There has never been such a thing as unspoiled nature. Few, if any, regions can be characterized as pristine. But that does not mean that nature and wild(ish) things are not beautiful! We should try to capture this beauty whenever we can. With that in mind, in 2024 I started documenting the different birds that I encounter on my day-to-day and while traveling. Thus far I have photographed 567 different species, that is, 5.09% of known species according to the Clements Checklist (no relation).
I use and recommend Cornell’s wonderful Merlin Bird ID app to identify and keep track of different bird species. You can check out my eBird profile, as well as my contributions to the Macaulay Library. I also have field reports of my trips to the Brazilian Southeast, Santiago de Chile, the Eastern Brazilian Amazon (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3), and Tierra del Fuego. Finally, I recently started a YouTube channel where I share some videos I’ve taken. They are not very good, but I’m trying to get better at it.
About me
I am a PhD candidate in the Department of Political Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
My research examines how bureaucrats’ attitudes influence policy implementation and the rule of law. In particular, I am interested in bureaucratic zeal as a driver of regulatory enforcement in contexts with strong pressures against it, such as the case of environmental policy. I have a regional emphasis in Latin America, and I also have ongoing interests in causal inference, individual-level adaptation to climate change, as well as the broader field of environmental politics.
I am a Graduate Research Fellow at the MIT Governance Lab, as well as an Editorial Assistant at the American Journal of Political Science. I am also the proud recipient of the Luksic Fellowship, awarded by the Luksic Foundation.
I received my BA in Political Science from the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile (PUC-Chile).
