From 1997, he presented a fortnightly natural history show on ABC Radio Canberra, until the station discontinued the program at the end of 2016. He teaches bird and other natural history courses to adult students at the ANU Centre for Continuing Education.
He ran the educational Environment Tours program – natural history bus-based tours throughout Australia – initially in association with the Canberra environment movement from 1984 until retiring at the end of 2016, and since 2006 has worked for Chris Carter of Time Travel Australia leading natural history tours to South America (with single tours to Malaysian Borneo and Madagascar).
He was awarded the Australian Plants Award by the Australian Native Plants Society in 2001, and the Australian Natural History Medallion in 2006. In 2011 his book A Bush Capital Year, written with artist Peter Marsack, was awarded a Whitley Certificate for Best Regional Zoology by the Royal Zoological Society of NSW. In 2013 Australian Bird Names; a complete guide, co-authored with Jeannie Gray, was also awarded a Whitley, this one as best book in the category Zoological Resource.
From 2002 to 2013, he wrote a monthly essay on birds – 100 in all – for Gang-gang, the Newsletter of the Canberra Ornithologists Group.
He served on the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) Natural Resources Management Advisory Committee (and its various predecessors), advising the ACT government on biodiversity issues from its inception in 1984, and chaired it from 2005 until his retirement at the end of 2014.
Since 2012, he has been the author of a natural history blog, Ian Fraser Talking Naturally, now weekly, formerly more frequently, on all aspects of natural history, aiming to bring biological science and conservation principles to a lay audience.
In 2016 he curated, by invitation, a three-month exhibition at the Canberra Museum and Gallery entitled Bush Capital, the natural history of the ACT.
He is partnered to former journalist and ABC local radio presenter Louise Maher.
Bibliography
Above the Cotter; a driver's and walker's guide to the North Brindabellas. Ian Fraser and Margaret McJannett, Canberra and South-East Region Environment Centre, Canberra, 1991 ISBN0-646-04309-9
Wild about Canberra; a field guide to the plants and animals of the ACT. Ian Fraser and Margaret McJannett, ACT Parks and Conservation Service, Canberra, 1993 ISBN1-86331-153-X
Wildflowers of the Bush Capital; a field guide to Canberra Nature Park. Ian Fraser and Margaret McJannett, Vertego Press, Canberra, 1993 ISBN0-646-15711-6
Over the Hills and Tharwa Way; Eastern Namadgi National Park, a driver's and walker's guide. Ian Fraser and Margaret McJannett, Canberra and South-East Region Environment Centre, Canberra, 1994 ISBN0-646-19029-6
Neighbours in Trouble! Endangered plants and animals in the ACT. Ian Fraser and Margaret McJannett, Conservation Council of the South-East Region and Canberra, Canberra, 1996.
Wildflowers of the Snow Country. Ian Fraser and Margaret McJannett, Vertego Press, Canberra, 1998 ISBN0-646-35260-1
A Bush Capital Year; a natural history of the Canberra region. Ian Fraser and Peter Marsack, CSIRO Publishing, 2011. ISBN9780643101555
Australian Bird Names; a complete guide. Ian Fraser and Jeannie Gray. CSIRO Publishing, 2013. ISBN9780643104693.
Major Mitchell's cockatoo, also known as Leadbeater's cockatoo or the pink cockatoo, is a medium-sized cockatoo that inhabits arid and semi-arid inland areas of Australia, though it is seen regularly in other climates, for example, South-East Queensland's subtropical region.
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The black-faced monarch is a passerine songbird in the family Monarchidae found along the eastern seaboard of Australia, and also New Guinea.
Clifford Brodie Frith is an Australian ornithologist and wildlife photographer. He and his wife Dawn Whyatt Frith have studied and published on Australian birds for many years, and publish books as Frith & Frith.
The star finch is a seed-eating bird species found in northern Australia. It has a distinctive red face and bill, and broad white spots down its flanks. One of its three subspecies may be extinct.
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Mount Tennent is a mountain with an elevation of 1,375 metres (4,511 ft) AHD in the southern part of the Australian Capital Territory in Australia. The Gudgenby River flows at the base of the mountain.
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The bridled honeyeater is a species of bird in the family Meliphagidae with distinctive rein-like markings on its face that is endemic to northeastern Queensland. It is found in subtropical or tropical moist upland forests and subtropical or tropical rainforests, usually above 300 meters. In winter, it descends to lower forests including mangroves, and can sometimes be seen in more open habitats.
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