Bill with local bird guide Idris at Lore Lindu National Park in Sulawesi with the very first Satanic Nightjar ever banded. Bill, via OTS has been able to maintain his contact and support with the Sulawesi based bird banders he trained as part of the AUS AID project he was instrumental in developing.
Bill Rutherford HND Conservation Management
Managing Director/principal ornithologist
On emigrating to Australia in 1999 Bill continued his career with Bird Life Australia as warden of Broome Bird Observatory (BBO). Drawing on 15 years experience in waterbird and wetland conservation based at RAMSAR and UNESCO listed wetlands in the UK Bill was able to further develop the goals of the BBO and integrate them further into the local community. Bill’s life-long passion of raising awareness of bird conservation issues to our community and training young Australians in the sector of bird conservation has been maintained since leaving BBO via his 19 year bird banding study of urban birds at Herdsman Lake. Bill has represented the Australian Government as the Regional ABBBS Organiser for WA since 2006 and was instrumental in setting up the Indonesian Bird Banding Scheme.
Direct contact: billrutherford@ots.org.au
Nick in Munday Swamp, where OTS has been conducting field work to monitor and manage the Australian White Ibis population for several years.
Nicholas Hart BSc (Hons)
Senior Ornithologist/Data ANalyst
Nick is a talented birder who recently completed a honours project with an entomology focus. He has worked with birds and bats for several years, and is highly proficient at identification and various capture methods. Nick also has extensive experience in database management and statistical analysis.
Direct contact: nickhart@ots.org.au
Patrick is monitoring Greater Crested Terns, Caspian Terns and Silver Gulls during the breeding season on Rottnest Island to understand the impacts of Silver Gulls on conservation significant bird species.
Patrick Williams BSc (Conservation and wildlife biology and Marine and freshwater biology)
Assistant Ornithologist
Patrick struck a passion with ornithology in his later years of his undergraduate degree and decided to further his studies with a masters degree in ornithology. He is now completing this degree looking at the Western Partridge Pigeon and this has allowed him to developed skills in GIS, statistical analysis in R and scientific writing, whilst in his free time developing his bird identification skills. He has also been training to become a bird bander for the last 2 years under the Australian Bird and Bat Banding Scheme.
Direct contact: patwilliams@ots.org.au