Sunshine Coast Birdlife Australia Blog : MAY NEWS

Hello all,

Birdlife Australia exists to foster and encourage birds, birding, bird education and conservation. As birders and birding advocates, we need to share our passion for birds and wildlife with as many people as possible.

My latest venture for Birdlife Sunshine Coast has been to begin to try to establish a branch of Birdlife at the University of the Sunshine Coast. I have been assisted [greatly] by current University student of ecology, Josh Hill. In addition, I have some good advice and encouragement form Dominique Potvin – a lecturer at the University.

The reasons for this are varied however they include

Trying to raise the profile of birding among University students and staff
Trying to raise the profile of Birdlife Australia among University and staff
Establishing links between Birdlife Australia and the University; especially in regards ornithological research
Encouraging graduate teachers, especially Primary School teachers and the teachers of secondary Science, to consider using birding, bird surveys, ebird and / or Birdata within their curriculum down the track. [Teaching teachers to teach birds and birding seems more do-able than trying to reach only school students directly.]
Establishing a bird club with a younger demographic so to encourage high school students to learn about birds and birding.

Our first attempted outing recently took place on the 1 May. You may recall the weather was pretty ordinary….. Four people, including Josh and myself, which was impressive as I had just bet a reasonable sum of money with myself that no one would attend. The walk was, as expected, damp. However, we did see some birds – some 44 species in all – the last being a fly-by of an Australian Hobby. If you have any USC students who may be interested in joining a bird walk in the near future, please pass their contact details on to me please.

Regarding the encouragement of new birders please consider bringing along new folk to any outing but primarily our beginning bird walks. Or consider publicising these walks among your networks. The definition of a new birder is open to interpretation.

Our latest attempt of a Beginning bird walk was again on the May 1. Sadly, due to the poor weather, no one attended. We may attempt to re-run this walk, at Cooroy, later in the year. Thanks to potential walk leader, Russ Lamb, for braving the rain in solo!

Other beginning bird walks for the next few months of 2021 are as follows;

JUNE – BEGINNING BIRDING WALK

Steve and Carol Popple bushescapes@bigpond.com at Park Lakes, Bli Bli

Location – Meet near the playground on Parklakes Drive – near Little Sprouts Childcare Centre.

Date – 5 June, 2021

Time – [beginning] – 8am

JULY – BEGINNING BIRDING WALK

John Kooistra / Vince Lee albatross4560@gmail.com / Russell MacGregor

Wappa Dam Meeting near the facilities at 8am.

Date – Saturday, 17 July Time – [beginning] – 8 am

AUGUST – BEGINNING BIRDING WALK

Carolyn Scott carolynascott@bigpond.com