About the Author

by Bertram Lobert, Boho South

Lanky and lean, a grin from ear to ear and an eclectic taste in music. That’s how I remember the Lance Williams I got to know in 1979. Both being bird watchers and interested in the natural world, we quickly fell into each other’s company – Lance starting the first year of his science degree, I in my second.

With binoculars hanging round his neck and up for whatever adventure was available, Lance was the perfect friend on field trips and weekend outings, whether that was with the Monash Biology Society, the Fauna Survey Group of the FNCV, or working for the government as ecologists. Those early days were full of life, experimentation, lots of fun … and of course, birds.

Although his professional career started with working on mammals, birds have been a life-long passion. Lance has long been a careful observer of birds and their behavior, combining attention to detail, a desire for meticulous documentation and, of course, that very neat, tiny handwriting.

Growing up in Heathmont, in the outer eastern suburbs of Melbourne, birdwatching was easy: native trees in the backyard, a patch of bush just around the corner, or the bush along the Belgrave train line. His interest in nature undoubtedly drove Lance’s desire to study science, all the more unusual for his having graduated from the local ‘Tech School’ and ending up at university.

But without a doubt, Lance’s love of birds really took hold with his and Kate’s move to a scrubby sheep paddock in Upotipotpon. That setting, perched on top of a rise and only a short walk to green mallee, grey box and grassland settings, yielded notebooks full of bird lists and observations, charting seasonal and longer-term changes.

Lance’s work surveying the fauna of both the Honeysuckle Creek in Violet Town and the Seven Creeks in Euroa has been game-changing for how locals understand their urban environment. The Squirrel Gliders and feathered friends along those creeks have no better ally.

It’s one thing to make a birdlist at your favorite spot and enjoy the pursuit of catching a glimpse of a special avian visitor; it’s quite another to immerse yourself in a pastime that shifts from hobby, to job, to love – and then to share that love.

Birdlove gives voice to a lifelong passion and a desire to share the beauty and mystery of a collection of Lance’s favorite birds.

Lance began writing Birdlove in January 2018 after a cancer diagnosis and passed away in May 2018.