Figure 1. East Asian—Australasian FlywayFigure 1. East Asian—Australasian Flyway

Figure 1. East Asian—Australasian Flyway

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Thirty-seven species of migratory shorebird regularly and predictably visit Australia during their non-breeding season, from the Austral spring to autumn. Australia’s coastal and freshwater wetlands are important habitat during the non-breeding season as places for these migratory shorebirds to rest and feed, accumulating energy reserves to travel the long distance (up to 13 000 kilometres) back to their breeding grounds. In the month or two before migrating, migratory shorebirds need to increase their body mass by up to 70 per cent to sustain their journey.

Shorebirds that migrate from the northern hemisphere reach ‘staging areas’, such as Roebuck Bay and Eighty-mile Beach in north-western Western Australia and the Gulf of Carpentaria in Queensland, by September. From these staging areas, the birds disperse across Australia, reaching the south-eastern states by October. Smaller flocks—cumulatively numbering thousands of birds—take advantage of ephemeral wetlands across inland Australia, while others spread along the coastline. Migratory shorebirds are often gregarious, gathering in mixed flocks, but also occur in single-species flocks or feed and roost with resident shorebird species such as stilts, avocets, oystercatchers and plovers. The picture is further complicated because flocks or individuals of some migratory species remain in Australia during the winter months, such as first-year birds that lack the experience or physical condition to return to their natal sites but often do so in their second year. By March, the birds that have previously dispersed across the country begin to gather at staging areas, once again forming large flocks and feeding virtually round the clock to accumulate energy reserves for their northward migration.

The ecology of migratory shorebirds is complex, especially in Australia where investigations are continuing to unravel their patterns of movement, roosting and dispersal behaviours through targeted research programs. To be effective, shorebird conservation and management initiatives in Australia must take into account the unique distributions and ecology of shorebirds–and the critical importance of international migratory pathways and staging areas, particularly the Yellow Sea region (Barter 2002; MacKinnon et al. 2012; Iwamura et al. 2013; Murray et al. 2014).

As some migratory shorebird populations decrease there is a growing need to minimise threats to the remaining habitats that are critical for their ongoing survival (MacKinnon et al. 2012). This need is occurring in the face of ever-increasing human development and loss of habitat. Efforts to conserve migratory shorebirds in one country can only be effective with cooperation and complementary actions in all countries that shorebirds visit.