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Draft:Colin Miskelly

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Colin Miskelly
Born1962/1963 (age 61–62)
Alma materUniversity of Canterbury
Known forNew Zealand Birds Online website
AwardsCranwell Medal (2024)
Scientific career
FieldsOrnithology
InstitutionsDepartment of Conservation
Te Papa
ThesisSocial and Environmental Constraints on Breeding by New Zealand Snipe Coenocorypha aucklandica (1989)

Colin Miskelly (born 1962/1963)[1] is a New Zealand ornithologist and museum curator.

Biography

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Miskelly's father was a mechanical engineer and his mother was a nurse.[1] At the age of 13 he became a member of the Ornithological Society of New Zealand, and at age 15, he spent six weeks on the Chatham Islands on an expedition focussed on the Chatham Island tāiko (Pterodroma magentae).[1] In 1983 he received a Queen Elizabeth II Commonwealth Scholarship. From November 1983 to January 1984, alongside Don Merton, he was part of a team of conservationists who witnessed a successful breeding season of the Chatham Islands black robin (Petroica traversi) on Rangatira Island. During this period the total population was doubled from nine to 18 individuals.[1] In 1985, Miskelly received a Bachelor of Science degree summa cum laude from the University of Canterbury. After studying for a doctorate at the same university, he received his Ph.D. in 1989 with the dissertation Social and Environmental Constraints on Breeding by New Zealand Snipe Coenocorypha aucklandica.[2]

From February 1991 to May 2010, Miskelly was a conservation consultant, technical support officer and conservation analyst with the Department of Conservation (DOC), including representing DOC on the board of the Karori Sanctuary Trust (now Zealandia) from 1998 to 2010. He then moved to the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, where he became curator of vertebrates. He was the driving force behind the creation of the New Zealand Birds Online website, launched in 2013. Eleven main authors, over a hundred other contributors and over 250 photographers are involved in this digital encyclopedia, which records all of New Zealand's bird species (extant or extinct).[3][4]

Miskelly's special area of interest is the New Zealand snipe (Coenocorypha). In 2002, a revision of the genus carried out in collaboration with Trevor Worthy led to the elevation of the former subspecies Coenocorypha aucklandica iredalei, Coenocorypha aucklandica huegeli and Coenocorypha aucklandica barrierensis to species status.[5] In 2010 he and Allan J. Baker (1943–2014) described the subspecies Coenocorypha aucklandica perseverance.[6]

In 2018, Miskelly was part of a team of scientists that first described the critically endangered diving petrel species Whenua Hou diving petrel (Pelecanoides whenuahouensis) from Codfish Island / Whenua Hou.[7] This taxon was originally considered a population of the broad-billed guillemot petrel (Pelecanoides georgicus).

Over the period November 2023 to March 2024, Miskelly undertook a trek along the full 3,000 kilometres (1,900 mi) length of the Te Araroa Trail from Cape Reinga to Bluff making observations of birds at 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) intervals along the way. The observations were reported progressively in blog posts during the walk.[8]

Publications

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Miskelly has written numerous articles for the journal Notornis, including:

  • Birds of the Western Chain, Snares Island 1983–1984 (1984)
  • Birds of the Solander Islands (1986)
  • The Identity of the Hakawai (1987)
  • Breeding ecology of Snares Island Snipe (Coenocorypha aucklandica huegeli) and Chatham Island Snipe (C. pusilla) (1999)
  • Historical records of snipe from Campbell Island, New Zealand (2000)
  • Discovery of a previously unknown Coenocorypha snipe in the Campbell Island group, New Zealand subantarctic (2005)
  • Conservation status of New Zealand birds, 2008 (2008)

In 2008 he edited the book Chatham Islands: Heritage and Conservation.

Awards

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In 2021, Miskelly and his co-author Craig Symes won the Royal Zoological Society of New South Wales Whitley Award for the book Science and Conservation – Lost Gold: Ornithology of the Subantarctic Auckland Islands.[9]

In 2024, Miskelly was awarded the Cranwell Medal by the New Zealand Association of Scientists, for "excellence in communicating science to the general public in any area of science or technology".[10]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d Macdonald, Nikki (14 July 2018). "National Portrait: Colin Miskelly, Te Papa curator and bird expert". Stuff. Retrieved 27 November 2024.
  2. ^ Miskelly, Colin M. (1989). "Social and environmental constraints on breeding by New Zealand snipe Coenocorypha aucklandica". University of Canterbury. Retrieved 27 November 2024.
  3. ^ "Congratulations to all of our 2024 NZAS Award winners". New Zealand Association of Scientists. 2024. Retrieved 28 November 2024.
  4. ^ "Greater prominence given to Māori bird names". RNZ. 31 May 2022. Retrieved 28 November 2024.
  5. ^ Trevor H. Worthy; Colin M. Miskelly; Bob (R.) A. Ching (January 2002). "Taxonomy of North and South Island snipe (Aves: Scolopacidae: Coenocorypha), with analysis of a remarkable collection of snipe bones from Greymouth, New Zealand". New Zealand Journal of Zoology. 29 (3): 231–244. doi:10.1080/03014223.2002.9518307. ISSN 0301-4223. Wikidata Q54540030.
  6. ^ Miskelly, C. M.; Baker, A. J. (2010). "Description of a new subspecies of Coenocorypha snipe from subantarctic Campbell Island, New Zealand" (PDF). Notornis. 56 (3): 113–123.
  7. ^ Johannes H. Fischer, Igor Debski, Colin M. Miskelly, Charles A. Bost, Aymeric Fromant, Alan J. D. Tennyson, Jake Tessler, Rosalind Cole, Johanna H. Hiscock, Graeme A. Taylor and Heiko U. Wittmer. 2018. Analyses of Phenotypic Differentiations Among South Georgian Diving Petrel (Pelecanoides georgicus) Populations Reveal An Undescribed and Highly Endangered Species from New Zealand. PLoS ONE. 13(6): e0197766. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0197766
  8. ^ "Ornithologist Colin Miskelly walking the length of Aotearoa". RNZ. 30 October 2023.
  9. ^ "Whitley Awards 2021". Royal Zoological Society of New South Wales. Retrieved 28 November 2024.
  10. ^ "New Zealand Association Of Scientists Awards Celebrate The Achievements Of Scientists And Our Science System". Scoop. 25 November 2024. Retrieved 27 November 2024.
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Category:New Zealand ornithologists Category: New Zealand scientists Category:New Zealand conservationists Category:University of Canterbury alumni

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