February 27, 2020
One of Adelaide’s most well-known frequent flyers, Go-Go godwit, has been spotted on the mudflats north of Adelaide.
Go-Go the bar-tailed godwit was snapped by local bird photographer Paul Taylor in February in a flock at Bald Hill near Port Wakefield. He was last spotted at Thompson Beach in March 2019. He was first captured at Thompsons Beach in 2012.
Read the full article in the Environment SA News
January 12, 2020
Dates for SA catching have been set. Travel on Wednesday 8th April, and go home 15th April. Good Friday is 10th April. Tides are suitable to extend by 2 days if necessary. As usual, we will be staying at Paul Feast’s shack at Green Point for the first few days, then migrating to the Stewart’s residence at Rendelsham. The target for catching is to deploy and retrieve geolocators on Ruddy Turnstone.
To participate in bird catching and handling you must now have an ABBBS banding license.
Please contact Maureen ASAP if you are interested in participating.
December 15, 2019
On the 15th December we gathered under the vine covered verandah at the Stewart’s home in Rendelsham to farewell Clive. When I arrived I found Iain and Nick chucking a bag of fresh oysters from Smokey Bay. Clive would have been in his element! On the table was ‘Waders of Australia’ and a framed photo of Clive wearing a brightly coloured apron, wizz in hand, as he whisked up a bowl of crayfish mustard. There was also the family guest book with signatures of the team for visits going back to the first one in 1993. Present in the small group were five people who had been at the very first catch of Sanderling in Canunda in 1993 – Sandy and Iain Stewart, Noel and Sheila Boyle and Sarah Campbell (nee Sarrailhe).
Iain spoke on the history of how the initial visit came to be. Then the call : 3…2…1……Fire! A VERY load bang along with a cloud of grey smoke!
December 05, 2019
Humphrey Sitters is helping organise a tribute to Clive, to be published in the December issue of the Wader Study Group Bulletin. The IWSG has also opened a “book of remembrance”, (note that it has four pages, not just the one that opens first). Anyone who wishes to do so is invited to contribute their own remembrances.
Clive’s memorial service will be held on Wednesday 11th December in Sandringham, Melbourne. Please contact the VWSG Chair if you wish to attend.
Many amazing and heart felt tributes have been contributed via Twitter. These have been compiled into an image file (below). You can view the original thread or interact via Twitter
November 11, 2019
We are immensely saddened by the passing of Dr Clive Minton, who was killed in a car crash on 06/11/2019 at Dunkeld in Victoria, Australia.
Clive trained as a metallurgist but is best known for his work with waders. Clive Minton has been described as a father figure in global wader studies. His early wader studies were in England with the Wash Wader Ringing Group (founded in 1959). Early catches of waders used rocket nets, but soon the group developed the cannon net – their first catch being in 1967. Clive moved to Australia in 1978 where he introduced cannon netting and played key roles in the Victorian Wader Study Group and the Australasian Wader Studies Groups (formed 1981), as well as the Royal Australasian Ornithologists’ Union.
Clive has been one of the great movers and shakers of shorebird research and colour flagging in the East Asian – Australasian Flyway and in other flyways over the last many decades. Clive was the key initiator of the North-west Australia Shorebird Expeditions. This field work dramatically increased knowledge of the importance of Roebuck Bay and Eighty Mile Beach as key non-breeding habitat of many species of migratory shorebirds. This work has continued annually or biannually for over 35 years and involved many people for Asia and Europe. It provided inspiration to young shorebird conservationists in Australasia and from across the EAAF. It has led to the development of the largest morphometric and movement data set for migratory shorebirds in the Flyway. This work also led to the establishment of Broome Bird Observatory and this continues to be a legacy to the passion Clive had for migratory shorebirds.
Clive’s work was recognised by a number of awards, including the BirdLife Australia’s John Hobbs Medal for outstanding contributions to ornithology as an amateur, and the Linnaean Society of New York’s Eiesenmann Medal for ornithological excellence and encouragement of amateur efforts in ornithology. He was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia for ‘services to ornithology, particularly the study of migratory wading birds in Australia.
A memorial service to commemorate Clive’s life and achievements will take place sometime later in the year. More information will be circulated once arrangements have been made.
September 25, 2019
Victoria’s oldest leg flagged Australian Pied Oystercatcher was found dead on 25/9/19 a high tide beach wash not far from the Inverloch jetty by a local resident exercising their dog. A necropsy was performed and it appeared the bird had died of natural causes. The bird was first captured and banded on 15th May 1988 at Pt Smythe Inverloch, and was fitted with “Green over Green” leg colour bands by the Victorian Wader Study Group. It was classified a 2+ year old bird at the time and must have enjoyed the Inlet habitat as it was recaptured by the again on 11th August 2013 again at Point Smythe. Now a 25+ year old bird it was reflagged “Blue A4” and became a local celebrity with its story featuring in the Sth Gippsland Sentinel Times newspaper. its banding to recovery age was 31yrs 4mth 10days. Adding its age at first capture, it was approximately 33yrs old when it was recovered.
August 30, 2019
The VWSG was nominated for the Victorian Landcare Virgin Coastcare Award by Bethany Hunting from DEWLP (the new CoastCare officer for Gippsland).
Rob and Prue were very excited to receive the “Virgin Coastcare Award” on behalf of the VWSG at Government House in Melbourne on August 30. They received the award at a ceremony at government house in the presence of the governor and Lily D’Ambrosio. This is a great tribute to the hard work of members of the VWSG and the many hours spent catching birds and all the preparations that go into making our catches. It is good to know that our work is demonstrated to have benefits to the wider environmental community.
The Virgin Coastcare Award acknowledges a community group or network that has contributed to the significant improvement of a coastal or marine environment. This may include estuaries, coastal and marine wetlands, river systems and salt marsh ecosystems. The Coastcare activities may include sand dunes restoration, the protection of threatened species, removing invasive species that are imposing on native flora, plastics and waste removal, education and volunteer engagement, and mitigating urban impact on marine environments like storm water pollution or the control of access to sensitive and vulnerable areas. State winners go forward to the National Landcare Awards later in the year.
August 24, 2019
The Clive Minton medallion is a newly established award for a VWSG member in recognition of their outstanding contribution to the group inline with the group’s objectives. The medallion has been awarded this year to Dr Rosalind Jessop.
Roz has been an active member of the VWSG for almost as long as it has been in existence. Whilst field activities have been reduced in recent years, in the early days of the group she was always in the field. Roz became a qualified cannon-netter very early in the piece and was attending catches regularly for decades. Roz has been leading catches in her own right, leading processing teams and training many people in the appropriate way to handle and measure birds and how to age birds through assessing moult.
Her knowledge on catching and processing waders is enormous and her insights and experience are often called upon when in the field and to call on when planning catches. She is happy to share her knowledge and her dry wit make her a valuable member of any team. Flagging parties were mostly held at her house in the early days with people camped out all over her house for the weekend to get the thousands of flags done that were needed.
Roz has carried an enormous backroom workload over several decades. These roles have included:
Roz has made these significant contributions to the VWSG continuously over the period of her involvement, all the while working full time. Roz has been a co-author of a myriad of papers and has made many presentations on waders, particularly of oystercatchers, over the years to a range of groups and audiences.
Roz makes a very worthy winner of the Clive Minton Medallion as there is no doubt that she has made an outstanding contribution to the group.
July 05, 2019
At the World Heritage Committee meeting in Baku, Azerbaijan on July 5, key sites along the Chinese coastline of the Yellow Sea were granted World Heritage status. This decision has significant and positive implications for the conservation of 17 globally threatened migratory shorebird species that rely on these habitats. It follows tireless advocacy from BirdLife Australia and reflects China’s role as a leader in global conservation.
Read more about this Phase I nomination at UNESCO World Heritage Centre website, and also on the BirdLife International website.
A huge congratulations and thanks to the 62 NGO representatives and experts globally who signed an NGO intervention statement in support of the nomination.
June 26, 2019
New open access research published by Michelle Willie Virome heterogeneity and connectivity in waterfowl and shorebird communities draws on samples taken during VWSG catches and tells an important story about virus evolution and maintenance in complex multi-host communities. Five duck and four wader species were the focus of Michelle’s data collection.
The article can be freely downloaded from the ISME Journal website.