After some unfavorable conditions the month before, the three Assistant Wardens were eager to get out to Bush Point, alongside Chris Hassell, for annual Monitoring of Yellow Sea Migrants in Australia. On the second weekend of July our shorebird fanatics Dave, Cait and Caitlin set off to conduct shorebird counts in Roebuck Bay and Bush Point. The aim of these surveys is to get an idea of how many non-breeding migratory individuals of each species is present in the bay, for population estimates. The team were excited to get out and help with some vital research. Read on to see when we saw Terns relaxing on top of something truly strange.

The Saturday involved conducting counts along the stretch of Roebuck Bay out the front of the Broome Bird Observatory. Starting at One Tree we counted all migratory species and while we were waiting for the tide to rise and push the birds in closer, a Square tailed Kite soared above us! It was an impressive site and put us all in an extra good mood for the day ahead. Soon after we split off into two teams, so that the count could be conducted efficiently. Undertaking shorebird counts of a weekend, with perfect weather, didn’t come without its challenges. There were several natural and human induced disturbances on the beaches where the birds were roosting. Thankfully we had a backup plan to ensure we had collected reliable shorebird numbers. We were excited to share of our Square -tailed Kite encounter at bird log.

Leaving the BBO on Sunday we had our bags packed with lunch, binoculars and scopes for a day of surveys at Bush Point. We were all excited to see what we might find. We started the morning off with a bang, being greeted by the sound of Black-chinned Honey eaters and Brown Boobies soaring at the boat ramp. Not long after we were boarding the DBCA boat driven by Yawuru Marine Rangers. It was a full glass out morning where we had some great sightings of different seabirds and some unique animal encounters. Wilson’s Storm -Petrels kicked things off, ticking off a lifer for two of our Aws. As our journey continued, we saw a Crested Tern resting on top of a buoy, or so we thought. When we saw the next tern resting on something floating, we soon realised the buoy had a head and it was in fact a turtle. We looked at each other in amusement. Never did we think we would see a Crested Tern resting on top of a turtle.

Time to turn our attention back to the shorebird count! Once again, we split off into two teams, counting two separate ends of the point and converging in the middle. Dave led a team down one end and Cait and Caitlin headed off with Chris. When walking to our start point, we were blown away by the large numbers of resting birds, and large numbers of species we don’t always see in Roebuck Bay. We were thrilled to find vast numbers of Eastern Curlews, Curlew Sandpipers, Red-necked Stints and even a Tibetan Sand -Plover. On the journey back we were stoked to have some boat snacks and shared stories from the day. Heading out to Bush- Point for the annual winter surveys was an awesome experience for our team and we are happy to continue the partnership with Global Flyway Network.

We extend our thanks to the Yawuru traditional owners of the land we conducted the surveys on. Additional thanks go to the Broome DBCA office for support and in particular Jason Fong and Kanichi Shioji for piloting the boat and making the Bush Point count successful.

Shorebird Surveys at Bush Point