Miles McMullan (born 1 August 1967 in Bangor) is an author, illustrator, conservationist and naturalist from

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

, who has made innovative books on neotropical wildlife.

Early life

McMullan studied at Our Lady and St. Patrick's College,

Ulster University Ulster University (; Ulster Scots: or ), legally the University of Ulster, is a multi-campus public research university located in Northern Ireland. It is often referred to informally and unofficially as Ulster, or by the abbreviation UU. It i ...

and

Trinity College, Dublin Trinity College Dublin (), officially titled The College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin, and legally incorporated as Trinity College, the University of Dublin (TCD), is the sole constituent college of the Univ ...

. He worked as a prize-winning landscape and

portrait painter Portrait painting is a Hierarchy of genres, genre in painting, where the intent is to represent a specific human subject. The term 'portrait painting' can also describe the actual painted portrait. Portraitists may create their work by commissio ...

in his early years. He qualified as an

editor Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, visual, audible, or cinematic material used by a person or an entity to convey a message or information. The editing process can involve correction, condensation, organization, a ...

and worked for several years writing academic texts before concentrating in the

wildlife Wildlife refers to domestication, undomesticated animals and uncultivated plant species which can exist in their natural habitat, but has come to include all organisms that grow or live wilderness, wild in an area without being species, introdu ...

field guides that he has made since 2008.

Career as an Author

McMullan has specialised in making nature guidebooks for the most diverse countries of tropical

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 ...

n countries including

Venezuela Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many Federal Dependencies of Venezuela, islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. It com ...

Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

and

Ecuador Ecuador, officially the Republic of Ecuador, is a country in northwestern South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and the Pacific Ocean on the west. It also includes the Galápagos Province which contain ...

, where he has also worked as a

naturalist Natural history is a domain of inquiry involving organisms, including animals, fungi, and plants, in their natural environment, leaning more towards observational than experimental methods of study. A person who studies natural history is cal ...

guide, birding tourguide and author. His influential guide to the birds of Colombia was named second best bird book of 2010, second only to the acclaimed Collins Birds of Europe, and Neotropical Bird Club named his guides among the 25 best books of the past 25 years, noting their concise treatment of very large avifaunas. His Colombia book, with over 5000 illustrations and 2000 range distribution maps has been described as among the largest books ever made by a single author/illustrator. His books marked a divergence from the style used in previous national guidebooks. His North America book also has over 6000 illustrations and 2000 maps.

Titles

His titles include Field Guide to the Birds of Colombia (with Thomas Donegan) (2010, updates in 2014, 2018, 2024), Fieldbook of the Birds of Ecuador (with Lelis Navarrete) (2013, updated 2017), Field Guide to the Hummingbirds (2016), Field Guide to the Galapagos Islands (2017), Birds of the Colombian Andes (2019), Birds of Meta and the Colombian Llanos (2019), Birds of the Western Cordillera (2019), Birds and Common Mammals of Ecuadorian Amazon (with Andrés Vásquez) (2012), Birds of Northwest Ecuador (with Andrés Vásquez) and many other titles such as regional and reserve guides. He has published many smaller guidebooks and has spoken of the importance of smaller local guidebooks and pamphlets in developing a strong rural economy that supports conservation and ecology. Additionally, he has been author or co-author of several research papers, magazine and journal articles. His illustrations have appeared in several other books, articles, publications, including forming part of the natural history collection of the

Luis Angel Arango Library Luis is a given name. It is the Spanish form of the originally Germanic name or . Other Iberian Romance languages have comparable forms: (with an accent mark on the i) in Portuguese and Galician, in Aragonese and Catalan, while is archaic ...

of the National Bank of Colombia. In March 2025, his compact and innovative Field Guide to the Birds of North America was published, with contributors Derek and Ryan Sallmann. It is a pocket bird field guide book describing 1,100 species and featuring 6,000 original illustrations and nearly 2,000 maps. It has been described as more visual than previous guides. It was well received by reviewers and won a prestigious Kirkus Star and was selected by Kirkus Reviews as the best indie (independent) book for April 2025.

Conservation and Other Work

McMullan has worked with a number of conservation organizations and foundations, especially in bird conservation in the tropical Americas. He is a devoted environmentalist and advocate of low-impact wildlife-watching – he has spoken in favor of more local birding as a more sustainable alternative, and voiced concerns about the impacts of the travel involved in global birding. He is involved with

indigenous Indigenous may refer to: *Indigenous peoples *Indigenous (ecology) In biogeography, a native species is indigenous to a given region or ecosystem if its presence in that region is the result of only local natural evolution (though often populari ...

communities such as the Awá of southwestern Colombia and the conservation of their lands and is an active campaigner and donor in the battle to combat climate change. In August 2022 he received a special recognition of his work with women's groups in rural Colombia from the Ministry of Science of Colombia. He has also been recognised for his work with rural development programs. He is a regular speaker at birding and conservation fairs and conferences, occasional exhibitor of his paintings and has appeared on television programs broadcast in UK, Spain, Australia and Colombia, where programs have been made exclusively about his work. He currently lives in

Pasto Pasto, officially San Juan de Pasto (; "Saint John of Pasto"), is the capital of the department of Nariño, in southern Colombia. Pasto was founded in 1537 and named after indigenous people of the area. In the 2018 census, the municipality ...

Books by Miles McMullan

* Field Guide to the Birds of North America (2025) * Arte de Pajaros, Pablo Neruda (author) and Miles McMullan (illustrator) (2024) * Field Guide to the Birds of Colombia (2010, 2014, 2018) * Aves de Cundinamarca (2023) * Birds of Nariño – Aves de Nariño (2023) * Guia de Campo de Las Aves de Colombia (2011, 2021) * Fieldbook of the Birds of Ecuador (2013, 2017) * Field Guide to the Hummingbirds (2016) * Field Guide to the Galapagos Islands (2017) * Birds of the Colombian Andes (2019) * Birds of Meta and the Colombian Llanos (2019) * Guía de las Aves de la Reserva Natural Mesenia-Paramillo (2019) * Birds of the Western Cordillera (2019) * Birds and Common Mammals of Ecuadorian Amazon (2012) * Birds of Northwest Ecuador (2009) * Terrestrial Life of the Galapagos Islands (2007) * Marine Life of the Galapagos Islands (2007)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McMullan, Miles People from Bangor, County Down Illustrators from Northern Ireland Ornithological handbooks Ornithology 1967 births Living people British bird artists Latin American writers Ornithologists Artists from County Down British nature writers Writers from County Down People educated at Our Lady and St. Patrick's College, Knock