An interview with Dale Forbes, lead author of ‘Habitats of Europe’ published by Princeton University Press. Dale Forbes is a lifelong naturalist and conservationist with an MSc in Biogeography. He works in strategy and marketing at Swarovski Optik, is a member of BirdLife International’s Advisory Board, and is the regional coordinator for eBird in Austria. He loves creating soundscapes that capture the essence of being immersed in nature https://soundcloud.com/capepolly Gehan de Silva Wijeyeratne interviews Dale […]
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BOC Blog
Pursuing Parakeets in the Pages of the Past
The Carolina Parakeet (Conuropsis carolinensis) was the United States’ only native parrot[i]. It occupied a remarkably wide range, from the swamps of Florida all the way to the plains of Nebraska, where it persisted even in snow and cold. The species often occurred in cypress woods in the southeast, and amidst sycamores in the midwest, and was never found far from water. With its bright green plumage and shrill, discordant calls, the birds were hard […]
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Douglas Russell, Interesting Bird Nests & Eggs
An interview with Douglas Russell, author of ‘Interesting Bird Nests & Eggs’, published by the Natural History Museum. Douglas G. D. Russell is the Senior Curator responsible for the internationally renowned birds’ egg and nest collections at the Natural History Museum (NHM). After studying Biological Sciences at Edinburgh Napier University, he began his curatorial career at the Royal Museum of Scotland (now National Museum of Scotland) preparing bird specimens from the 1996 Sea Empress oil […]
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Michael Hurben, The Physics of Birds and Birding
An interview with Michael Hurben, author of ‘The Physics of Birds and Birding’, published by Pelagic Publishing. Dr. Michael Hurben received his Ph.D. in Physics in 1996 from Colorado State University, where his work was focused on magnetic resonance. He has managed to compile a life list exceeding 5,050 species despite being legally blind. He and his wife Claire currently live in Bloomington, Minnesota. He blogs at legallyblindbirding.net. How did this book come about? I’ve […]
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Robert Cheke, Sunbirds of the World
An interview with Robert Cheke, lead author of ‘Sunbirds of the World’, published by Bloomsbury Publishing, in the Helm Identifications Guides series. Robert Cheke is Professor Emeritus of Tropical Zoology at the Natural Resources Institute of the University of Greenwich and a Visiting Professor at Imperial College London’s Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology. His work has frequently taken him to sub-Saharan Africa, where he has been able to follow his passion for sunbirds. The book […]
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Clive Slater, John Henry Gurney: A Passion for Birds
‘John Henry Gurney: A Passion for Birds’ was published in 2025 by John Beaufoy Publishing in association with the British Ornithologists Club. It was authored by Clive Slater, Peter Munday and Ray Williams. Gehan de Silva Wijeyeratne interviews the lead author, Clive Slater. Clive Slater read Zoology at King’s College, University of London (1966-1969). Following a career in environmental and public health as a chartered practitioner and university lecturer in the UK and overseas, he […]
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