Esteban Mendez is a native of Monteverde Costa Rica, where he was born and raised.

Since he was a little kid, he's has been fascinated with nature. He was raised very close to the Monteverde cloud forest where the birds used to wake him up each morning.

When he finished high school he knew what he wanted to do: he chose to study something related to nature so he went to school to be a naturalist tour guide.

He also had the opportunity to study English at an American learning institute to increase his language skills, and to be able to speak, read, write and understand the language very well.

Esteban has worked as a naturalist tour guide for over 15 years for many renowned tourism companies, travel agencies, environmental organizations, organizing scientific excursions, leading birding, nature and night walks, coordinating tropical biology courses, research, conservation and itineraries for customized trips.

He is certified as a professional bilingual birding and nature- tour guide by the Costa Rican tourism board license number 1112.

Esteban has birded several countries including Mexico, Colombia, Panama, Ecuador among others.

When he is not guiding, he likes to bird other countries in search of new birds to his bird life list that is now more than 1000 species. He also likes to ride his mountain bike, check his favorite web site (eBird!) and spend quality time with his wife and 2 children.