Brian Douglas Bell (5 March 1930 – 1 October 2016) was a New Zealand environmental consultant and ornithologist. Born in 1930, Bell grew up in Marlborough and

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a cathedral city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, situated in the heart of the City of Canterbury local government district of Kent, England. It lies on the River Stour. The Archbishop of Canterbury is the primate of ...

. Surrounded by hills, braided riverbeds, islands and rocky coasts, he soon became deeply interested in natural history. He worked for the New Zealand Wildlife Service between 1957 and 1987 on the management and conservation of

threatened species Threatened species are any species (including animals, plants and fungi) which are vulnerable to endangerment in the near future. Species that are threatened are sometimes characterised by the population dynamics measure of '' critical depen ...

. Bell, along with Don Merton, was part of the ultimately unsuccessful attempt in 1964 to save the

South Island snipe The South Island snipe (''Coenocorypha iredalei''), also known as the Stewart Island snipe or tutukiwi in Māori, is an extinct species of bird in the sandpiper family Scolopacidae that was endemic to New Zealand. Taxonomy and etymology Determ ...

, the greater short-tailed bat, and the New Zealand bush wren from extinction after the invasion of Big South Cape Island by rats. In the 1984 Queen's Birthday Honours, Bell was awarded the Queens Service Medal for public services. He was a member of the

Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union The Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union (RAOU), now part of BirdLife Australia, was Australia's largest non-government, non-profit, bird conservation organisation. It was founded in 1901 to promote the study and conservation of the native b ...

(RAOU), and was elected a Fellow of the RAOU in 1990. He was president of the

Ornithological Society of New Zealand The Ornithological Society of New Zealand (OSNZ), also known as Birds New Zealand, is a non-profit organisation dedicated to the study of birds and their habitats in the New Zealand region. Founded in 1940, it caters to a wide variety of people in ...

(OSNZ) from 1972 to 1979, and again from 1989 to 1995. He was awarded the OSNZ

Robert Falla Memorial Award The Robert Falla Memorial Award (sometimes referred to as the Falla Award) is granted by the Ornithological Society of New Zealand to people "who have made a significant contribution to both the Ornithological Society of New Zealand and to New Zea ...

in 1987, and elected a Fellow of the Ornithological Society of New Zealand in 1998. Bell died in Marlborough on 1 October 2016.

References

External links

* Brian Bell discussed on RNZ ''Critter of the Week''
14 October 2016

References

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See also