Crossing continents, confronting change: Australia’s migratory birds
From shorebirds that link Australia to Siberia and Alaska, to surreptitious night-time migrants revealed by weather radars and listening to chirps in the night, the story of bird migration in Australia is far richer and more widespread than anyone realised. Recent work suggests that more than 300 Australian bird species migrate. Even the familiar species of backyards and local parks often travel vast distances, tracking food, water, and climate.
Yet for all this movement, we know surprisingly little about the journeys these birds take. Which routes do they follow, and how traditional are their movements? What hazards do they face along the way? Where can we site developments like wind farms without putting them at risk? Citizen science is opening new windows onto these mysteries, but the gaps remain daunting. Meanwhile, the threats are immediate and global: habitat loss at stopover sites, intensifying climate extremes, and regulatory fragmentation both at home and overseas are putting Australia’s migratory birds at risk.
In this talk, I will share some of what we know so far—through field studies, new technologies, and the power of public observations—and highlight what remains to be done. The evidence is mounting that migration is the rule rather than the exception in Australian birds. The challenge now is to study it, understand it, and act decisively to conserve the restless travellers of this great continent.
Additional Details
Webinar link - https://meet.google.com/nkv-ucmg-xxd
Meeting ID - NA
Passcode - NA
Event platform - google_meet
Interaction
Please post your questions in the chat and we will get to them at the end of the webinar.
Organizer
Richard Fuller is a Professor at the University of Queensland. He studies how people have affected the natural world around them, and how some of their destructive effects can best be reversed. The research group works on pure and applied topics in biodiversity and conservation, with a strong emphasis on building collaborative conservation to save migratory species. He is also an incurable birder.