Shorebirds in the Shire

What are Shorebirds

A shorebird is a type of bird commonly found in waterbodies like oceans, lakes, rivers, and wetlands. These birds are often spotted searching for food along coastlines, estuaries, mudflats, and marshy areas. They belong to the bird order Charadriiformes, which includes a variety of species such as Curlews, Sandpipers, Plovers, Avocets, Godwits and Oystercatchers.

Shorebirds, just like all animals on earth have adapted to their environment and resource availability. Most species have evolved to have unique beaks which assist them to forage on a variety of small fish, worms, crustaceans, small reptiles, seeds, insects and mollusks.

Who lives in the Shire

Bellingen Shire LGA is known habitat for many different shorebird species including resident and migratory birds.

Migratory shorebirds typically visit Southern Australia from October to March, this is during non- breeding season and a time when they are feeding and gaining weight for their journey back to their breeding grounds in the Artic. Migratory shorebirds display an amazing feat of nature and can travel over 11,000 km one way on the journey. Birds visiting Australia use the East Asian- Australasian flyway.

Two Critically Endangered shorebirds are known to forage in our LGA, the Curlew Sandpiper and the Eastern Curlew. Many other threatened shorebirds are also found here, so it’s important we protect them. For a full list you can check out our Biodiversity Strategy.

Resident shorebirds also live in Bellingen LGA, who occupy the area year round and don’t migrate to breed. The Little Tern is an exception to the rule and travels from Asia to nest in our summer.

Four species of shorebird are known to nest within our shire:

Beach-stone Curlew (Critically Endangered)
Pied Oystercatcher (Endangered)
Sooty Oystercatcher (Vulnerable)
Little Tern (Endangered)

Shorebird nests can be very hard to detect as they are highly camouflaged! They also tend to nest on the ground, placing their eggs in basic shallow hollows made in sand, gravel, shell fragments, or pebbles, sometimes lining these spots with grass and other plant material. Eggs also tend to blend in with the environment and the adults behavior can be quite cryptic to avoid any level of detection. Unfortunately, reporting’s of threatened shorebirds eggs and chicks being killed by dog attack and vehicles on our beaches have occurred in the past, and we want to work with the community to ensure their survival.

Threats to shorebirds

According to Birdlife Australia (2025) some migratory shorebirds have experienced an 80% decrease in their population in just 30 years. Many shorebirds are listed under the Biodiversity Conservation Act 2016 and Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999

Shorebirds face a number of threats including:

Predation to both adults and chicks by foxes, dogs, cats and other native species
Death or injury by 4WD vehicle use on beaches
Loss of habitat due to development in Australia and Internationally
Human interference
Drone use disturbing breeding and nesting birds
Climate change and extreme weather events
Coastal inundation
Damage and disturbance to nests
Avian diseases

So... what can you do to help?

Share the shore!

Bellingen Shire Council supports the Share the Shore NSW government program to help look after shorebirds on our beaches and around waterways. Some tips include:

Sticking to walking and driving on the wet sand, especially during the summer breeding season. Don’t disturb the dunes
Keeping dogs on leash and ensure they don’t chase birds or disturb nest sites
Respect all signage, especially fenced off nesting areas
Give birds space if you see them
Leave no trace and pick up all rubbish from the beach
If you see any sick or injured birds, please report this to WIRES on 1300 094 737
Rescue and rehabilitation of sick, injured or orphaned wildlife www.wires.org.au/branch/midnorthcoast

For more information on the share the shore program follow these links below:

https://Share the shore | Threatened species | Environment and Heritage

https://sharing%20our%20shores%20-%20birdlife%20australia/

https://Conservation: Beach-nesting birds | NSW National Parks

https://https//www.dcceew.gov.au/sites/default/files/documents/factsheet-wetlands-migratory-shorebirds.pdf

Surveying shorebirds in Bellingen Shire Project

Bellingen Shire Council was lucky to receive grant funding from DCCEW – Coastal and Estuary Grants Program to implement a two-year Shorebird survey within the BSC LGA. This project was recognized as an action under the Coastal Management Program

The project involves scientific surveys across all the beaches and estuaries within the Shire and will occur over two breeding seasons (August-March). Scientists will be patrolling the beaches via vehicle and vessel with the following objectives:

Define and map areas of key shorebird habitat within the BSC LGA
Identify and provide population estimates for resident and migratory species
Investigate potential trends in breeding pairs, eggs, chicks and fledglings of the species predicted to nest within the north coast including; The Little Tern (Sternula albifrons), Beach Stone-Curlew (Esacus magnirostris), Sooty Oystercatcher (Haematopus fuliginosus) and Pied Oystercatcher (Haematopus longirostris)
Study the effects of urgent management actions (fencing, sign installment, raising of nests) on fledging rates (fledglings per breeding pair).
Provide data for Council on threats to refine long-term management of threatened shorebirds

As part of this project BSC will also be running a citizen science project, where community members can report sightings of four threatened species of shorebird to the Council through open forms via this link: https://https//au.openforms.com/Form/16824665-8f5c-46c5-be2d-a98119bfeb8e