Ecologist John Flux is a world expert on hares and rabbits, as well as starlings. He was a government scientist with DSIR Ecology Division for many years, and although he is now officially retired he continues with a number of his research projects.
His starling research in Belmont Regional Park, near Wellington, began in 1970, and at its peak involved 500 starling nest boxes, all located in army munitions bunkers built by the American military in 1942 (and cunningly 'camouflaged' to look like a chicken farm from the air).
Today, to ensure unbroken records in what has become one of the longest running ecological studies in the world, John monitors 50 nest boxes each spring.
