Mick Roderick
Mick has been a keen birder for about 20 years. He has travelled extensively within Australia and has birded in 5 continents.
Check out some of his photos taken during his recent 12 month round-the-world trip.
Mick has been guiding for about 6 years, mostly with international birders, but also with local community groups on birdwatching information walks. Mick's main motivation for guiding is sharing his knowledge and showing visitors as much as he can about our unique birdlife and native ecology.
In terms of bird-guiding, Mick's key strengths are mapping out itineraries that reap the maximum diversity of species on a tour and finding those species as efficiently as possible when out in the field. He has a sharp eye and his ears are acutely tuned to the many and varying sounds of the Australian bush.
Mick has worked professionally for over 10 years as an ecologist and has an intimate knowledge of Australia's flora and fauna - in particular it's birds. When not guiding, Mick is employed with the NSW government's environmental department managing a large vegetation rehabilitation project in the Hunter Valley.
Steve Roderick
From a young age, exploring the Australian bush and identifying native flora and fauna were a keen interest for Steve. Now, having been chasing birds for more than 20 years, birdwatching has become his real specialty. His keen interest in birds, combined with his travels throughout Australia, has given him expert skills and knowledge in the birding field.
He has a passion and love for sharing his knowledge with all those interested. Steve has been involved in projects such as the banding of endangered Gould's Petrels and the co-ordination of Regent Honeyeater / Swift Parrot Surveys.
Steve's genuine interest in nature extends to native plants, mammals, herpetofauna and invertebrates, particularly butterflies. He has worked professionally as both a field ecologist and horticulturalist. Steve has all the skills to find the birds you want and is keen and ready to help you see them.
Local Knowledge
Both Mick and Steve are keen supporters of birding organisations throughout Australia, including their local birding association, the Hunter Bird Observers Club.
They are also the driving force behind one of the most successful teams in the Birds Australia "Twitchathon", - a 24 hour race where teams compete to find as many different species of birds as possible. The "Hunter Home Brewers", led by the Roderick brothers, have dominated the event, taking out the NSW and National categories in 2004, 2006, 2007 and 2008. In 2009 they recorded 234 species from the catchment of the Hunter River only - a feat that is probably not possible within any other single catchment in Australia. To do so has required years of research on how to locate as many different birds as possible in a short time frame. The bottom line is, the Roderick boys know where to find birds and can do it quickly if need be!
