Clive Dudley Thomas Minton, AM (7 October 1934 – 6 November 2019Katie Allen (2019
"Revolutionary in the study of wader birds"
'

The Sydney Morning Herald ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid newspaper published in Sydney, Australia, and owned by Nine Entertainment. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuous ...

'', 11 December 2019. Archived fro
original
on 11 December 2019.) was a British and

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

n metallurgist, administrator,

management consultant Management consulting is the practice of providing consulting services to organizations to improve their performance or in any way to assist in achieving organizational objectives. Organizations may draw upon the services of management consultant ...

and amateur

ornithologist Ornithology, from Ancient Greek ὄρνις (''órnis''), meaning "bird", and -logy from λόγος (''lógos''), meaning "study", is a branch of zoology dedicated to the study of birds. Several aspects of ornithology differ from related discip ...

. His interest in birds began in childhood.

Early life

Born in

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

, Minton attended

Oundle School Oundle School is a public school (United Kingdom), public school (English Private schools in the United Kingdom, fee-charging boarding school, boarding and day school) for pupils 11–18 situated in the market town of Oundle in Northamptonshire ...

and went on to complete a

PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

degree in

Metallurgy Metallurgy is a domain of materials science and engineering that studies the physical and chemical behavior of metallic elements, their inter-metallic compounds, and their mixtures, which are known as alloys. Metallurgy encompasses both the ...

at the

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

. Although involved in studies of various species of birds, his main focus became the migratory

wader 245px, A flock of Red_knot.html" ;"title="Dunlins and Red knot">Dunlins and Red knots Waders or shorebirds are birds of the order Charadriiformes commonly found wikt:wade#Etymology 1, wading along shorelines and mudflats in order to foraging, ...

s. He became the founding chairman of the Wash Wader Ringing Group and was associated with the development of

cannon-netting Rocket nets and cannon nets are types of animal traps used to trap many live animals, usually birds, but they also have been used to catch large animals such as various species of deer. Rocket nets, cannon nets, and other net launching devices ar ...

, especially as a means of catching large numbers of waders for banding and

demographic Demography () is the statistics, statistical study of human populations: their size, composition (e.g., ethnic group, age), and how they change through the interplay of fertility (births), mortality (deaths), and migration. Demographic analy ...

studies.

Life in Australia

In 1978, Minton moved to

as managing director of Imperial Metal Industries Australia in

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Queen Victoria (1819–1901), Queen of the United Kingdom and Empress of India * Victoria (state), a state of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, a provincial capital * Victoria, Seychelles, the capi ...

. There he revitalised wader studies through the introduction of cannon-netting to the Victorian Wader Study Group (VWSG), which became one of the most active banding groups in the world. He was also instrumental in the formation of the Australasian Wader Studies Group (AWSG) of which he was founding chair, as well as in the establishment of

Broome Bird Observatory The Broome Bird Observatory is an educational, scientific and recreational facility located 24 km from Broome in the Kimberley region of Western Australia. It began operating in 1988 under the auspices of the non-profit organisation Birds ...

. From the early 1980s, Minton led regular, almost annual, wader study expeditions to north-west Australia to catch and study the waders that migrate to and through the coastal strip between

Roebuck Bay Roebuck Bay is a bay on the coast of the Kimberley (Western Australia), Kimberley region of Western Australia. Its entrance is bounded in the north by the town of Broome, Western Australia, Broome, and in the south by Bush Point and Sandy P ...

near Broome,

Eighty Mile Beach Eighty Mile Beach also spelled Eighty-mile Beach or 80-mile Beach, and formerly called 90-mile Beach, lies along the north-west coast of Western Australia about half-way between the towns of Broome and Port Hedland. Despite its name, it is so ...

and

Port Hedland A port is a maritime law, maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge Affreightment, cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inla ...

in the southern section of the

East Asian – Australasian Flyway East is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the fact that eas ...

. These expeditions, along with data collected in south-eastern Australia by the VWSG, have led to major governmental conservation initiatives through the Flyway, including the

Japan Australia Migratory Bird Agreement Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea in th ...

(JAMBA), the

China Australia Migratory Bird Agreement China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

(CAMBA) and the East Asian – Australasian Shorebird Site Network. He was also involved in several international wader study expeditions in

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...

and

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

. Minton served 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) on its Research Committee from 1980 to 1988, and as vice-president from 1989 to 1995.

Awards and honours

* 1975 – awarded Bernard Tucker Medal for services to ornithology * 1998 – elected a Fellow of the RAOU * 2000 – awarded

John Hobbs Medal BirdLife Australia is a not-for-profit organisation advocating for native birds and the conservation of their habitats across Australia. BirdLife Australia is the trading name of the company limited by guarantee formed through the merger of tw ...

for outstanding contributions to ornithology as an amateur * 2001 – elected a Member of the

Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an Australian honours and awards system, Australian honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Monarch ...

for "services to ornithology, particularly in the study of migratory wading birds in Australia" * 2003 – awarded

Australian Natural History Medallion The Australian Natural History Medallion is awarded each year by the Field Naturalists Club of Victoria (FNCV) to the person judged to have made the most meritorious contribution to the understanding of Australian natural history. The idea origin ...

* 2012 – awarded

Eisenmann Medal The Eisenmann Medal is awarded by the Linnaean Society of New York (LSNY) in recognition of the recipient's ornithological excellence and encouragement of amateur efforts in ornithology and birding. The medal commemorates the ornithologist and p ...

In 2003, British ornithologist Andrew Whittaker commemorated Minton in the species epithet of the

cryptic forest falcon The cryptic forest falcon (''Micrastur mintoni'') is a species of bird of prey in the family Falconidae. It is found in the southeastern Amazon rainforest in Brazil and Bolivia. While uncommon in its Amazonian range, it remains widespread and is ...

(''Micrastur mintoni''). To honour Minton's role in the establishment of the

, the Clive Minton Discovery Centre opened its doors on the 20 August 2021 after four years of development. The centre displays information about migratory shorebirds, with immersive soundscapes, video footage, and up-to-date scientific information.

References

External links

Clive Minton Discovery Centre at the Broome Bird Observatory
* Jessop, Rosalind; Graham, Doris; Collins, Peter; & Davidson, Rosemary. (2000). John Hobbs Medal 2000: Citation. Clive Dudley Thomas Minton. ''Emu'' 100: 247. * Robin, Libby. (2001). ''The Flight of the Emu: a hundred years of Australian ornithology 1901-2001''. Carlton, Vic. Melbourne University Press. * Wettenhall, H. Norman. (1998). RAOU Fellow: Citation. Clive Minton MA, PhD. ''Emu'' 98: 241. {{DEFAULTSORT:Minton, Clive Dudley Thomas 1934 births 2019 deaths Australian ornithologists British ornithologists Members of the Order of Australia British emigrants to Australia Australian management consultants Alumni of the University of Cambridge People educated at Oundle School

Early life

Life in Australia

Awards and honours

See also

References

External links