Dr. Richard Elliot

Richard Elliot has been a research manager with the Canadian Wildlife Service - Environment Canada since 1991, in charge of migratory bird research and monitoring programs in Atlantic Canada. In previous positions with CWS, he was a seabird research biologist for Newfoundland and Labrador, based in St. John’s, and the Chief of Migratory Bird Populations, in charge of several national monitoring programs and the bird-banding office. He has studied shorebirds and seabirds throughout Atlantic Canada and the eastern Arctic. Richard began bird-watching as a youth near Montreal, and maintained his interest in birds during his studies at Queen’s, Acadia and Aberdeen Universities, and throughout his working career. He has been a member of the Canadian Nature Federation, and its predecessor, the Canadian Audubon Society, since 1961, and served on its Board of Directors from 1987-1993. Richard served on the ICBP-Canada Council before its evolution into BirdLife International, and has been a member of many naturalist and birding societies. He has been instrumental in developing the concept of the North American Bird Conservation Initiative (NABCI) in Canada, particularly with the Sea-Duck Joint Venture, the Canadian Shorebird Conservation Plan, and Wings Over Water - the conservation plan for seabirds and colonial waterbirds. Richard represents the latter initiative on the NABCI-Canada Council. He is also a member of the Canadian delegation for the Conservation of Arctic Flora and Fauna Working Group. Richard lives in Sackville, New Brunswick, with his wife Kate Bredin, a zoologist with the Atlantic Canada Conservation Data Centre, and their three children. Although he finds it harder to get away from the office, Richard has managed to conduct two BBS routes in PEI since 1991.