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25.01.2022 Hi I’m Red, The Red-necked Stint, writing to you from the Daursky wetlands all the way up on the Russian-Mongolian border! This is just a quick message to let ...you know my journey south is about to begin. I arrived here today from our breeding ground in the tundra just a little north. It was a great breeding season. We arrived on 25 June and the place was still rich with millions of insects after the spring melts. Me and Ged (my wife) got to work early and built a nest on the ground lined with grass and leaves. Ged laid 4 eggs and not long after we were greeted by two little fluff balls you can see in the picture below, Ed and Ted. Ged and I looked after the little tackers until they were big enough to fly. Ged headed south earlier than me because I wanted to hang around a little longer just to make sure the little ones would be ok. When it was time for me to go, the little ones insisted that they would hang back at the breeding grounds alone for a little while more, just to make sure they were fat enough for their first 12,000 km migration south. I couldn’t help but feel a little emotional; I remember the first time I was old enough to fly from one side of the planet to the other without mum or dad What I wouldn’t give to be only a few weeks old again Anyway, Daursky is not far from the breeding grounds and is a great place to have one more feed and gather my bearings before the first leg of my migration. Daursky is so special, it’s even been designated by the United Nations as a Biosphere Reserve and includes a wetland of international significance (a Ramsar wetland) also designated by the United Nations! Just like my Southern Hemisphere home, Western Port. Without places like these, tiny Migrants like us Red-necked Stints (usually 13-16cm and Australia’s smallest shorebird) would have a harder time finding places to fuel up for such epic trips. Anyway, speaking of epic trips, I’d better be heading off to the East coast of China, if I’m quick maybe I can catch up with Ged. ********************************************************************* Red the Stint’s correspondence is part of a Biosphere and Port Philip and Westernport Catchment Management Authority project to raise awareness about the Western Port Ramsar wetland of international significance. The project is funded by the Victorian Government. If you would like further information about the project, please email [email protected]. We are using some artistic freedom to illustrate the southern migration of these remarkable birds, but in fact the locations and dates of travel for our bird Red are based on real geolocator data from 2016 kindly provided by the Victorian Wader Study Group! Presumed male Red-necked Stint attending 1 or 2 day old chicks. Kigluaik Mountains, Seward Peninsula, Alaska, 30 June 2012. (Yes, not actually from Siberia but such a great photo to see what these little birds look like up north in their breeding plumage. Photo by Lucas H. DeCicco/USFWS.

22.01.2022 Beautiful Butcherbird singing on a foggy morning.

08.01.2022 The on-going Drought conditions have provided a boon for Birdwatchers with various Species showing up in unexpected places. These Freckled Ducks turned up at "Lake Alford" Gympie, while this Banded Lapwing appeared at Caloundra Sunshine Coast. Home Owners can help our Birdlife and other Wildlife in these extreme conditions by providing them with a safe and easy to access watering points. Make certain that these are protected from preying cats, while placing Bird Baths among and underneath an overhanging vegetation canopy, (not in the open). Grey-crowned Babbler and Rainbow Lorikeet enjoying the bird baths in our front yard.

05.01.2022 Grey-crowned Babbler

02.01.2022 COOLOOLA NATURE