Michael began working as a zoologist for Nature Advisory in 2020 shortly after graduating from his Bachelor of Science (Honours) (Specialisation: Zoology) from Monash University in 2020. His work involves planning and conducting fauna surveys, data collation and analysis, and report writing.

Herpetology has classically been his strong suit, with extensive field and captive animal experience in Australia and Southeast Asia, including with venomous snakes. However, he also has considerable experience in ornithology, as his Honours project was a field-based study of the eastern yellow robin in the Victorian box-ironbark woodland, and he has since completed various ornithological surveys as a zoologist.

Over the course of his consulting career, Michael has been involved in a range of projects spanning various industries including property development, renewable energy (wind), and extractive industries. These projects have been situated in geographically and ecologically diverse contexts within Australia, from the remote Pilliga woodlands of northern NSW to metropolitan Melbourne in Victoria, and the outskirts of Darwin in the Northern Territory. Currently Michael’s work is centred in Victoria, where he has been trained as a Scent Detection Dog handler to undertake carcass searches at wind farms, but also conducts field- and desktop-based fauna and fauna habitat assessments including targeted surveys for listed species.

Michael lives in Melbourne, VIC, and has recently become a father. This currently does not mix well with his newfound and avid interest in mammalwatching. However, he hopes his daughter will grow to be equally crazy about it, to his wife’s chagrin.