With support from Hunter Local Land Services under the National Landcare Program, HRLN hosted another successful shorebird training workshop on 10th November, and here are the outcomes;
The workshop was booked out – with an attendance of 22 enthusiastic individuals at the Hunter Wetlands Centre in the Conference Room.
Of these attendees there were engagements from several Hunter Region Landcare groups. There were also some members from the Hunter Wetlands and HBOC with little experience in identifying shorebirds, along with an educator from the Awabakal Environment Education Centre. These attendees reported an “enhanced knowledge of shorebirds and their migratory routes, and the invaluable resources that we have in terms of habitat here in the Hunter.”
The theory session from Milly Formby – Migratory Birds Project Officer for Birdlife Australia – were highly informative and her tutorials on identification and counting of Shorebirds were great preparation for the field trip to Stockton Sandspit.
On the field trip, we spotted at least 11 Shorebird species, including the critically endangered Eastern Curlew and Bar-Tailed Godwit, before the storm came through.
Attendees expressed an incited interest in submitting surveys to Birdata, protection of crucial habitat and engaging in Landcare activities. They never knew “how rewarding and interesting they [shorebirds] could be.”
Various shorebird species with the critically endangered Eastern Curlew in the centre.
Flocks of Red-Necked Avocets