Cornell University.
In 1951 he helped Robert Cushman Murphy and Louis L. Mowbray re-discover a bird species thought extinct since the 1620s, the Bermuda petrel or cahow. This spurred him on to study Zoology at Cornell University, returning to take on the challenge of saving the cahow in 1958. He went on to become the Conservation Officer for the Bermuda Government Parks Department from 1966 to his retirement in 2000.
He was credited with rediscovering the black-capped petrel in Haiti in 1963.
His lifelong efforts to bring back the cahow from near-extinction led him to undertake the holistic restoration of an entire barren island"s pre-colonial ecology, in a project known as the Nonsuch Island "Living museum", reintroducing several other species in the process. He has been honoured with a number of awards.
Honoris causa, Clark University, Massachusetts. In 2007 he was nominated for the 2008 Indianapolis prize.
In 2012, a biography was published about his life"s work.
He has three daughters. More recently, Rare Birds: The Extraordinary Tale of the Bermuda Petrel and the Manitoba Who Brought lieutenant Back from Extinction, a biography of Wingate and the story of his fight to save the cahows, was published in October 2012.