... the voice for birds in the Shoalhaven

February 2024 – Presentation by Dr Jenny Pierson, Australian Wildlife Conservancy

In February, Dr Jenny Pierson, Australian Wildlife Conservancy, gave a talk at the St Georges Basin Country Club, called “Providing sanctuaries for Malleefowls, Gouldian Finches and other threatened birds”.

Dr Jenny Pierson is a Senior Ecologist on Australian Wildlife Conservancy's (AWC) National Science Team, leading the Climate Change Adaptation Strategy and Conservation Genetics Program. AWC is the largest private owner and manager of land for conservation in Australia, delivering and influencing effective conservation across more than 12.9 million hectares across.

Jenny has worked in Australia since 2010 with CSIRO, ANU, and ACT Parks and Conservation Service before joining AWC.

Jenny talked about how AWC’s research is helping in the recovery of threatened species at their sanctuaries and on partnership sites in iconic regions of Australia. She covered their work in captive breeding, and how their ecological monitoring program, one of the largest in the country, is being used to document trends in birds on sites across the country.

She showed how these innovative approaches to conservation are helping to protect several of Australia’s threatened and iconic birds, including the Malleefowl, the Gouldian Finch, and the Purple-crowned Fairy-wren.

2023 Visit and talk by Prof. Martine Maron, BirdLife Australia President

In April 2023, Prof. Martine Maron, President of BirdLife Australia, came to Ulladulla to talk about the latest research into tracking the health of woodland bird communities. About 80 people showed up on the day. This was three years after she was last in the area when she spoke at the Mollymook Golf Club soon after the 2019-20 bushfires.

Martine covered how woodland bird communities in Australia are increasingly under threat and why it is important for us to measure and track the condition of entire bird communities – not just individual species. She described current research to identify and map all the different types of Australian bird communities and how we can measure their health and condition.

She highlighted that with thousands of Australians contributing data through citizen science, including our own Bushfire Recovery Project, we may not be far away from being able to measure and track the condition - and hopefully the recovery - of bird communities right across Australia.

Martine was joined by Erin Farley, BirdLife Australia Campaigns and Participation Team Leader, who talked about the new national laws to protect nature and what can be done to make sure we get the best outcome for birds.

It was also great to have Fiona Phillips MP, Member for Gilmore, provide an opening address at the event. She also spoke at the event in Mollymook in 2020, so the event had a certain symmetry with the release of our three year Bushfire Recovery Project.

On their way to Ulladulla, Martine and Erin dropped into Lake Wollumboola to meet with Frances Bray. Frances is President of the Lake Wollumboola Protection Association and recipient of a BirdLife Australia Distinguished Services Award for her work over 25 years to help protect this vital Key Biodiversity Area.

October 2022 Bird Haven Festival - 15-22 October 2022

In 2018, we got a call from Perrie Croshaw and Cathy Law in Shoalhaven Heads. They wanted to get people in their community thinking more about nature and birds, but they admitted that they didn’t know much about them. This became clear when we discovered that they did not know the difference between a Little and a Red Wattlebird or how important the Heads are for migratory shorebirds. However, unlike BLS, they liked running big events and knew how to get sponsorship to make it happen.

Nine months later to coincide with BirdLife’s national Bird Week and the arrival of the shorebirds, they ran the first Bird Haven Festival in Shoalhaven Heads. It was a huge success, so much so that they organised an even bigger and better Festival in 2019. This brought hundreds of people together with different events, including art fairs, talks, walks and concerts. It was a celebration of birds and the perfect opportunity for people to learn more about their behaviour, habitat and conservation.

“Post-pandemic”, they asked if we could get the Festival back on the birding calendar, and so last month BLS did just that, organising three events in three different venues across the Shoalhaven.

Birds for Beginners - The Weird and Wonderful Life of Birds

The Festival was kicked off in Ulladulla on 15th October with an event aimed at "aspiring" birdwatchers of all ages, coinciding with the start of the Aussie Bird Count. About 80 came along, including birders of all levels and several children. The day was opened by Mayor Amanda Findley, who had already completed a couple of Aussie Bird Counts. The guest speaker was Dr Holly Parsons, Urban Birds Program Manager, BirdLife Australia. Holly has worked with BirdLife Australia since 1999 on a range of ecological research projects, including the ‘Birds in Backyards’ program and the annual ‘Aussie Bird Count’. Her talk both informed and entertained. As well as covering the basics of bird ID, she gave several insights to the bird world with a special focus on the Superb Fairy-wren, Powerful Owl, Gang-gang Cockatoos and Superb Lyrebird. She certainly gave everyone great in-sights into both the weird and wonderful life of birds.

Dr Holly Parsons

Rob Dunn and Dr Holly Parsons with some BLS merchandise

Mayor Amanda Findley opening the Festival

Birds for Beginners – improve your bird identification skills
A few days later, four BLS members lead bird walks to improve the bird identification skills of local beginners around the grounds and bushland at the Jervis Bay Maritime Museum. 28 bird species were seen on the day, which shows how good the Museum is for birdwatching with its range of different habitats in just a small area. Forty people came along and went away with a few new tips about how to spot birds and inspired to learn more. We had limited numbers for the bird walks and had a number we had to disappoint. This shows how people want to find and name more birds and we hope to run similar events next year.

The post walk bird-call

In the Museum mangroves

After the bird walk

2022 Bird Haven Festival Conference
The last event of the week was the 2022 Bird Haven Festival Conference in Shoalhaven Heads on 22 October with about 130 people coming to hear leading ornithologists and researchers speak about their work and the ecology of some of our bird species.



When we were setting the program for the Conference, we wanted to get the right mix of different insights, landscapes, species, areas of research and conservation projects. From the amount of positive feedback we received, it is evident that we succeeded.

We visited farms in SE Australia, 23 countries from Australia to Siberia, the Dandenongs and Wilson’s Promontory in Victoria and beaches in New Zealand, ending back here in the Shoalhaven. We covered woodland birds, migratory waders, lyrebirds, beach nesting birds, bristlebirds and glossies. We focussed on the importance of long-term bird monitoring, cross-border collaboration, maintenance of functioning ecosystems, innovative new experiments in conservation, trans-location of species and Aboriginal-led conservation actions. We heard what has been done well and not so well in the past and looked forward to what could work best for the future of birds.

Firstly we heard from Delia Lowe, Jerrinja elder, about how traditional owners have watched, learnt from and looked after birds for 1000s of years. After Delia, Fiona Phillips MP, Member for Gilmore, talked about the Australian Government’s priorities to conserve nature and their recent 2022-2032 Threatened Species Action Plan: Towards Zero Extinctions - The Threatened Species Action Plan 2022-2032 - DCCEEW.

Fiona Phillips MP, Member for Gilmore

Delia Lowe, Jerrinja elder

Professor David Lindenmayer

The Conference keynote speaker was Professor David Lindenmayer AO - Professor of Ecology and Conservation Biology at the ANU’s Fenner School of Environment and Society. David is a world-leading expert in forest ecology and resource management, conservation science, and biodiversity conservation. He has published literally hundreds of scientific articles and 48 books and is among the world's most cited scientists. His work has been recognised through a number of prestigious fellowships and awards, both in Australia and overseas. David’s talk covered how healthy natural assets underpin farm productivity and landscape resilience, and the role played by farmers, Landcarers, natural resource agencies and birds. He spoke about what is happening to the populations of S.E. Australia's temperate woodland birds over time and how they respond to interventions, like replanting and grazing control, and the impacts of the Noisy Miner. He showed how monitoring and research insights will be critical for future efforts on farm-level biodiversity certification and stewardship. Much of his work has informed the new biodiversity prediction tool, Birdcast, which has been developed by the Sustainable Farms project at the ANU.

Go to Sustainable Farms: Healthy Farmers, Healthy farms, Healthy Profits for more on this project and the Birdcast tool covered in his presentation.
Go to Amazon.com.au : David Lindenmayer to find David’s books, including Natural Asset Farming which was mentioned in his presentation.

A PDF version of David’s presentation is available on the BLS website here - Conserving Woodland Birds

Alison Russell-French OAM, Chair Australasian Waders Studies Group and former President of Birds Australia, explained how the East Asian–Australasian Flyway Partnership brings together representatives of national governments, Conventions, NGOs and corporates, to support the conservation of migratory waterbirds and their habitats. She covered how the Flyway Partnership works in practice through the collaboration of the 23 mostly developing countries with almost half the world’s population.

A PDF version of Alison’s presentation is available on the BLS website here - Collaboration in the East Asian – Australasian Flyway

Dr Alex Maisey, Research Fellow with the Research Centre for Future Landscapes and Department of Ecology, Environment and Evolution at La Trobe University, gave an overview of the important role that lyrebirds play as ecosystem engineers in SE Australia’s forests and covered his research into the impacts of Australia’s Black Summer fires on their conservation.

A PDF version of Alex’s presentation is available on the BLS website here - The Southern Superb Lyrebird

Dr Catherine Price - ARC Discovery Early Career Research Fellow with the University of Sydney's School of Life and Environmental Sciences talked about her work in New Zealand looking to reduce nest predation based on "olfactory misinformation" (olfactory relates to the sense of smell.)

A PDF version of Catherine’s presentation is available on the BLS website here - Olfactory Misinformation

Alison Russell-French

Dr Alex Maisey

Dr Catherine Price

Emily Bradstock, Honours student at the University of Wollongong and Dr David Bain, Senior Threatened Species Officer, NSW Department of Planning and Environment covered their work on the Eastern Bristlebird. Emily talked about patterns of singing behaviour and variation in song within the species, while David covered how translocations has helped its conservation, including the most recent movements from Jervis Bay to Wilson’s Promontory after the impacts of the 2019-20 bushfires.

A PDF version of David’s presentation is available on the BLS website here - Eastern Bristlebird Presentation

The final talk of the day was by Members of the Aboriginal Advisory Group for the 'Healthy Country Plan for Glossy Black-Cockatoos' project, namely Michelle Toms, Natalie Nye, Jared Brown and Jason Groves. The group explained how this project is empowering local Aboriginal custodians to reconnect with fire-impacted landscapes and build on their existing cultural knowledge and values to help secure the species in the Shoalhaven. You can assist the project by logging sightings of glossies in iNaturalist via the project web page at Healthy Country for Glossy Black-cockatoos

A PDF version of the Aboriginal Advisory Group presentation is available on the BLS website here - Healthy Country for Glossy Black-cockatoos

Dr David Bain

Emily Bradstock (center)

Simon Tedder, Michelle Toms, Natalie Nye, Jared Brown and Jason Groves

The full Conference program with more details on the speakers’ backgrounds and talks is available here - 2022 Bird Haven Festival Program

Another successful Festival
We have received a lot of positive feedback on all three Festival events, recognising the quality of all the speakers’ presentations and the efforts of BLS Festival volunteers. We also need to acknowledge BirdLife Southern NSW, the NSW South-East Biodiversity and Conservation Division, the Shoalhaven Heads Bowling and Recreation Club, Ulladulla Civic Centre and the Jervis Bay Maritime Museum for their support of the Festival.

The three events attracted about 250 people, who came from Sydney, Canberra, Victoria and just down the road. One couple, who were originally coming to the Conference from Port Stephens, saw the bird walks and decided to come four days early! At the Conference there were people from 11 different bird clubs and interest groups, university students, members of nature conservation groups and staff from Government agencies, and, at the event in Ulladulla, we had whole families come along.

The original aim of Perrie Croshaw and Cathy Law - when they set up the Bird Haven Festival in 2018 - was to get people thinking more about nature and birds. BirdLife Shoalhaven is delighted that we were able to continue and build on their vision by playing our part in organising another successful Bird Haven Festival.

23rd June 2022 - The Message of the Lyrebird

BirdLife Shoalhaven presented the film "The Message of the Lyrebird" at the Huskisson Picture Theatre. It was very well attended and all agreed that the film was excellent! Information about the film is shown in the image below.

7th February 2022 - AGM, Bird Walk, Dinner and Presentation by Nick Carlile

Prior to our AGM at the Shoalhaven Heads Bowling Club, Nicholas Carlile, Senior Scientist with NSW Department of Planning, Industry and Environment, gave a fantastic presentation about the recent rodent eradication program on Lord Howe Island and the follow-up bird recovery. Afterwards our President, Rob Dunn, provided an overview of the achievements of both BirdLife Australia and BirdLife Shoalhaven and our priorities for the year ahead, and announced the new committee who were all elected unopposed.

The AGM and talk were preceded by a bird walk from 4pm which started at the "Shoalhaven Heads Shorebirds Airport" by the car park at the end of River Road. After the bird walk most attendees dined at the bowling club bistro and stayed on for the talk and AGM.

October to December, 2020 - Dinner with the Birds Webinar Series

This series of talks (webinars) on the web via Zoom and Eventbrite started just prior to National Bird Week (Oct 19 - 25). The webinars were recorded and can be viewed on YouTube using the following links -

1. "Birdwatching for Beginners" with Dr Holly Parsons (BirdLife Australia) was broadcast on Thursday October 15, 2020. You can view the webinar at Birdwatching for Beginners.

2. "The Shoalhaven - is it still a mecca for birds and birdwatchers?" with Rob Dunn (BirdLife Shoalhaven) was broadcast on Tuesday October 20, 2020. You can view the webinar at The Shoalhaven.

3. "Dinner with the Owls" with Dr Beth Mott (BirdLife Australia) was broadcast on Thursday November 5, 2020. You can view the webinar at Dinner with the Owls.

4. "Surviving the fires: heathland birds and Glossy Black-cockatoos" with Dr Dave Bain & Lauren Hook (Saving our Species) was broadcast on Thursday Nov 19, 2020. You can view the webinar at Surviving the Fires.

5. "Sharing the shoreline: beach nesters and waders" with Jodie Dunn and Jess Sharp (NSW National Parks) was broadcast on Thursday Dec 3, 2020. You can view the webinar at Sharing the Shoreline.

October 2019 - the 2019 Bird Haven Festival

The 2019 Bird Haven Festival over the weekend of the 18th - 20th October was a bigger, better version of the fledgling 2018 event. The venue for the first two days of the event was the Shoalhaven Heads Bowling Club. Friday night saw us entertained by Sean Dooley, the BirdLife Australia Magazine editor and former comedy writer. A full program of presentations took place at the Bowling Club on the Saturday, with organizer Perry Croshaw welcoming visitors and local indigenous elder Delia Lowe giving us a Welcome to Country. Rob Dunn, BirdLife Shoalhaven President and BirdLife Australia board member, told us about "The Shoalhaven as a mecca for Birds". Nicholas Carlile, seabird researcher, told us of his work on the recovery of our smallest seabird - the White-faced Storm Petrel, and Peggy McDonald, raptor rehabilitator from Higher Ground Raptors entertained us with stories of working with birds of prey. To finish off the morning session, Jacqueline Nguyen, avian paleontologist, related what the fossil record can tell us about Australian birds. After an excellent lunch, Professor Richard Fuller, shorebird expert, explained the story of Australia's migratory shorebirds. Fiona Blandford and Dan Lees, Act for Birds campaigners for BirdLife Australia, educated us on how to push for strong nature laws at all levels of government, and to finish off a most amazing day, Tim Low - author of "Where Song Began" - showed us why Australia has been the most important continent for the evolution of the world's birds. Despite a sudden change of venue due to safety issues with an old tree, the market day on Sunday was a great success, with a large variety of stalls and activities to keep the many visitors happy, entertained and educated.

June 2019 - A Celebration of Lake Wollumboola

Frances Bray, President of the Lake Wollumboola Protection Association was presented with her well-deserved BirdLife Australia Distinguished Service Award by the President of BirdLife Shoalhaven, Rob Dunn, at the "Celebration of Lake Wollumboola" event at the Culburra Beach Surf Club on June 23rd.

The BirdLife Australia Distinguished Service Award is a formal acknowledgement of the enormous contribution to Birdlife Australia and its predecessor organisations made by its members. It is awarded to a range of members every year.

The Award was established in 2005 by Bird Observation & Conservation Australia (BOCA) as part of its Centenary to acknowledge outstanding service to BOCA – the BOCA Distinguished Service Award. BOCA and Birds Australia merged in 2012 to become BirdLife Australia, which is continuing the tradition of this award.

The event included a "Welcome to Country" by Delia Lowe, who gave us insights into the importance of Lake Wollumboola from an Aboriginal perspective. Kerryn Stephens then gave a slide presentation on the ecological systems and hydrology of the Lake. Rob Pallin, son of Paddy, former NPWS Advisory Council and long-term friend of Frances, then spoke of the achievements of Frances and the Lake Wollumboola Protection Association before the official presentation of the award.

Frances then spoke about the importance of the lake locally, nationally and internationally, and she told us the history of the struggle to save the Lake and its birds which has been ongoing for almost thirty years.

At the conclusion of the official presentations, afternoon tea, coffee, cake and biscuits were enjoyed by all!

More photos of the event can be viewed on our Flickr page.

March 2019 - Give a Dam

BirdLife Shoalhaven and the National Parks Association co-hosted a special screening of the new conservation film "GIVE A DAM" at Huskisson on Friday March 1st.

The film deals with the many conservation issues that surround the proposal to add to the height of the Warragamba Dam wall, thus flooding a major area of associated valleys. This will adversely affect the catchment, national parks, Aboriginal heritage, World Heritage areas in the Blue Mountains, and potentially harm critically endangered birdlife including the Regent Honeyeater.

The evening was hosted by the BirdLife Shoalhaven Conservation Officer Chris Grounds, and had three special guest speakers - Justin Field (member of the NSW Legislative Council for the Greens), Pat Thompson (Board Member of the Colong Foundation for Wilderness, and the editor of the New Bush Telegraph), and Brigette Nairn (President of the Milton-Uladulla Branch of the National Parks Association).

October 2018 - the 2018 Bird Haven Festival

Dr Jackie Nguyen, an avian paleontologist at the Australian Museum, gave a presentation about the evolution of Australian birds and what the fossil record tells us about Australia's weird and wonderful bird life.

Harry Saddler was interviewed about his new book, The Eastern Curlew. Eastern Curlews are the largest of all the world's shorebirds. The Eastern Curlew occurs only in our flyway, and about 75 per cent of the world's curlews winter in Australia, so we have a particular responsibility to protect coastal wetlands for them.

Yolande Cozijn, Rob Dunn and Chris Grounds from BirdLife Shoalhaven gave talks on appreciating and protecting the birds of the Shoalhaven including the migratory shorebirds that visit the Heads, as well as Birds in Backyards.

We showed the movie "Chasing Birds" which follows three teams - the Hunter Thickheads, the Hunter Home-Brewers and the Whacked Out Woodswallows as they complete in an annual Twitchathon, trying to spot as many bird species as possible in 24 hours.