Adrian Koopman is an emeritus professor of Zulu at the University of KwaZulu-Natal. His research interests during his academic career have been primarily in onomastics, and he is the author of the 2002 Zulu Names (which includes a chapter on Zulu bird names), the 2015 Zulu Plant Names and the 2019 Zulu Bird Names and Bird Lore, all published by the University of KwaZulu-Natal Press. His over 70 articles and chapters in academic journals and books include the 1990 'Ornimatopoeia: Song Reference in English, Afrikaans and Zulu Bird Names'. Roger Porter has had a life-long interest in birds and has travelled extensively on bird trips to several countries in Africa as well as to Madagascar, India and Antarctica. Before retirement, he was a wildlife ecologist and conservation planner for nearly 39 years in the Natal Parks Board and KZN Wildlife. He has written many papers and reports, including the EIA on fourteen possible dams in the Mfolozi catchment, and was a lead member of the team that provided the conservation alternative to mining at St Lucia. He wrote and compiled the nomination dossiers for the UNESCO World Heritage inscription of iSimangaliso Wetland Park and the uKhahlamba Drakensberg Mountains. More recently, he has been involved in contributing to the World Heritage listing of the Sehlabathebi National Park in Lesotho, Okavango Delta, extension of Mount Kenya, and the Barberton Mkonjwa World Heritage sites.

Noleen Turner retired after 32 years' service from the African Languages Department at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban. She is currently an honorary research professor at the same institution. Her areas of research interest include Second Language (Zulu) Teaching, Zulu Oral Studies, Onomastics and Humour Studies. She has published over 40 accredited articles in local and overseas journals. A keen birder, she is the original mover and motivator of the Zulu Bird Name Project described in this book.