Richard^^^Porter Ornithology Career background: over 50 years (and counting) in conservation and ornithology. Richard Porter worked for the RSPB for many years (1968-1999) and then for BirdLife International, particularly in the Middle East. He first went to Turkey in 1966, surveying wetlands, and that autumn (with others) counted the raptors migrating through the Bosphorus – the first comprehensive count of raptor migration at a site in the Old World.