McAlpine founded his own publishing house in London in the 1960s, and was variously an art dealer, art collector, zookeeper (in Broome, Western Australia), horticulturist, aviculturist, agriculturist, gardener and passionate traveller.
The two major national avicultural societies in the United States are the American Federation of Aviculture and the Avicultural Society of America, founded in 1927.