Rick grew up in Grahamstown, in South Africa’s Eastern Cape Province and has had a keen interest in birds from a very young age. He obtained BSc (Zoology and Botany) and MSc (Zoology) degrees from the University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg (now University of KwaZulu-Natal), with birds – and bird behaviour - always the main focus of his studies.
Rick joined the National Museum in Bloemfontein as Ornithologist in 1991, undertaking research and overseeing the Museum’s bird collection for ten years, before moving into a management role, first as Deputy Director and then as Director, a position he held until November 2017. Rick has authored numerous scientific, semi-scientific and popular publications, including contributions to The Atlas of southern African Birds, Roberts Birds of Southern Africa (7th Edition), The Eskom Red Data Book of Birds of South Africa, Lesotho and Swaziland and Important Bird Areas of southern Africa.
Rick has served on the review panels of a number of zoological and ornithological journals, and has been a Trustee of the John Voelcker Bird Book Fund, responsible for publication of quality ornithological books in South Africa (essentially Roberts Birds of Southern Africa and associated publications). He contributes regularly to national bird monitoring initiatives such as the Co-ordinated Avifaunal Roadcounts (CAR) and the second Southern African Bird Atlas Project (SABAP2); he also served on the national Steering Committee and as a Regional Co-ordinator for SABAP2. Rick is passionate about birds and birding and enjoys sharing his knowledge and experiences with others. He has led small group birding trips to various places in South Africa and Lesotho on occasion since 1993, and has also travelled widely in Southern Africa in search of birds and other wildlife.
A keen amateur photographer and bird sound recordist, Rick’s most recent interests include watching and photographing butterflies, dragonflies and damselflies; he regularly contributes photographs to the citizen science projects of the Virtual Museum hosted by the Fitzpatrick Institute at the University of Cape Town and the Biodiversity and Development Institute. Rick now follows his passions of birds, and other wildlife, sharing these with like-minded people through organizing and leading birding and nature experience tours, mainly in South Africa. Rick also does freelance work, co-leading and leading general wildlife and birding tours for a few birding and wildlife tour operators, including tours with a special focus on butterflies. Rick also undertakes bird survey and monitoring work related to wind and solar energy facilities; he has also assisted with the survey and monitoring of Damara and Saunders’ Terns and other bird species on the San Sebastian Peninsula in Mozambique.
