Phil Gregory was born in Southampton, UK, and became a birder as a youth when the steam engines were scrapped and birding offered a way to travel and look for wonderful things. The quest for birds has led to many forays in Europe, Africa, Asia, Australasia, and the Pacific. He and his wife, Sue, worked as teachers for eight years in Nigeria and Zambia, where they raised their family and made serious inroads into the birds of Africa, before transferring to the Falkland Islands for a two-year stint. In 1991-97 they relocated to Papua New Guinea where the 400-plus endemics proved a great challenge, and since then they have lived in the Northern Territory and far north Queensland, Australia.

Phil's major interests are field identification, vocalizations, and the geographic distribution of birds. He is also a writer with assorted contributions to many reference books including doing some family accounts for the Handbook of Birds of the World. He is currently working on a Birds-of-paradise and Bowerbirds title in the Pica/Helm series, and a Field Guide to the Birds of New Guinea for Lynx Edicions. He has also published and now maintains two on-line checklists, one for the birds of Australia and its island territories and the other for New Guinea and associated islands. Phil and his wife, Sue, run the well-known Cassowary House, a birding and nature lodge situated in a great birding spot in the rainforest at Kuranda, near Cairns in the far north of Queensland.