Matthew has been an enthusiastic birder since he was six years old and has called Florida home for more than eighteen years. Not long after arriving, he became active in the local birding community through the Manatee County and Sarasota Audubon Societies. A few years later, he helped found the Celery Fields Bird Naturalist Program at the Celery Fields, now a well-known hotspot with nearly 250 recorded species and a popular destination for birders from across the country. In 2014, he was selected to join the Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s Young Birders Program alongside sixteen other young birders from around the world. He later attended Cornell University and earned a degree in Environment and Sustainability.
Since graduating in 2020, Matthew has worked in a variety of field research positions across the eastern and midwestern United States with organizations such as Princeton University, SUNY-ESF, and Florida Fish and Wildlife. These roles have provided hands-on experience with a wide range of bird species. He has also remained active in Florida’s birding community by leading field trips throughout the Manatee–Sarasota region and teaching eBird classes for Sarasota Audubon Society. Matthew has recorded 474 bird species in the ABA Area, with more than 400 of those sightings in Florida.
Matthew knows Florida’s habitats intimately, especially the Tampa Bay and Southwest Florida regions, and he enjoys showing others the lesser-known places that make the state so unique. He is particularly fascinated by pelagic birds, a passion that deepened after joining an overnight pelagic trip more than one hundred miles off Massachusetts with the Brookline Bird Club. He has since participated in numerous pelagic trips along both the Atlantic and Gulf coasts of Florida.
Matthew looks forward to guiding birders of all experience levels and helping them connect more deeply with the birds and natural landscapes of Florida.
