BA-Vic Committee

Stuart Dashper - Convener

After completing a BSc in Zoology at La Trobe University in the early eighties I failed to show any great interest in birds and birdwatching for the next ten years. However all that has changed now and I can still remember the thrill of seeing my first Mistletoebird near Dight's Falls in Melbourne well over 15 years ago. I first became involved with Birds Australia when I accidentally established the Victorian Regional Group Conservation Committee in the mid-nineties, mainly to fight for better protection of the central Victorian Box and Ironback forests and their avifauna. I spend as much time as I can in these fabulous woodlands and I have carried out some studies on the mammals and birds of this region in conjunction with Birds Australia and the Field Naturalists Club. Apart from spending a reasonable amount of my leisure time wandering around Victoria trying to find and identify birds I also spent most of my holidays traveling through countries to our north in search of more exotic animals. As convenor I encourage you all to enjoy your involvement with Birds Australia.

Gavin Jackson - Secretary

Compared with others on this committee, mine is a relatively recent conversion to birdwatching. My parents and grandparents in the UK 'had the bug', but like most teenagers I was more interested in other things. I arrived in Australia at the age of 23 with a new degree in Economics and an Aussie girlfriend. I joined the Victorian public service and acquired two more degrees - one in public policy and law and the other, much more recently, in Ornithology from Charles Sturt University. My Aussie girlfriend is now my wife and we have enjoyed becoming avid birdwatchers over the last five years or so.

Lois Martin - Treasurer

My interest in birds began in the UK. At university, I enjoyed a week's study of the behaviour of Herring Gull on Lundy Island just north of Devon as part of an ethology subject in my psychology degree. I also studied mathematics, which I have found most valuable in my job as Treasurer of BA-Vic, have been involved in hearing research for many years and now am developing an interest in teaching and training. Recently I completed the Certificate in Ornithology, Charles Sturt University which has given me a much greater insight into birds, ecology and conservation. I passionately believe that contributing to a team is not only rewarding for the individual but enables organizations to achieve much more than the individual efforts alone. In psychology, they say that the whole is greater than the sum of the parts - and I am happy to be a part of the vision that Birds Australia has for conservation through knowledge.

Penny Johns - Newsletter "VicBabbler" Editor

Having recently inherited my father's 1923 edition of Leach's Bird Book and with my father being instrumental in stopping quail shoots in our district in Tasmania I suppose I was destined to have an interest in birds. Soon after we acquired a holiday house at Flinders on the eastern edge of the Mornington Peninsula, in the mid eighties I began observing and recording the waders, particularly the Sooty Oystercatchers who are resident there. I was soon cajoled into the Wader Study Group by Clive Minton and so began my more serious interest in waders. Having retired 2 years ago the VWSG, wader recording and Birds Australia has become a consuming and enjoyable passion. My husband and I have been members of Birds Australia for about 20 years. I have been the co-editor of Vic Babbler for the past year, ably assisted by Sally Symonds, and a member of the BA-Vic Committee for the past 2 years.

Fiona Parkin - Activities

I recall as a toddler getting up ecstatic every morning to watch the galahs feed on our front lawn in Adelaide. Now in my 30's I'm just as excited listening to the dawn chorus and watching birds go about their morning activities. I have always known that I would spend my life doing things to benefit Australian birds. After completing a BSc Honours in Conservation Biology & Ecology I worked in medical research, then at the Melbourne Museum looking at the population genetics of Australian birds and mammals. On the BA-Vic committee my main responsibility is to organise and coordinate activities. I also assist with the Twitchathon, New Members' Night and festivals and enjoy promoting BA.

John Walkley - Speakers and Promotions

I grew up on the coast at Moonta in the Little Cornwall copper mining area of country South Australia. I spent many childhood years bird observing, being particularly interested in the variety of nest building behaviours among the local birds. Retirement has presented an opportunity to resume childhood natural history pursuits; now more attracted to conservation issues than bird list extension.

Doris Graham - Convener and Deputy Convenor

After a career in microbiology I discovered shorebirds. Since then I have become a very active member of the Victorian and Australasian Wader Studies Groups (VWSG, AWSG). I have participated in AWSG banding expeditions to North-West Australia and a 3-month International Banding expedition on the east coast of Argentina, Brazil and the USA; the latter site at Delaware Bay twice. The staging site for hundreds of thousands of Red Knot, Sanderling and Turnstone, where they fatten up before their long flight from Tierra del Fuego, to their breeding grounds in the Canadian Arctic. Known by some as a "conference junkie" I greatly enjoy and have attended ornithological, seabird and shorebird conferences in Australia, South Africa and in Chile as part of my post-retirement career.

Richard Alcorn - The Babbler's Nest

I've always enjoyed being in the bush, observing the plants and animals and helping out as a volunteer with various conservation projects. It's more than just fun; it's a passion to help preserve the diversity of life on earth.

Mark Anderson - Conservation Committee Convener

I have had a lifelong interest in wildlife, in particular birdlife, the beauty of wild things and wild places and in the preservation of our environment. I joined Birds Australia some years ago to further that interest and to try to contribute in some small way to our knowledge and to the preservation of birds and their environment. I have been on the committee for 4 years and have been the convener of the conservation committee for the last 18 months. I live in Melbourne and work in the field of computer information systems as they are applied to health and safety.

Barbara Burns - Newsletter "VicBabbler" Co-Editor

I have recently taken over the job of joint editor of The VicBabbler, working with Sally. I have been a member of Birds Australia for a couple of years but have been interested in birds for much longer. I partially retired two years ago to have more time to do the things I really enjoy. I love camping, travelling, bird watching, reading, learning about the natural world and being useful. I am a qualified accountant and as well as editing the VicBabbler I am the Honorary Treasurer of the Field Naturalists Club of Victoria. I work for various publishers on different types of projects and teach on a sessional basis at RMIT and VU.

Tim Dolby - Twitchathon, Birdline Victoria Moderator

My background includes working as a rare books librarian and in publishing-and I'm currently teaching at Victoria University. I've been a birder all my life, receiving my first pair of binoculars when I was 2 years old. Some selected birding highlights include seeing flamingo at the Camargue, getting caught in a typhoon on a floating boardwalk at Mai Po, birding in the desert of Syria, a Wallcreeper in Montcuq en Query, stumbling across (literally) my first Powerful Owl near Bendigo, and listening to Olive-backed Oriole calling in my inner suburban backyard.

Naomi Hall - Newsletter "VicBabbler" Co-Editor

Dean Ingwersen - Rushworth Forest Research Project

Chris Lester - Pelagic Trips

I have been birding for 20 years (as I was a relatively late starter). I have travelled extensively around Victoria and Australia through that time and, more recently, in this current century have expanded my birding horizons to the rest of the world- most recently to South America. I am particularly interested in waders and seabirds.

Roger Richards - Devilbend Conservation Park

I have always been interested in the environment but really became involved in birds after a trip to the Antarctic in 1991. I then joined the Victorian Wader Study Group and Birds Australia and consider myself reasonably active with both when time permits. Originally trained as a civil engineer and spent 15 years mainly on construction of bridges, dams and tunnels before I saw the light. My wife, Annabel and I have thus spent the past quarter of a century running our own educational supplies business. We are both passionate about practical conservation activities and have spent much time involved in tree planting and weeding. We have worked on Wader Banding expeditions to Broome and Delaware Bay (USA) and went on an ecology study expedition through Siberia in 2002. We have 3 grown up daughters. I completed a Grad Dip in Ornithology at Charles Sturt University (Bathurst and Albury) in 2002, and am currently working on analysis of Broad-billed Sandpiper biometrics and moult (AWSG catch data between 1982 and 2000). I have been on the BA-Vic committee and the BA-Vic Conservation Committee for 3 years.

Charles Sandbrink - Rushworth Forest Research Project

Merrilyn Serong - You Yangs Boneseeding Project

My main passion is forests and their wildlife, especially the birds.
Woodlands are also wonderful places. Wetlands are pretty fantastic, too. As long as I am outside and in sight of a tree I am happy. Where there are trees there are birds and animals and mystery. What are the animals and how do they live their lives? Why do they use their habitat as they do and how and why do they interact with each other? Not so much a twitcher, more of a watcher and a wonderer.