Background
He was born in Perth and graduated in chemistry from the University of Western Australia in 1955.
He was born in Perth and graduated in chemistry from the University of Western Australia in 1955.
He worked for the Shell Oil Company until 1960 when he went on to a career of lecturing on chemistry, first at the Perth Technical College and then the Western Australian Institute of Technology. Ford"s early ornithological work included a study of yellow-rumped thornbills. Later he focused on the speciation of birds in inland Australia, making several expeditions in the course of his research.
He also discovered that the wedgebill comprised two separate species, the chirruping and chiming wedgebills.
He also contributed numerous papers to its journal, the Emu. In 1983 he was awarded a Doctor of Philosophy by the University of Western Australia for his ornithological studies.
He was a member of the Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union (RAOU) and served on its Taxonomic Advisory Committee.