Every day, BirdsEye users submit beautiful bird photos from around the world. The images are verified and incorporated into our apps to help our users better identify species as they birdwatch. The following images are a collection of our staff’s favorite pics submitted to our BirdsEye.photo site in 2019.

Have a favorite image in our apps that you’d like to see featured? Email us at info@birdsinthehand.com.

Our November 2018 Birder of the Month has the honor of being the first user-nominated birder to be featured in this space. Michael Montier lives on the Spanish isle of Mallorca, a Mediterranean birding hotspot, where he fills an outsized role on the island. He runs a thread on Birdforum—updated daily—dedicated to the latest sightings around the island, and for many years, he wrote a birding column for the Majorca Daily Bulletin that detailed the beautiful birds he’d spotted, from soaring vultures to flamingos. Furthermore, he serves as the Vice President of GORA, a raptor study group on Mallorca that monitors birds of prey. His most important contributions to Mallorcan birding, however, are his generous gifts of time and knowledge to beginning birders on the island.

Montier frequently tutors novice birds on Mallorca, showing them around hotspots and imparting his enthusiasm for birds. The lessons are free and are intended to spread excitement about both birds and the greater natural world. “The more birders there are in a world that needs nature more than ever, the better,” he says.

Birds have carried him through some dark days in his life, Montier explains, and he wants only to pass along his love of nature to a new generation. “If I have managed to fire their imagination, then I could not ask for more than that,” he says.

Montier grew up in London, England, and was first exposed to birds by his grandfather. They would walk in the countryside where his grandfather would pause to point out a bird, or just as importantly, a birdsong. The walks and birds remain vivid in Montier’s mind, particularly the yellowhammer, which still stands out. The memories remain with him today and sparked his lifelong passion for birds and big open spaces. The sense of freedom—inspired by the birds and their environment—continues to thrill him and drive his contributions to the birding community. Like many birders, Montier boasts a substantial collection of bird photographs—he has been snapping birds since 1969!—and particularly values his photos from his travels in Scotland.

Although he has served as a guide for visiting birders on many occasions, Montier has resisted becoming a birding professional. Today, he and his wife travel abroad as frequently as possible to birdwatch. They often visit the U.S. to canvass birding hotspots like California, Arizona, Florida, and Mississippi. After decades of birding and international travel to find new species on his life list, Montier is often asked what his favorite bird is. His reply? “I find it impossible to answer because there are so many species that I love. The nightjars must be near the top of my list though, and I go to see them at every opportunity.”

BirdsEye thanks Michael Montier for his contributions to the birding community and his commitment to our feathered friends. Keep up the good work, Michael!

Users of eBird, the citizen biodiversity project, run by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, have collectively spotted 10,364 species, roughly the entire canon of bird life on the planet. And Alex Vargas? He’s personally tallied 5,138 species on his life list—and counting! For his prolificness and sensational avian photography, Alex is the BirdsEye Birder of the Month for October 2018.

Alex is a native Costa Rican who has been birding for over 30 years, first as a childhood hobby and later as a birdwatching tour guide during his teenage years. Since 2009, he has led dedicated bird photography expeditions around the world. Alex inherited his love of birds from his father and grew up studying birds on his family’s farm in Costa Rica’s Caribbean Lowlands, where he created his first bird feeder at age 12. He nabbed his first naturalist gig shortly after that when the World Wildlife Foundation (WWF) and the Organization for Tropical Studies (OTS) recruited him to work at the La Selva Biological Station in Sarapiquí. At 16, he was certified as a “Naturalist Guide” by WWF and OTS.

Alex started photographing birds when the industry entered the digital era. He carried his scope everywhere as he led birdwatching tours, and he got hooked on photography for good when a friend gave him a small point-and-shoot camera. When he moved to Asia, he found more time to shoot birds and pursued photography more seriously. He was later granted the title of “Pro Photographer” from a private school in Japan.

Alex leads bird photography tours around the world for Bird Photo World, his own agency. He regularly visits Costa Rica, Colombia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Australia, Malaysia, Canada, and the U.S. He previously worked in research and conservation, as well as a Tourism Business Administrator at various times, but has focused on tours and photography since 2009. He currently lives in Indonesia with his family but plans to relocate to the Americas to work on growing his business. In the coming, Alex hopes to expand to Ecuador and Brazil in 2019 and Guyana and Africa in 2020.

When pressed, Alex admits that the Resplendent Quetzal is his favorite bird: “They are marvelous, enigmatic birds, and I have spent a long time with them; it is even the bird in my company’s logo” he says. He admits, however, that he has too many favorite birds and expressed a fondness for kingfishers, pittas, hummingbirds, Australian parrots, and the various red-billed, multi-colored species found in Asia.

For novice birders, Alex recommends “practice, practice, practice! But have fun while you’re at it”, he says, “especially when you’re young and can travel without roots pinning you down.” He suggests that if you encounter a challenge identifying certain birds, learn to embrace it and keep moving forward. “Think it’s hard to tell flycatchers apart? Gulls are even harder!” he jokes.

As a final point, he emphasizes that birders should seek out the fun in birding and not make it a competition, which can take away the beauty of the activity.

Congratulations to Alex Vargas for being named the BirdsEye Birder of the Month for October 2018. Keep up the great work, Alex!

All images courtesy of Alex Vargas.

BirdsEye is always looking for ways to highlight the people doing exceptional work in the birding community. Do you know a deserving birder worthy of being featured? If so, please email us at info@birdsinthehand.com with your nominations.