Colin Richardson is an ornithologist with a particular interest in bird migration in the Middle East. He is on the editorial board of Sandgrouse and is the Cyprus representative for the Ornithological Society of the Middle East (OSME) and the Royal Naval Birdwatching Society. He was the BirdLife Cyprus Bird Recorder and editor of the Cyprus Bird Report from 2004 – 2013 and a member of BirdLife Cyprus Council and Chairman of the Cyprus Bird Rarities Committee from 2004 to 2015.
His books include The Birds of the United Arab Emirates (1990) and he was senior author of The Shell Birdwatching Guide to the UAE (1996). He has written more than 95 peer-reviewed papers on Middle East ornithology, and was editor of the Emirates Bird Report from 1988 to 2000.
Colin served as UAE Bird Recorder from 1985 to 2003 and was Chairman of the Emirates Records Committee from 1995 to 2002. He was a council member of OSME from 2005 to 2010 and was awarded the Sheikh Mubarak bin Mohammed prize for services to Conservation and Ornithology in the United Arab Emirates in 1995.