Person
Blaylock, Brian James (1947 - 2022)
- Born
- 13 July 1947
Rose Park, South Australia, Australia - Died
- 8 August 2022
Adelaide, South Australia, Australia - Occupation
- Naturalist and Ornithologist
Summary
Brian Blaylock had a variety of jobs before joining the Department of defence in 1970 as a computer trainee. He remained with the Department for some years, being promoted to senior positions and moving to the Information Technology Branch of the Department of Education before retiring in 2002. Blaylock was a keen naturalist and ornithologist. He made more than 30 biological survey trips South Australia, and participated in banding programs for osprey, peregrine falcon and yellow-tailed black cockatoo. As a volunteer with South Australia Museum for many years from 2001 he participated in the curation of the bird collections, digitising and improving the standards of specimen information. Blaylock was an enthusiastic member of several naturalists' organisations, including BirdLife Australia, the Field Naturalists Society of South Australia, and the South Australian Ornithological Association. For the latter he filled the role of Secretary for 18 years, his IT skills being called upon to maintain the web site and manage the Association's database of bird records. Blaylock made a major contribution to recent editions of the Census of South Australian vertebrates as co-author of the bird sections. Other publications included a chapter of the Presidents of the South Australian Ornithological Association in Birds, birders and birdwatching 1899 - 1999 (2000) and A field list of the birds of South Australia (5th edition 2017). He contributed more than 2,300 plant specimens to the State Herbarium of South Australia and many thousands of bird records to the Biological Database of South Australia (BDBSA).
Details
Chronology
- 1963 - 1984
- Career position - Member, South Australian Ornithological Association
- 1970
- Career position - Trainee Computer Operator, Australian Department of Defence
- 1970 - 1984?
- Career position - Member, Canberra Ornithologists Group
- 1984
- Life event - Moved back to Adelaide from Canberra
- 1998 - 2022
- Career position - Member, South Australian Ornithological Association
- 1999 - 2000
- Career position - Assistant Secretary, South Australian Ornithological Association
- 2000 - 2018
- Career position - Secretary, South Australian Ornithological Association
- 2001 - 2020
- Career position - Volunteer, Bird Section, South Australian Museum
- 2002
- Life event - Retires
- 2011 - 2020
- Career position - Team member, bird survey of Witchelina Nature Reserve for South Australian Ornithological Association
- 2018
- Award - Long Service Award, South Australian Ornithological Association
- 2020 - 2022
- Career position - Honorary Associate, South Australian Museum
- August 2022
- Award - Honorary Member (posthumous), South Australian Ornithological Association
Related entries
Published resources
Books
- Blaylock, B., Black, A., Carpenter, G. and Horton, P., A field list of the birds of South Australia (Adelaide: South Australian Ornithological Association, 2017), 41 pp. Details
Edited Books
- Collier, Roger; Hatch, John; Matheson, Bill; Russell, Tony ed., Birds, Birders and Birdwatching 1899-1999: celebrating one hundred years of the South Australian Ornithological Association (Adelaide: South Australian Ornithological Association, 1999), 244 pp. Details
Journal Articles
- Horton, Philippa, 'Obituary: Brian James Blaylock 13 July 1947 to 8 August 2022', South Australian ornithologist, 47 (2) (2023), 82-6. Details
Helen Cohn
Created: 23 July 2024