Colin Bibby (1948–2004) was the quintessential bird conservation biologist. Over his career, he served as lead scientist at two of the world's largest bird conservation organizations, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, and BirdLife International. His contributions encompassed detailed autecological studies of rare bird species such as the Dartford Warbler Sylvia undata (e.g. Bibby 1978) and Fuerteventura Stonechat Saxicola dacotiae (e.g. Bibby and Hill 1987), a sweeping synthesis of the techniques of bird conservation science (Bibby et al. 1992, 2000), and pioneering contributions in conservation planning such as the Endemic Bird Areas concept (ICBP 1992).

The killing of birds for scientific reference causes debate and dispute whose intensity is in inverse proportion to its relevance as a conservation issue, with similar degrees of heat being generated only by such momentous things as the standardization of vernacular bird names. Doubtless this is because these are seemingly simple, black-and-white issues over which many people feel they have sufficient personal clarity and power to achieve a resolution. Really important matters – global warming, intransigent debt arrangements for developing nations, exponential human population growth, obliteration of habitats for short-term human gain, scandalous abuses of biocide in agriculture, saturation-level corruption and incompetence in state conservation agencies, all of which are poised to degrade the ornithological environment beyond recognition – belong to another dimension altogether in which most of us are simply sleepwalking towards doomsday. It is important, then, to get the collecting issue into reasonable perspective as soon as humanly possible.

The broad vision of the new environmentalist, who seeks to conserve the world's ecosystems for the sake of the human species as well as wildlife, has much to commend it. Beside it, the traditional conservationist's approach, aiming to conserve wildlife for its own sake, seems outmoded. The development of the concept of ecosystem management, however, has been accompanied by other shifts in emphasis. Among them is the idea of wildlife as an economic asset, paying for its own conservation by providing, for example, tourist revenue and pharmaceuticals. This development may seem to be the fulfilment of the dream of those who want to ‘sell’ conservation to those with power over the environment. The author, who has recently completed writing the ICBP/IUCN Red Data Book on African birds, offers a personal view of where the new trend may be leading many of the threatened species of the earth.

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