Richard Zann was the authority on Zebra Finches (Taeniopygia guttata) and as such played a pivotal role in the careers of several others who, like myself, mainly studied domesticated Zebra Finches in captivity. I met Richard in 1988, we became friends and over the next 20 years we worked on several projects together. On that first visit, Richard told me how the recent forest fires that had claimed many lives, not far from where he lived, were still very fresh in his and his wife Eileen’s minds. On the evening of 6 February 2009, as I watched the television news, reports of the dreadful bushfires near Kinglake reminded me of their concern and I feared for their safety. Two days later, an email confirmed my worst fears: Richard, his wife and daughter had died on 7 February. His death, which cut short our relationship, deprives the ornithological community of an excellent researcher, and his friends and family of a charming, generous man. This brief account of how we met is a memorial to Richard and his family. I kept Zebra Finches in my bedroom and in an aviary in the garden when I was a teenager growing up outside Leeds in Yorkshire in the 1960s. Passionate about birds and bird watching, I had no qualms about keeping Zebra Finches in captivity since they seemed so content and because they allowed me such privileged access to their lives. Watching Zebra Finches at close range as they went through their entire life cycle, from courtship, nest-building, egg-laying and chick-rearing to their inevitable death, was an extraordinary experience and an important part of my ornithological education. My parents encouraged my interest in birds, although later, when I started missing lessons in order to go bird watching, they were less enthusiastic and warned me of the risks of ignoring my studies. Their admonishments had little effect until the day my father, frustrated by my lack of scholastic aptitude, told me very firmly that if I didn’t ‘pull my socks up’ I would end up working in one of the clothing factories that Leeds was then famous for. The thought filled me with absolute dread; it was the antithesis of what I loved and almost overnight I became more focussed. In 1976, I was fortunate to find myself a position as a university lecturer in another Yorkshire town, and I have been basedinSheffieldeversince.Duringthe first7yearsthere,Ispent each summer in the Arctic, continuing with the seabird studies that had constituted my Ph.D. research, but throughout this time, amidst the icebergs and polar bears I continued to think about using the Zebra Finch as a study species. As an undergraduate I had been inspired by the topic of sperm competition – a heady combination of evolutionary thinking and sex – and I wanted see if what had been discovered in insects was also true of birds. To some this didn’t seem very promising for everyone ‘knew’ that birds were monogamous. My Ph.D. studies on guillemots (Uriaaalge),however,convincedmethatspermcompetitionhad a lot going for it, so in the early 1980s with my wanderlust somewhatdepletedbyloomingpaternalresponsibilities,Ipicked up where I had left off as a teenager and began keeping Zebra Finches again. Grudgingly, I think, I was given space in a cellar-like part of the Zoology Department. Although the facilities were basic, the birds didn’t seem to mind and were wonderfully cooperative. With the enthusiastic help of a technician Jayne Pellatt, and an undergraduate, Fiona Hunter, we quantified and documented the behavioural aspects of sperm competition in our captive Zebra Finches. These were exciting times: behavioural ecology was new; studies of sexual selection and sperm competition, especially in birds, was also new and our results gratifyingly consistent with what theory predicted. Therewasjustoneproblem–asseveralofmycolleagueswere quick to point out: how did I know that what my domesticated ZebraFinchesweredoingincaptivitywaswhatZebraFinchesdid in the wild? I began writing to various ornithologists in Australia to see if there might be somewhere suitable I could study wild Zebra Finches. Most of the replies were disappointing as it was pointed out to me that Zebra Finches breed unpredictably more or less where and when they like, which was hardly compatible with persuading my head of department to give me study leave. I had almost given up when in late 1987 I received a letter from Richard Zann and suddenly everything seemed
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