Jill Chamberlain, WPSQ Sunshine Coast

Jill was born in England, married an Australian, and came to Australia in 1958. Having always been interested in the natural environment throughout her childhood, she soon took an interest in Australian wildlife. This led to membership of Wildlife Queensland and the Queensland Wader Study Group among others. In 2004 she was honoured by having a nature reserve named after her by the then Caloundra City Council. In 2010 she was awarded an Order of Australia (OAM) for her services to the environment and community and in 2011 the University of the Sunshine Coast made her an Honorary Senior Fellow.

Abstract:

This talk gives an outline of 28 years of observing and recording the many different species of waterbirds, both migratory and resident, which utilise the sandbanks of the Pumicestone Passage, part of the Moreton Bay Ramsar listed Wetlands.

Over this time the speaker has seen a disturbing drop in the numbers of migratory shorebirds coming from the northern hemisphere to rest and recuperate in the Pumicestone Passage. This is due to many factors occurring on their long flight to Australia from Siberia and Japan, along the East Asian – Australasian Flyway, the main one being the increasing loss of ‘staging posts’ in Korea, and Japan, through reclamation of important wetlands for industrialisation, and the fact that some birds are shot for food.