The People
The Latham’s Snipe Project is a collaborative effort between researchers and volunteers. Researcher collaborations includes individuals from academic institutions in Australia and overseas, government scientists and NGO scientists. Volunteers encompass a wide range of people who contribute as passionate and experienced individuals, or contribute their expertise via regional community groups. A full list of contributing groups is provided under Organisations.
The Latham’s Snipe Project has benefited from several key partnerships over the years. Funding was initially obtained from the Australia Japan Foundation, enabling the establishment of a tracking program and supporting several exchanges with the Wild Bird Society of Japan. The project continues to receive periodic support from the Woodlands and Wetlands Trust (Jerrabomberra Wetlands) and the ACT Government. Our most recent partner, the Tasmanian Land Conservancy, will be integral to expanding the research program into central Tasmania.
Key contributors
Birgita Hansen is a senior research fellow at Federation University. Birgita established the Latham’s Snipe project in 2014 in collaboration with the South Beach Wetlands and Landcare Group, and has been leading the project since. She has extensive experience in ecology and environmental management, and a strong passion for shorebird conservation.
Lori Gould is a PhD student at Australian National University working on Latham’s Snipe in Canberra as part of her PhD studies. She was previously the Program Manager at Jerrabomberra Wetlands (Woodlands and Wetlands Trust) and was responsible for establishing the ACT collaboration for the Latham’s Snipe Project.
Jodie Honan is an educator and freelance researcher/writer and volunteers with South Beach Wetlands and Landcare Group in Port Fairy. She was integral to driving the original campaign to save Latham’s Snipe habitat in Port Fairy and was a cofounder of the Latham’s Snipe Project.
Other very important people
| Adrian Manning | Professor in Ecology at the Fenner School of Environment and Society at the Australian National University. Adrian is part of the ACT project team and Lori’s supervisor |
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| Eduardo Gallo-Cajiao | Assistant Professor at Colorado State University. Eduardo has been integral to driving conservation policy research on Latham’s Snipe, particularly the role of the Japan Australia Migratory Bird Agreement (JAMBA) in cessation of hunting. |
| Heather McGinness | Senior research scientist at CSIRO. Heather is a waterbird expert with many years of experience with satellite and GPS tracking birds. She is part of Lori’s supervisory panel. |
| Evan Hamman | Research fellow at the University of Canberra. Evan is an environmental lawyer who is working with Birgita and Eduardo to investigate the role of JAMBA policy in snipe conservation. |
| URA Tatsuya | Senior research biologist of the Wild Bird Society of Japan (WBSJ). Tatsuya studied breeding behaviour and sexual dimorphism of Latham’s Snipe, and has taken a key role in helping coordinate exchange between the Australian and Japanese snipe teams. |
| TAJIRI Hironobu | Manager at the Wild Bird Society of Japan. Hironobu has had a key role in the Japanese Latham’s Snipe research program. |
| Mike Weston | Associate Professor at Deakin University. Mike has worked with Birgita to analyse flight initiation distance data to produce disturbance buffer width recommendations for Latham’s Snipe. |
| Don Stewart | A key member of the South Beach Wetlands and Landcare Group in Port Fairy. Don was a founding member of the original project and still contributes to counting around Port Fairy. |
| David Wilson | David was a founding member of the original Latham’s Snipe Project team and was heavily involved in early catching and tagging efforts. |
| Richard Chamberlain | Richard was a significant driving force for the Latham’s Snipe Project in its early years, and made a huge volunteer contribution to counting, catching and tracking of snipe in south-west Victoria. |
| Andrew Crossley | Andrew was a previous honours research student who undertook a radio tracking study of Latham’s Snipe in Port Fairy. |
| Pavel Ktitorov | Senior Researcher at Institute of Biological Problems of the North, Russian Academy of Sciences. Pavel and Birgita have worked together to improve knowledge about Latham’s Snipe distribution and abundance in Sakhalin Island, eastern Russia. |
| David Gonçalves | Chair of the Woodcock and Snipe Specialist Group, under the IUCN. David is collaborating with Birgita and Eduardo to undertake a review of snipe and woodcock conservation and policy. |
| Inka Veltheim | Senior scientist at the Arthur Rylah Institute, Victorian State Government. Inka has been involved in many of the ACT tracking efforts using her expertise in brolga tracking. |
| Michelle Casanova | A wetland ecologist and specialist in submerged water plants. Michelle has worked with the original project team to investigate snipe habitat associations in south west Victorian wetlands. |
| Simeon Lisovski | Ecologist at the Alfred Wegener Institute. Simeon helped the project team with their geolocator program in the early years of the project. |
| ODAYA Yoshiya | Researcher at the Natural History Museum in Chiba. Yoshiya undertakes regular capture-based monitoring of Gallinago snipes in Honshu. |
| David Hamilton | Conservation ecologist at the Tasmanian Land Conservancy. David is collaborating with Birgita to establish the Silver Plains Latham’s Snipe project. He will be part of the supervisory team for the TLC snipe masters project. |
| Nick Schultz | Senior lecturer at Federation University. Nick is a vegetation ecologist and has co-supervised snipe research students with Birgita. |
| Grant Palmer | Senior lecturer at Federation University. Grant is a wildlife and landscape ecologist, and has co-supervised snipe research students with Birgita. |
| Maddy Sbeghen | PhD graduate at University of Melbourne. Maddy is working with Birgita to complete a study on the role of JAMBA in influencing domestic hunting policy. |
| Michelle Matthews | Michelle was a previous honours student who started the investigation into the role of JAMBA in influencing domestic hunting policy, using interviews of hunters. |
| Dan Sheehan | Dan was a previous third year research student who looked at vegetation characteristics of snipe wetlands around Port Fairy. |