Study of Migratory Shorebirds in Northwest Australia

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Credit:

Daniel Lees, BirdLife Australia

Shortlisted, Wildlife Category, The Research Animal Photography Awards, Oceania 2026

Having just been released and sporting its brand-new engraved yellow leg-flag, this Siberian Sand Plover Anarhynchus mongolus moves away from the researchers while stopping intermittently to preen. 

Shorebirds populations across the world are arguably among the most threat of any species assemblage, and Australia’s shorebird species are no exception. Australia lies at the southern end of the East Asian-Australasian Flyway (EAAF), which is used by approximately 60 species of shorebird. The majority of these species migrate from their high-latitude breeding grounds during the northern hemisphere summer to overwintering sites spread from the equator down to southern Australia and New Zealand. 

Starting in 2022 a collaboration between BirdLife Australia, AWSG, Edith Cohen University, Deakin University and the Western Australia Department of Biodiversity and Conservation has been running a shorebird banding and satellite tracking project out of the Exmouth Gulf.