2026
Award Winner Guy M. Kirwan
For his outstanding combination of ornithological collection work and field research, through which he sheds new light on the diversity and geographic variation of bird life and raises the international profile of museums as vibrant centers of modern taxonomic research.
Laudation
The “Ornithological Collections” Section of the German Ornithological Society awards the 2026 Maria Koepcke Prize to Mr. Guy M. Kirwan of Norwich, United Kingdom. Guy Kirwan is one of the most internationally renowned contemporary ornithologists. His research focuses on the taxonomy, systematics, and biogeography of birds. He has published numerous articles on these topics in international journals. Of particular note are his studies on the geographic variation of bird species, which are based on the comparative analysis of museum specimens and field observations.
At the 14th Meeting of European Bird Curators in Turin, DOG Vice President Sylke Frahnert (left) and Till Töpfer (right), a member of the Working Group on Ornithological Collections and the Award Committee, presented the Maria Koepcke Prize to Guy M. Kirwan (center) on September 23, 2026.
Through his work, the award recipient exemplifies an exceptionally productive integration of fieldwork and museum research. At the same time, Guy Kirwan’s work underscores the importance of international collaboration among bird collections, which the German Ornithological Society wishes to expressly recognize with this award.
Although he originally studied history and English literature and earned a Bachelor of Arts degree, Guy Kirwan has devoted his entire scientific career to ornithology since the early 1990s. Thanks to his decades of international fieldwork, he possesses an exceptionally deep knowledge of bird species, which enriches his studies in ornithological collections. Of particular note are his studies on the avifauna of Turkey, Socotra, the Middle East, and Central and South America (especially Brazil). These studies have repeatedly led to reassessments of the geographic variation of numerous bird taxa and, in many cases, to fundamental taxonomic revisions. In the course of his work, Guy Kirwan forged close ties with numerous research institutions and scientific bird collections, particularly with the Museu Nacional in Rio de Janeiro and, as an associate scientist, with the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago and the Natural History Museum in Tring. In Germany, he regularly visited the collections in Bonn and Berlin in particular.
Guy Kirwan was also involved in the description of several new bird taxa, including the Socotra buzzard (Buteo socotraensis), the pale owl (Strix hadorami), and the basalt wheatear (Oenanthe lugens warriae). Such studies inevitably involved the examination of type specimens on a very frequent basis. Guy Kirwan devoted increasing attention to these in recent years, particularly with regard to their taxonomic validity.
His work not only makes important contributions to the correct application of zoological nomenclature but also includes valuable research on the history of collections, which is indispensable for cataloging and making scientific bird collections accessible in a contemporary context. In this context, he has supported various collections, including those in Germany, with his expertise.
The award recipient is also widely known for his contributions as an author, editor, and publisher of several ornithological journal series and reference works. These include, for example, the “Handbook of the Birds of the World,” for which he updated or co-authored more than 3,000 species chapters for the digital versions “HBW Alive” and “Birds of the World.” He is also known as the author or co-author of about a dozen specialized books published as the results of his many years of research, including “The Birds of Turkey” (2008) and the monograph “Cotingas and Manakins” (2011). Since 2004, he has been the editor of the renowned “Bulletin of the British Ornithologists’ Club,” which is known for its well-researched, regularly collection-based articles on bird systematics and taxonomy.
Through his diverse ornithological activities, Guy Kirwan has made a significant contribution to making taxonomic findings available worldwide and to popularizing traditional collection work. His research thus also follows in the tradition of Maria Koepcke, whose collection-related activities continue to form the basis for taxonomic studies of Neotropical avifauna to this day. The German Ornithological Society honors Guy Kirwan as a distinguished scientist who exemplarily utilizes ornithological collections in the context of modern revisions and fundamental work in avian systematics, thereby enriching contemporary ornithology.
Mainz, September 17, 2026
Awarded by the
German Ornithological Society (Deutsche Ornithologische Gesellschaft e.V.
) at its 159th Annual Meeting
Dr. Dorit Visbeck-Liebers
, President
Dr. Till Töpfer & Dr. Manuel Schweizer
On behalf of the jury