Colin Miskelly

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

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] He has spent six summers on the Snares Islands studying snipe.^[1]

From February 1991 to May 2010, Miskelly was a conservancy advisory scientist, technical support manager, and conservation analyst with the Department of Conservation (DOC),^[3][4] including representing DOC on the board of the Karori Sanctuary Trust (the operator of 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. Over a hundred expert authors and over 500 photographers have been involved in creating this digital encyclopedia, which records all of New Zealand's bird species (extant or extinct). As of December 2024^[update], Miskelly remains as the site administrator.^[5][6]

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.^[7] In 2010 he and Allan J. Baker (1943–2014) described the subspecies Coenocorypha aucklandica perseverance.^[8]

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.^[9] 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.^[10]

Scholia has a profile for Colin Miskelly (Q21502965).

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

• Colin Miskelly (1984). "Birds of the Western Chain, Snares Islands 1983-84" (PDF). Notornis. 31 (3): 209–223. ISSN 0029-4470. Wikidata Q131403582.
• Cooper, W.J.; Colin Miskelly; K. Morrison; R.J. Peacock (1986). "Birds of the Solander Islands" (PDF). Notornis. 33 (2): 77–89. ISSN 0029-4470. Wikidata Q131403605.
• Colin Miskelly (1987). "The Identity of the Hakawai" (PDF). Notornis. 34 (2): 95–116. ISSN 0029-4470. Wikidata Q131403635.
• Colin Miskelly (1999). "Breeding ecology of Snares Island Snipe ( Coenocorypha aucklandica huegeli ) and Chatham Island Snipe ( C. pusilla )" (PDF). Notornis. 46 (1): 207–221. ISSN 0029-4470. Wikidata Q131403672.
• Colin Miskelly (2000). "Historical records of snipe from Campbell Island, New Zealand" (PDF). Notornis. 47 (3): 131–140. ISSN 0029-4470. Wikidata Q131403684.
• David Barker; Jeremy W.A. Carroll; Hannah K Edmonds; James R Fraser; Colin Miskelly (2005). "Discovery of a previously unknown Coenocorypha snipe in the Campbell Island group, New Zealand subantarctic" (PDF). Notornis. 52 (3): 143–149. ISSN 0029-4470. Wikidata Q131403698.
• Colin Miskelly; John Dowding; Graeme Elliott; et al. (2008). "Conservation status of New Zealand birds, 2008" (PDF). Notornis. 55 (3). ISSN 0029-4470. Wikidata Q131403740.

In 2008 he edited the book Chatham Islands: Heritage and Conservation.^[11][12]

In 2020, along with co-author Craig Symes, Miskelly edited a collection of papers entitled Lost Gold: Ornithology of the subantarctic Auckland Islands.^[13][14]

In 2021, Miskelly and his co-author Craig Symes won the Royal Zoological Society of New South Wales Whitley Award for the book Lost Gold: Ornithology of the subantarctic Auckland Islands.^[15]

In 2024, Miskelly was elected as a Fellow of the Ornithological Society of New Zealand.^[16][17]

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".^[18]

• Every Last Bird – The birds of Te Araroa Trail
• MEG Winter Lecture Series – Dr Colin Miskelly Te Papa
• New Zealand Birds Online
• Profile at Researchgate