Learn more about beach-nesting birds

Community members will head to the coast to learn first-hand how to identify different beach-nesting bird species, with registrations opening this week for a free community workshop in Ceduna organised by Natural Resources Eyre Peninsula.

BirdLife Australia trainer and presenter Renee Mead will share bird watching tips at the workshop, including information on how the community can help monitor these poorly-studied species.

Natural Resources Eyre Peninsula Coastal Management Officer Louise Mortimer, said the workshop will give people bird watching tips and showcase some of the most iconic shorebirds in South Australia.

“Eyre Peninsula has some of the most significant beach nesting shorebird habitat in South Australia for birds like Hooded Plovers, Sooty and Pied Oyster Catchers and Red Necked Stints to name a few,” Ms Mortimer said.

“With funding from the Eyre Peninsula Natural Resources Management Board and Australian Government Targeted Area Grants, it’s possible to run these workshops for the community.

“Renee has coordinated a national Hooded Plover count and has spent endless hours working through breeding season data to compile nesting summaries, so she really is one of the best people in Australia to provide this expert knowledge,” she said.

“We’ll share information on now beach-nesting birds’ behaviours change at different times of the year and as they go through their life cycle, and how you can observe what’s actually happening in their personal lives.

“In the afternoon, we will head to the beach to practise our newly learnt shorebird identification skills. We find that people immediately start to pick up the bird identification clues, sometimes even glimpsing the bird behaviours in the wild that we’ve just seen on the screen.

The workshops also give people the opportunity to use specialist equipment such as the large spotting scopes and refine binoculars techniques specifically for watching birds.

The two day Ceduna workshop will be held on Saturday, 5 March and Sunday, 6 March and bookings are essential. A second two day workshop on migratory shorebirds is planned for Coffin Bay.

To register for the Ceduna workshop, visit www.landscape.sa.gov.au/ep/get-involved/events or call the Streaky Bay Natural Resources Centre on (08) 8626 1108.