John Douglas Gibson (c. 1925 – 21 May 1984) lived in Thirroul, New South Wales

Thirroul, New South Wales

Thirroul is a northern seaside suburb of the city of Wollongong, Australia, with the name supposedly Aboriginal for "Valley of Cabbage Tree Palms". Situated between Austinmer and Bulli, it is approximately 13 kilometres north of Wollongong, and 69 km south of Sydney...

 all his life, and worked at the nearby Port Kembla steelworks. He was a notable Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

n amateur ornithologist who became an internationally-respected expert on the Diomedeidae or Albatross

Albatross

Albatrosses, of the biological family Diomedeidae, are large seabirds allied to the procellariids, storm-petrels and diving-petrels in the order Procellariiformes . They range widely in the Southern Ocean and the North Pacific...

 family.

Doug Gibson's interest in ornithology soon focused on seabird

Seabird

Seabirds are birds that have adapted to life within the marine environment. While seabirds vary greatly in lifestyle, behaviour and physiology, they often exhibit striking convergent evolution, as the same environmental problems and feeding niches have resulted in similar adaptations...

s, and from 1953 he was involved in banding at the seabird colonies at the Five Islands Nature Reserve

Five Islands Nature Reserve

Five Islands Nature Reserve is a 26 ha reserve comprising five islands close to Port Kembla, New South Wales, Australia. The islands - Flinders Islet , Bass Islet, Martin Islet, Big Island and Rocky Islet - lie between 0.5 and 3.5 km off the coast...

. This led to experiments with banding albatrosses and the first successful program of banding them away from their breeding sites. This led in turn to the formation of the New South Wales Albatross Study Group. He is also commemorated in the name of Gibson's Albatross, a subspecies of the Wandering Albatross

Wandering Albatross

The Wandering Albatross, Snowy Albatross or White-winged Albatross, Diomedea exulans, is a large seabird from the family Diomedeidae, which has a circumpolar range in the Southern Ocean. It was the first species of albatross to be described, and was long considered the same species as the Tristan...

 Diomedea exulans, though sometimes treated as a full species, Diomedea gibsoni.

Gibson was a member of the Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union

Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union

The Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union, also known as Birds Australia, was founded in 1901 to promote the study and conservation of the native bird species of Australia and adjacent regions. This makes it Australia's oldest national birding association. It is also Australia's largest...

 (RAOU) for 35 years, and he contributed many papers to its journal, the Emu

Emu (journal)

Emu, subtitled Austral Ornithology, is the peer-reviewed scientific journal of the Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union. The journal was established in 1901 and is the oldest ornithological journal published in Australia...

, and other journals. He also served on the Barren Grounds Bird Observatory

Barren Grounds Bird Observatory

The Barren Grounds Bird Observatory was situated in the Barren Grounds Nature Reserve on the escarpment of the Southern Highlands of New South Wales, Australia. It was opened in 1982 by Birds Australia as Australia's third bird observatory, in order to provide a base for the study and enjoyment of...

 management committee and was instrumental in establishing the Illawarra Bird Observers Club in 1977.