James A. Kushlan has studied and written about herons and their allies for over thirty years. Growing up in southern Florida, he came naturally to his interests in aquatic bird and in tropical wetlands. He has served as President of the Colonial Waterbird Society, Editor of the journal Colonial Waterbirds, Vice-president of the America Ornithologists' Union, on the Boards of Wetlands International, Wetlands International - Americas, and Hawk Mountain Sanctuary, as New World co-ordinotor of the Hero Specialist Group, and Chair of the North American Colonial Waterbird Conservation Initiative. He has also been a research biologist with the US National Park Service, Professor of Biology at Texas A&M University - Commerce, Professor and Chair of Biology at The University of Mississippi, Director of USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Centerand Research Associate at The Smithsonian Environmental Reosearch Center. He previously co-authored two books on waterbirds, Herons Handbook (1984) and Storks, Ibises and Spoonbills of the World (1993) and also has written over 200 papers on waterbird biology and wetland ecology and conservation. He lives on the Chesapeake Bay in Annapolis, Maryland, USA.
Heinz Afner has been Old World co-ordinator of the Heron Specialist Group since 1982. In 1977, his studies on the ecology of herons in the Camargue in southern France earnt him his doctorate from the University Paul Sabatier in Toulouse. Heinz's interest in wildlife dates from his childhood days in Switzerland where, after having climbed to his first Grey Heron nest on his eleventh birthday, he become sufficiently fascinated by these birds to decide that they should became part of his life. In 1964, he joined the research team at the Tour du Valat biological station in the Camargue, first as a bird ringer and research assistant - on excellent training which helped him later to develop his own research projects on herons. Since 1984, Heinz has led Tour du Volot's ornithological department. He has written more than 100 papers on herons and other waterbirds, and on wetland ecology and conservation. He lives in the Camargue, the Rhône Delta in southern France.