Seems the link to the Age story is not working so here it is in one go.
Jon Wren
The Age: New feather in the cap of bird lover
New feather in the cap of bird lover
By LUCINDA STRAHAN
2000-09-28 00:13:07
The most spectacular elements of Australian scenery are in suburban back
yards,
says author and wildlife illustrator Michael Morcombe.
"I think birds are probably the most spectacular part of the Australian
landscape," he said. "Australia's got some wonderful desert scenery but it's
not
like Africa where you've got masses of big wildlife.
"We've got some wonderful lorikeets and things in the city, you can see the
birdlife in National Parks all around the cities." Mr Morcombe, 62, began
his
obsession with Australia's native birds as a young Perth photographer on a
bike.
Looking for subjects that would compete with snow-capped mountains and
sparse
desert scenery, he turned to the local birdlife.
Almost 40 years later, publisher Steve Parish has launched Mr Morcombe's
Field
Guide to Australian Birds, an illustrated guide to 850 species of Australian
birds that has taken 14 years to complete.
Even for an expert, birds are one of the most difficult things to
photograph.
For the Field Guide, Mr Morcombe decided to put down the camera and turn to
the
canvas.
For 14 years, he worked on 3400 illustrations drawn from unpublishable
photographs he had kept. "I began illustrating things that you couldn't
capture
photographically," Mr Morcombe said, adding that he now prefers the
paintbrush
and canvas.
Bird classification is an evolving field. "There's been quite a lot of new
species sighted in the last two years," Mr Morcombe said.
"What usually happens is that species come down accidentally from New Guinea
and
Indonesia - they get blown down in a cyclone or something."
"There's quite a few new waders that get spotted ... and some of these
waders
come from Siberia down as far as Port Phillip Bay. They might usually only
come
down as far as Indonesia but sometimes with their migration they over-step
the
mark," he said.
This story was found at:
http://www.theage.com.au/news/20000928/A20381-2000Sep27.html
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