Birdlife Australia Shorebirds Booklet

On Saturday 8 May, we celebrated the sixteenth World Migratory Bird Day. This is a day where we recognise the achievements of migratory shorebirds while acknowledging the adversity they face and the precarity of their future. No other group of birds has experienced such a dramatic decline in population over the last few decades.

Imagine being born well above the Arctic circle on the plains of Siberia. Your parents to leave to fly off to feeding grounds thousands of miles away. A few weeks later you decide to follow and somehow, without ever being shown the way, you land on the exact same mudflats as your parents. That is the life of a juvenile Sharp-tailed Sandpiper.

We are fortunate in our part of the west to provide sanctuary for many species of shorebirds, some resident, others migratory. In summer, Sharp-tailed, Curlew Sandpipers and Red-necked Stints are common at our coastal wetlands. Sometimes also seen are the Bar-tailed Godwits famous for their non-stop flights of around twelve thousand kilometres in sometimes less than 10 days. There are so many physiological changes these bird undergo to enable them to undertake these immense feats of endurance and they also employ a number of strategies to keep them on track during migration. We hope to maintain protect and enhance the valuable habitats that these special birds call home. Shorebirds are the focus of Birdlife Australia’s latest and recently released Wing Thing title which was designed and illustrated by HBWC creative director Rob Mancini.

It is a children’s conservation awareness activity book. The book aims to highlight, inform and educate young readers about the challenges and threats to shorebirds, some of them resident but most migratory. It also features some of the more common species from the smallest red-necked stint that weighs only around 30 grams to the biggest, the eastern curlew, which weighs over a kilo. While it may be one of Australia’s most endangered birds, we were fortunate this summer to be graced by the presence of a particularly spirited individual along the Hobsons Bay coastline.

A pdf download is available here.

You can get a free print copy of this brochure, by sending a medium (C5) self-addressed envelope with A$2.20 postage affixed to: BirdLife Australia, Shorebird WingThing Request, 2-05/60 Leicester St, Carlton VIC 3053.