Nicolas Day (born 1955) is an Australian

wildlife art An animal painter is an artist who specialises in (or is known for their skill in) the portrayal of animals. The '' OED'' dates the first express use of the term "animal painter" to the mid-18th century: by English physician, naturalist and wri ...

ist,

illustrator An illustrator is an artist who specializes in enhancing writing or elucidating concepts by providing a visual representation that corresponds to the content of the associated text or idea. The illustration may be intended to clarify complicate ...

and

teacher A teacher, also called a schoolteacher or formally an educator, is a person who helps students to acquire knowledge, competence, or virtue, via the practice of teaching. ''Informally'' the role of teacher may be taken on by anyone (e.g. w ...

. Day was born in Surrey, England, and moved to Australia at the age of ten. Having acquired an early interest in

natural history 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 ...

, he worked as a keeper at the

Melbourne Zoo Melbourne Zoo is a zoo in Melbourne, Australia. It is located within Royal Park, Melbourne, Royal Park in Parkville, Victoria, Parkville, approximately north of the centre of Melbourne. It is the primary zoo serving Melbourne. As of 2021, the ...

before turning to wildlife illustration as a career in 1977. He joined a 1997 expedition to

Raine Island Raine Island is a vegetated coral cay in total area situated on the outer edges of the Great Barrier Reef off northeastern Australia. It lies approximately north-northwest of Cairns, Queensland, Cairns in Queensland, about east-northeast of C ...

as the natural history artist, as well as participating in field trips to the

Outer Hebrides The Outer Hebrides ( ) or Western Isles ( , or ), sometimes known as the Long Isle or Long Island (), is an Archipelago, island chain off the west coast of mainland Scotland. It is the longest archipelago in the British Isles. The islan ...

and

subantarctic The sub-Antarctic zone is a physiographic region in the Southern Hemisphere, located immediately north of the Antarctic region. This translates roughly to a latitude of between 46th parallel south, 46° and 60th parallel south, 60° south of t ...

Macquarie Island Macquarie Island is a subantarctic island in the south-western Pacific Ocean, about halfway between New Zealand and Antarctica. It has been governed as a part of Tasmania, Australia, since 1880. It became a Protected areas of Tasmania, Tasmania ...

. He has been the principal artist of the popular '' Field Guide to the Birds of Australia'', coauthored with Ken Simpson and commonly referred to as “Simpson & Day”, which has been published in eight editions from 1984 to 2010, selling over 500,000 copies.

Publications

As well as the “Simpson & Day”

field guide A field guide is a book designed to help the reader identify wildlife (flora or fauna or funga) or other objects of natural occurrence (e.g. rocks and minerals). It is generally designed to be brought into the " field" or local area where suc ...

, books featuring Day's illustrations include: * 1993 – ''Field Guide to the Birds of the ACT'' (with McComas Taylor) * 1996–2006 – ''

Handbook of Australian, New Zealand and Antarctic Birds The ''Handbook of Australian, New Zealand and Antarctic Birds'', known as ''HANZAB'', is the pre-eminent scientific reference on birds in the region, which includes Australia, New Zealand, Antarctica, and the surrounding ocean and subantarctic ...

'' * 2000 – ''Birds of the Solomons, Vanuatu and New Caledonia'' (with Chris Doughty and Andrew Plant)

References

* * 1955 births Living people Australian illustrators Australian bird artists {{Illustrator-stub