nomination, Gary says:

Seth Benoit is a 15-year-old birder living on a remote property in the Monashee Mountains north of Christian Valley in the Kootenay Boundary region. His passion for birding was apparently instilled in him by his grandmother, who claims he was saying ‘woodpecker’ before he could talk! He maintains a daily log of all the birds he sees and regularly submits to eBird. He is far more than a ‘lister’. He studies books on bird behaviour, learns their habitats, their range and is working hard on learning bird songs. He generally birds alone, leaving the house before the family is up. A year ago, he got his first camera and has quickly become quite adept at capturing images of the birds he sees. His grandparents live in the USA so he has had a chance to do a little travelling; having birded in California, Arizona and Texas. He particularly loved the pelagic trip he took from San Diego when he was just 10 years old.

Seth is largely self taught and has made huge strides in his knowledge and identification skills in the last couple of years. According to his father, he has begun putting together a bird guide to the birds of the Kootenay Boundary region where he lives. His guide includes sections on habitat, behaviour, feeding, species descriptions and similar species. He plans to include many of his own photographs. I believe he is a very worthy candidate for a Young Birder Award.

Adam Ross    

Nominator:  Ann Nightingale

In her nomination, Ann says:

Adam is 15 years old and first came to our birding community several years ago when he ran into a Christmas Bird Count team near Panama Flats. He was very enthusiastic and his parents were very supportive, but not birders themselves. It wasn’t long before Adam was participating in bird walks, showing up at rare bird stakeouts, birding with others, and building his eBird list. The following summer, he joined as a volunteer with Rocky Point Bird Observatory and started studying birds up close and personal. The RPBO banding crew have spent a lot of time with him, nurturing his much-improved birding skills and introducing him to bird banding. He has now banded more than two hundred birds and could become a licensed bander in a few years when his age catches up to his skill level. During this time, he has also started giving public education presentations in the community, sharing his love of birds with others. Adam has visited and volunteered at Tatlayoko Lake Bird Observatory for the past two summers as well. While he is keen in being a better birder himself, he is giving back by contributing to both citizen science and public education. He’s also continued doing Christmas Bird Counts since that first chance encounter. I think he’s very deserving of a BCFO Young Birder award.