David Thomas

Born and raised in rural Cheshire, England David came to live in Melbourne, Australia in 1968 aged 26.

David joined the Bird Observers Club in 1981, appointed as a board member in 1983, Vice-president (3 years) then President (3 years) during which, to reflect a growing national membership, he facilitated its name change to Bird Observers Club of Australia (BOCA).  David moved to the Mornington Peninsula in 1992 where he served on the BirdLife Mornington Peninsula branch committee for a number of years. Both he and   his wife, Sue, are life members of Birdlife.

After attending many BOCA birdwatching camps, David began organising BOCA/Birdlife camps in 2001, running up to 6 camps per year, mainly on private property, throughout Victoria and southern NSW. His favourite camp is the Clarkesdale, Birdlife Sanctuary near Linton.

David has been involved with the Yellingbo Nature Reserve and the Helmeted Honeyeater recovery program since 1981. He was the BOCA representative on the recovery team for several years and for 17 years led the once-a-month bird walk at Yellingbo NCR.

David is always keen to educate people about their local birds, leading many birding outings to a variety of habitats throughout the Mornington Peninsula. He has been an active member of the Western Port Survey team which, for over 50 years, has helped assess the health of Western Port through the bird populations. Currently David regularly surveys the Tootgarook Wetlands for Birdlife Australia.