The field guide to a birding life: Peter Menkhorst

Peter Menkhorst is the mammalogist who wrote the birding bible, The Australian Bird Guide.

As a boy, Peter would go birdwatching with his dad, setting up in a hide before dawn to observe malleefowl tending their mounds — and ignoring ongoing attacks from mosquitoes!

His professional work ranged from surveying mammals and developing National Parks, to ecological research and managing over-abundant koalas, while also leading conservation work to protect the orange-bellied parrot, the regent honeyeater and the helmeted honeyeater.

Peter still keeps a list of the birds he sees, in the hardcover notebook his gr...