David Lawrie, President
David joined the Society in the mid 1960s after Ross McKenzie (a former president of the Society) discovered him stalking a flock of oystercatchers with a pair of binoculars. Ross was at the time taking part in a Manukau Harbour census and, following permission from David’s parents, took him for the rest of the day and nurtured his interest in birds for several years.

Ever since this encounter David has realised the value of nurturing people with an interest in birds and often gets as much enjoyment from showing birds to people as he does with actual observations.

David is a team player and has the desire to encourage others around him to all work for the common cause. This not only makes the tasks more enjoyable but it means that the work load is more evenly spread and much more can be achieved.

Unfortunately David’s busy schedule, and running a mid sized business, means that he will not be able to travel around the regions as much as previous presidents have been able. However he is always contactable to provide advice and suggestions whenever possible.

Bruce McKinlay, Vice President
Bruce has been a member of the Ornithological Society since the 1980’s and, while not always an active member, has participated in Harbour Studies on Otago Harbour and led an Atlas mapping project for Dunedin City.

Since joining Council in 2007 Bruce has focused on arranging a contract with Te Papa Press for a revised Checklist of New Zealand Birds; leading a scoping exercise to examine options and priorities for our web presence; and providing a context for ongoing Council discussions about wader counting and frameworks to pursue this.

As Vice President he sees his priorities as seeking to build capacity in the regions to undertake more bird studies, working with the Activities and Developments Committee to provide training opportunities for members, and continuing to be opinionated during Council email exchanges.

In his day job Bruce works in the Otago Conservancy of the Department of Conservation where he provides contributions to Weka, skink, Yellow-eyed Penguin, albatross and insect conservation programmes.

Paul Garner-Richards, Treasurer
Paul has been a member of OSNZ since 2004, when he arrived in New Zealand from the UK. Having married into the Bell family he had little choice in joining the Society!

Paul has always had an interest in birds and conservation. He has worked with his wife Biz on several projects around the world, including a couple of rat eradications and the monitoring of black petrels on Great Barrier Island. He now hopes to take a more active role in Society activities.

He lives in Blenheim and works for Interislander as second mate aboard the M.V. Kaitaki.

Colin Miskelly, new Council member
Colin has been an active member of OSNZ since 1976, but had not sought an elected position before joining Council in 2010. After completing a PhD on the breeding ecology of Coenocorypha snipe at Canterbury University in 1989, Colin joined the Department of Conservation in 1991, and remained with the Department, mainly in Wellington Conservancy, until he was appointed Curator of Terrestrial Vertebrates at Te Papa / Museum of New Zealand in 2010.

Colin has had extensive involvement with threatened bird recovery programmes, particularly on the Chatham Islands, which he first visited as a schoolboy in 1978. His ornithological research interests are diverse, as reflected in over 70 papers published in Notornis and other scientific journals. Recurring themes include historical ornithology, island biogeography and restoration, Coenocorypha snipe ecology, phylogeny and conservation, seabird translocations, and responses of forest bird communities to management changes. He has written or edited three books on the Chatham Islands, including Birds of the Chatham Islands (with Hilary Aikman, DOC 2004) and Chatham Islands: heritage and conservation (2nd edn, Canterbury University Press 2008). He is the chair of the New Zealand bird conservation status panel, and is a member of the Rare Birds Committee. Within Wellington Region, Colin co-ordinates bird surveys on Kapiti Island and within Karori Sanctuary, and has a long term research project (with Graeme Taylor) on restoring petrels to Mana Island.

Murray Williams, new Council member
Murray is a recent retiree, having completed a 40-year career as a waterfowl and conservation  biologist with the NZ Wildlife Service and Department of Conservation and another 5 years teaching restoration ecology at Victoria University. He thinks he first joined OSNZ as a schoolboy in the late 1950s and admits to being an inconsistent member ever since.

Peter Frost, Council member
Peter Frost is an ecologist living in Wanganui but working intermittently overseas, mostly at the Center for International Forestry Research in Indonesia. He was born in England but grew up in Africa, where he lived and worked for almost 60 years, mainly in Zambia, Swaziland, South Africa and Zimbabwe (latterly at the University of Zimbabwe (1987-2006), where he was successively lecturer, Associate Professor and finally Research Associate at the Institute of Environmental Studies within the University), before coming to New Zealand in 2006. When in Wanganui, he monitors seasonal and other changes in the wader and waterbird populations on the Whanganui River Estuary, among other things.

Keith Owen, Council member
Keith has been a member of OSNZ for about 40 years, a past regional rep of the former Volcanic Plateau Region, and is a current member of the Bay of Plenty Region. He co-ordinated the recent Bay of Plenty shorebird surveys and co-ordinated the five-yearly water bird census of the Rotorua Lakes (18 lakes) over the last 20 years.

Keith is employed as a technical support officer specialising in fauna and habitats, working out of the Department of Conservation's Bay of Plenty Conservancy Office in Rotorua. He has experience in a wide range of species conservation and management programmes, both nationally and more recently regionally. Keith hopes his experience and background will be of assistance to the society in achieving its objectives over the next period of its development.

Ingrid Hutzler, Executive Officer
Originally from Germany, Ingrid decided nearly 20 years ago that New Zealand is a much nicer place to live. With her passion for nature, she completed a BSc in Biological Science (Massey University), has worked on endangered birds and threatened plants for the Department of Conservation since, and is now doing her Masters part-time. She is actively involved with OSNZ, loves the outdoors and spends most of her (non-working) time bird watching, tramping, kayaking, and sailing. The main objective of her role as the Executive Officer is to enhance the efficient running of the Society by providing support, reports, feedback, and by reminding people about important actions. Above all, her aim is to make your birding life more rewarding!