Serventy Medal Awarded to Dr Eric Woehler

Media Release – BirdLife Tasmania, 30 May 2022

Serventy Medal awarded to Dr Eric Woehler

Dr Eric Woehler OAM, Convenor of BirdLife Tasmania, is the 2022 recipient of the DL Serventy Medal. This medal is awarded by BirdLife Australia to a professional ornithologist based on an outstanding record of published work on birds in the Australasian region. It is the highest award offered to professional ornithologists by BirdLife Australia, and was announced at the 2022 AGM in Melbourne over the weekend.

Dr Woehler has authored or co-authored more than 148 refereed scientific articles and book chapters, and more than 100 technical papers and reports. Eric completed his PhD at the University of California on seabird foraging ecology; on his return to Australia, Eric continued to direct his research effort towards Southern Ocean seabirds, but also developed an interest in Australian shorebirds and seabirds, particularly with respect to Tasmania.

Through much of his research on seabirds of the Southern Ocean and around Tasmania over the last 40 years, Eric has made an outstanding contribution to Australasian ornithology. Eric was awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) in 2021 for his services to bird ecology. In his role as Convenor of Birds Tasmania, he has led the conservation of Tasmania’s birds; and is an outstanding advocate for the protection of the natural world.

BirdLife Tasmania takes this opportunity to congratulate Dr Eric Woehler on this outstanding award. This is the first time the DL Serventy Medal has been awarded to a Tasmanian ornithologist. Eric is a particularly fitting recipient: Dom Serventy was a seabird expert renowned for the persistence of his long-term studies and encouragement of the broader birding community as exemplified by his 30-year study of short-tailed shearwaters (Tasmanian muttonbirds) in south-east Australia. The similarities in their research and conservation foci are striking.

Featured image above: Dr Eric Woehler at the Bounty Islands (New Zealand), March 2019.