Les McPherson
Over the last 40+ years Les McPherson has produced a series of gramophone recordings featuring New Zealand Bird Calls, a series of 7 one-hour long cassettes in the form of "A Sound Guide to the Songs of New Zealand Birds" (later re-issued on compact disc), a regional guide to Bird Calls, a guide to birds found in a sanctuary in the North Island of New Zealand, and a guide to the Birds of the Chatham Islands.
A number of these recordings have been used on radio and television in documentary films, and for use on commercial cassettes and compact discs.
In more recent years he has given his attention to birds of the Pacific Islands, with the goal of building up a substantial archive of their calls before too many species become extinct. He has already acquired material from two large collections of recordings from most of French Polynesia, as well as lesser amounts of material from other Pacific Islands.
These collections have formed the basis for his two compact disc series "Birds of Polynesia". Les has no formal qualifications, or university-based training. He is a self-taught amateur who just has a great interest in the technical side of ornithology. He believes this independence has been a blessing, as it has allowed him to work with a great range of people over the years, with differing points of view.
Les got started in October 1969, and with the quality of this work, he was encouraged to collect more sounds, till this became his major pastime. As his collection grew, so did the demand for his material, and with this, other recordists wished to deposit their sounds in his archives. The first recordist to approach him was the late Carl Weismann with a series of recordings he and his wife Lise had made in 1956 and 1957. The Weismanns had also collected sounds from Australia, and deposited some of those with Les. Since then, many other recordists from Australia, New Zealand, and around the world have deposited recordings with Les.
You can click on the link below to download a PDF copy of Les's NZ Birds Database.
A number of these recordings have been used on radio and television in documentary films, and for use on commercial cassettes and compact discs.
In more recent years he has given his attention to birds of the Pacific Islands, with the goal of building up a substantial archive of their calls before too many species become extinct. He has already acquired material from two large collections of recordings from most of French Polynesia, as well as lesser amounts of material from other Pacific Islands.
These collections have formed the basis for his two compact disc series "Birds of Polynesia". Les has no formal qualifications, or university-based training. He is a self-taught amateur who just has a great interest in the technical side of ornithology. He believes this independence has been a blessing, as it has allowed him to work with a great range of people over the years, with differing points of view.
Les got started in October 1969, and with the quality of this work, he was encouraged to collect more sounds, till this became his major pastime. As his collection grew, so did the demand for his material, and with this, other recordists wished to deposit their sounds in his archives. The first recordist to approach him was the late Carl Weismann with a series of recordings he and his wife Lise had made in 1956 and 1957. The Weismanns had also collected sounds from Australia, and deposited some of those with Les. Since then, many other recordists from Australia, New Zealand, and around the world have deposited recordings with Les.
You can click on the link below to download a PDF copy of Les's NZ Birds Database.
| nz_birds_database.pdf |
