History of the King’s College Bird Club by R.B. Sibson

August 7th, 2025

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R.B. (Dick) Sibson is well known as a prolific author in Notornis, co-author of multiple editions of the Falla, Sibson & Turbott field guide, and as a long-time editor of Notornis. An enthusiastic amateur ornithologist, ‘Sib’ was a Classics teacher by profession, and taught at King’s College in Auckland from his arrival from England in 1939 until he retired in 1971. Throughout his time at King’s College, Sib encouraged and mentored many boys – particularly boarders – through the King’s College Bird Club. The KCBC undertook many projects and field trips with OSNZ and the Wildlife Service, including to numerous offshore islands. Many KCBC members went on to be well-known ornithologists in their own right, including Barrie Heather as both Notornis editor and co-author of the Heather & Robertson field guide.

Sib prepared a history of the KCBC in 1989, and we thank KCBC member Tim Lovegrove for providing a scan of this ‘history’ that is now published on the Birds New Zealand ‘Historical Publications’ page: https://www.birdsnz.org.nz/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/Kings-College-Bird-Club-History-R-B-Sibson-1989.pdf