CV
Current volunteer activities:
The Native Plant Nursery (Forest & Bird Wellington) — July 2024 to present
Seedling planting and transplanting, weeding
Zealandia — August 2024 to present
Fence and conservation team (biosecurity)
Coolidge Reserve — June 2024 to present
Habitat restoration work, including invasive removal, drainage, and stream rehabilitation.
MIRO — July 2025 to present
Pohowera | Banded dotterel monitoring and banding (training)
Papawai Stream Group — February 2025 to present
Monthly working bees, mostly invasive plant removal
Ngā Kaimanaaki o Te Waimapihi — June 2024 to present
Toutouwai | North Island robin monitoring (intermittent)
Past volunteer activities:
Pūkaha National Wildlife Centre, Mount Bruce — September to December 2024
Full-time ranger on conservation breeding team
Conservation Volunteers New Zealand — July 2024 to July 2025
Tree planting projects in Ōwhiro Bay and Belmont Regional Park
Wellington Bird Rehabilitation Trust — June to August 2024
Intake of injured animals, feeding, medication, cleaning, and assistance with surgical procedures
Peninsula Humane Society (Exotics), San Carlos, California — 2016 to 2018
Worked in the Exotics department, doing everything from laundry to bird socialisation.
Mickaboo and Exotic Bird Rescue of Oregon — 2015 to present
Fostered or adopted 44 small parrots from 10 Australian species. Designed an indoor/outdoor aviary where they could live in a multi-species flock. Created a custom dry food diet and published research.
Others: Chartwell Reserve (Bioblitz), Friends of Central Park, Brooklyn Trail Builders
Writing and research
Special skills
Bird breeding — 1981 to 1988
Captive bird care — 1981 to present
Indoor/outdoor aviary design — 2017 to present
Invasive plant removal — 1970s to present
Training and certifications:
NZNBBS Level 1 (in training)
CFS426 Five Minute Bird Count
CFS423 Plant Identification
CFS421 Risk Assessment
Essential First Aid
Kiwi handling and transmitter installation at Pūkaha (observer only)
Avian Behavior International - two advanced bird training courses
Other skills
My day job was in software engineering at Apple for 20 years. Although I’ve left that behind for good, I have a lot of generalised technical experience that is often useful.