Killian Mullarney is an Irish

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 ...

, bird artist and bird tour leader. He designed a series of Irish definitive stamps for

An Post (; literally 'The Post') is the state-owned provider of Mail, postal services in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. An Post provides a "universal postal service" to all parts of the country as a member of the Universal Postal Union. Services provide ...

illustrating Irish birds issued between 1997 and 2004. He was born in Dublin in 1958, and educated at home for a few years by his mother,

Máire Mullarney Máire Mullarney (1 September 1921 – 18 August 2008) was an Irish environmentalist, educationalist and Esperanto advocate. She was one of the founding members of the Irish Green Party in 1981 (then known as the Ecology Party of Ireland). She ...

. He showed an interest in birds from an early age, including bird art, and began to make a name for himself in the late 1970s. Due to his keen interest in bird identification, he served as a member of the Irish Rare Birds Committee from 1980 to 2008, and serves as an identification consultant to many birding journals, including '' Birding World'' and ''

Alula The alula , or bastard wing, (plural ''alulae'') is a small projection on the anterior edge of the wing of modern birds and a few non-avian dinosaurs. The word is Latin and means "winglet"; it is the diminutive of ''ala'', meaning "wing". The a ...

''. He also wrote an influential series of articles with Peter J. Grant for '' Birding World'' which were later produced independently as 'The 'New Approach to Identification'. He was jointly responsible, with

Dan Zetterström Dan Zetterström (born 1 June 1954) is a Swedish ornithologist and bird artist. He is best known as a co-author of the Collins Bird Guide, with Killian Mullarney, Lars Svensson and Peter J. Grant. He has designed several series of Swedish sta ...

for illustrating the ''

Collins Bird Guide The ''Collins Bird Guide'' is a field guide to the birds of the Western Palearctic. Its authors are Lars Svensson, Killian Mullarney, Dan Zetterström and Peter J. Grant, and it is illustrated by Killian Mullarney and Dan Zetterström (wit ...

'', which was written by Lars Svensson and Peter J. Grant and has been described by ''Birding World'' as "undoubtedly the finest field guide that has ever been produced", and "the last great bird book of the 20th century". He now lives in Ireland with his wife, Cornelia and children, Helena, Sophia and Anna. They also have 2 dogs.

References

Mullarney, Killian Mullarney, Killian Mullarney, Killian 1958 births Living people Artists from County Dublin Scientists from County Dublin {{Ireland-artist-stub