Joan Lewis has been painting birds since the early 1960s. Her first attempt, at the request of her husband John, was of an unusual hybrid finch purchased in Melbourne. During the next 20 years Joan taught herself to paint Australian birds with the encouragement of her family and long time friend John McKean. She was later introduced to Dr Richard Schodde and Ian Mason at the CSIRO Division of Wildlife and Ecology. Both these people provided valuable criticism of her work, Page 5 resulting in two of her paintings being hung in the Division’s gallery. Joan, in partnership with her husband, has visited numerous bird shows and has acquired a wealth of knowledge which has been of great value to her as a bird artist. In producing the paintings for the Zebra Finch they have spent many hours travelling throughout Australia and visiting other enthusiasts in the search for as much information as possible on all the Australian colour varieties of this species. She has exhibited at numerous art shows throughout New South Wales and other states. A recent work depicting Kookaburras received an award at the Shoalhaven Art Exhibition, and many of her paintings have been purchased by both local and overseas devotees of wildlife art.
Milton Lewis was born into birds, and from a very early age has had a strong fascination and interest in all aspects of aviculture and ornithology, from breeding and exhibiting finches and canaries to making the study of birds his life’s work. The science behind birds is what drives him, and is a major reason for the comprehensive nature of this book. A PhD study on the breeding biology and ecology of the Golden- headed Cisticola Cisticola exilis in Townsville, Queensland followed by his current position as Senior Wildlife Officer for the Gouldian Finch Recovery Project for the Parks and Wildlife Commission in Katherine, Northern Territory has seen this interest (or should we say passion?) continue. The keeping of finches at home (wherever that is at the time) plays a large role in Milton’s life, and has been passed on to him from his father, with whom he used to keep, breed and exhibit caged birds before leaving home to pursue his career in science. Milton’s family support him in his endeavours, and have even been known to get up at the crack of dawn with him, drive many kilometres over rough bush tracks, and help band birds before declaring, yet again, that this will not happen again!
