Dan has had an obsession with wildlife as long as he can remember. Growing up in Melbourne, Australia, he enjoyed looking for kangaroos, emus and wombats on walks through the bush with his family. This childhood passion for wildlife led to Dan eventually becoming an avid birder and ornithologist.
Having seen over 700 bird species in Australia, Dan has a wide range of experience in a variety of different habitats. He spends much of his time searching for rare birds and enjoys sharing this passion with others. In particular, Dan has a fascination with birds living in harsh environments, from the scorching deserts of central Australia to the open ocean. In the last few years, Dan has been on almost forty pelagic trips for seabirding. He now spends most of his time between the Queensland coast and the arid zone.
Beside bird guiding, Dan is currently pursuing a PhD studying the status and conservation of the endangered Plains-wanderer in western Queensland. This part of the population is very poorly known, and there are fewer than ten photographs ever taken of Plains-wanderers in the entire state. The countless hours spent searching for these birds and the reward of eventually finding them is what drives Dan's enthusiasm in his research. He has also previously undertaken extensive nest-searching work on Norfolk Island in the Tasman Sea and the Kimberley of northwestern Australia.
