Meet Ricki

MY FIRST MEMORIES of birds are those of the outer urban areas of Sydney: Willie Wagtails, Magpie Larks, Black-faced Cuckoo-shrikes and Tawny Frogmouths. Then there was my father’s aviaries, full of Australian finches, budgerigars, doves and quail. I lived on the urban fringes, so exploring the Sydney region bushland was a daily experience and one of great fascination for me. It formed the basis for a passion which would remain with me for life. From those very early days I have been fascinated with the beauty, behaviour, life cycles, diversity and the supreme mastery of flight which comprises our experience of birds. This love and passion for birds has taken me over much of the continent of Australia, both for work and leisure, where I’ve experienced the magic of connection with the environments where the birds live as much as the birds themselves.

I hold a Graduate Certificate in Applied Ornithology (Charles Sturt University) and have worked as a bird and nature guide since 1996. I am a seasoned presenter of birds, having presented to dozens of groups, from face to face to television, radio and print in that time. I regularly present at courses and workshops for Birds Australia for the study of birds and recreational birdwatching. I have served as Warden at the Birds Australia Broome Bird Observatory, which is about as good as it gets for people who work in my field here in Australia.

I HAVE WORKED on or supervised a large number of research and monitoring contracts. In recent years these include:

• The CSIRO/University of Newcastle collaboration on N5H1 Avian Flu monitoring project in 2006
• Shorebird monitoring in the greater Sydney region to understand the impact of development on Botany Bay 2006 – present
• Fairy-wren monitoring on Sydney’s Northern Beaches – 2009
• Monitoring and reporting on bird life in the many urban bush remnants in the Pittwater Council LGA – 2007 – 9
• I have also participated in many long term projects on Roebuck Bay (Broome – shorebird counting, flagging, banding – bush bird banding), Appin (Outer Sydney region – bush bird banding), Scheyville National Park (Outer Sydney region – bush bird banding) and shorebird monitoring on Sydney’s Long Reef (see below).

MY GOAL is to contribute to broadening public education and understanding about nature and how humanity can co-exist with a vibrant and healthy global environment. I believe one way I can achieve this is by connecting people with the magic of birds and the environments in which they live through talks, workshops and multimedia.

In 2007, I formed a sizeable shorebird study team on the Northern Beaches of Sydney. Although I have moved on to northern New South Wales, the project continues. The focus for the project is counting and studying migratory Paelarctic Shorebirds, which spend the Austral Summer on Long Reef. The work contributes to the Birds Australia Australasian Wader Study Group’s dataset on these birds and a greater understanding of their movements, lives and demography on a local and regional scale.