Nicolas Day was born in Surrey, England, and came to Australia at the age of ten. His interest in natural history and drawing has seen him conducting art classes around Australia, and his artwork has featured in Field Guide to the Birds of the ACT (with McComas Taylor, 1993) and Birds of the Solomons, Vanuatu and New Caledonia (with Chris Doughty and Andrew Plant, 2000).

He was the natural history artist for the 1997 Raine Island expedition and has been on field trips to the Outer Hebrides and Macquarie Island in the subantarctic.

He is currently an illustrator for the multi-volume work Handbook of Australian, New Zealand and Antarctic Birds. Nicolas regularly contributes illustrations for publication, and works to commission.

Ken Simpson was educated at University High School, Victoria, and has had a life-long interest in natural history. His career as a Research Technician in several institutions later led to a position as Lecturer in Primary Science at Deakin University. He is the author of Birds in Bass Strait (1972) and co-author of Birdwatching in Australia and New Zealand (with Zoe Wilson, 1998).

Ken is a Past President and Honorary Life Member of the Bird Observers Club of Australia, the recipient of the Honorary degree, Master of Science, from Monash University (1974) and the Australian Natural History Medallion (1996).