After spending most of my formative years trying to find rare birds at a sewage farm in Lincolnshire, I undertook a BSc in Biology at the University of East Anglia (UEA) which allowed me to spread my wings beyond the Palearctic, permitting me the opportunity to spend a year studying at the University of California Irvine. Post BSc, I spent an eclectic two years variously spent at a Bird Observatory in Nova Scotia, as a bird guide in the Southern Amazon and working for various ecological consultancies. After this wilderness period, during which time I also consolidated some of my thoughts to paper on avian vagrancy mechanisms, I returned to Amazonia and the world’s greatest avifauna. Based around Alta Floresta in northern Mato Grosso I started my PhD investigating the impact of forest fragmentation and perturbation on the bird and mammal communities.
Selected publications
Lees, A.C. & Bell, D.J. 2008. A conservation paradox for the 21st century:the European wild rabbit Oryctolagus cuniculus, an invasive alien and an endangered native. Mammal Review. In press
Lees, A.C. & Peres, C.A. 2008. Avian Life history determinants of local extinction risk in a fragmented neotropical forest landscape. Animal Conservation. In press
Lees, A.C. & Peres, C. 2008. Conservation value of remnant riparian forest corridors of varying quality for Amazonian birds and mammals. Conservation Biology. In press
Trinca, C.T., Ferrari, S.F.& Lees, A.C. 2008. Curiosity killed the bird: arbitrary hunting of harpy eagles (Harpia harpyja) on an agricultural frontier in southern Brazilian Amazonia. Cotinga, In press
Lees, A.C., Davis, B., Oliveira, A.V.G. & Peres, C.A. 2008. Avifauna of a structurally heterogenous forest landscape in the Serra dos Caiabis, Mato Grosso, Brazil: a preliminary assesment. Cotinga. 29, 147-157
Lees, A.C. & Peres, C. 2008. A range extension for Curl-crested Aracari (Pteroglossus beauharnaesii): implications for avian contact zones in central Amazonia. Bulletin of the British Ornithologist's Club. 128:53-54.
Swift, L., Hunter, P.R., Lees, A.C. & Bell, D.J. 2007. Biodiversity loss, the wildlife trade and the emergence of infectious diseases. Ecohealth 4: 25-30
Gilroy, J.G. & Lees, A.C. 2007. Reverse responses. Birding World, 20: 81-83.
Lees, A.C. & Peres, C.A. 2006. Rapid avifaunal collapse along the
Amazonian deforestation frontier. Biological Conservation, 133: 198-211
McLaren, I. A., Lees, A.C., Field, C. & Collins, K.J. 2006. Origins and
Characteristics of Nearctic Landbirds in Britain and Ireland in Autumn: a Statistical Analysis. Ibis, 148: 707-726
Lees, A.C. & Moores, R.D. 2006. Identification and status of Dunn's Lark in North Africa. British Birds. 99: 482-484
Gilroy, J.G. & Lees, A.C. 2006. Predicting likely vagrants using 'vagrancy shadow'. Birding World. 19: 331-334.
Lees, A.C. 2006. Gaviao real: of eagles and men. Alula, 12: 68-71.
Lees, A.C. 2005. Macaronesian endemic birds: their taxonomy, status and conservation. Alula, 11: 12-24.
Showler, D., Lees, A.C., Nale, R.N. Habib, B. 2004. Indian Bustard
Wildlife Sanctuary, Nanaj, Maharashtra, India. Birding Asia, 1: 58-62.
Lees, A.C. & Gilroy, J.G. 2004. Pectoral Sandpipers in Europe: vagrancy patterns and the influx of 2003. British Birds, 97: 638 - 646.
Lees, A.C. 2004. Autumn migration in Nova Scotia. Alula, 10: 12-20.
Gilroy, J.G. & Lees, A.C. 2003. Vagrancy theories: are autumn vagrants really reverse migrants? British Birds, 96: 427 - 438
Lees, A.C., Fitzgerald, T.M. & Peckford, M.L. 2003 A Le Conte's Sparrow (Ammodramus lecontii) on Bon Portage Island. Nova Scotia Birds, 45: 8-9.
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