Beach-nesting birds expert believes south-west coast rare bird species have tourism appeal

A BirdLife Australia officer believes the region could do more to promote its rare bird species after his experience working here for the past six months.

Beach-nesting birds project officer Daniel Lees said he had been blown away by the diversity of species and  number of the birds in the region.

“In my ten years of shore bird research and conservation, I’ve never seen such abundance and diversity of shorebirds in an area," he said.

Mr Lees said the rare birds species were probably not promoted enough and he had no idea a Ruddy Turnstone would be happy to be observed close-up. 

He works in Melbourne but has been spending a couple of days a fortnight in Warrnambool for the past six months. 

His work involves surveying birds and working with volunteers as part of BirdLife Australia’s beach-nesting birds project. 

He said he had been working with a great community of volunteers from the region who were interested in monitoring the birds. 

Mr Lees said the beaches and estuaries of Warrnambool and Port Fairy were internationally significant for birds such as the sanderling, ruddy turnstone, sharp-tailed sandpiper and double-banded plover.

He said he was surprised to see sanderlings in such strong numbers in the region.

Some other species he’s encountered are the latham's snipe, Australasian bittern, pied oystercatcher, sooty oystercatcher, red-capped plover, pacific golden plover, bar-tailed godwit and red-necked stint. 

He said he had noticed rare birds on many beaches in the area including at Killarney, Levys Beach and Griffiths Island. 

Mr Lees – an amateur photographer – said if he had known there were so many rare bird species in the region he would have visited more often in the past. 

He said he was surprised by how accessible the region’s rare bird species were.

“In other parts of Australia I’d have to go to really remote beaches,” he said.

Mr Lees said in his experience many of the birds on remote beaches were more timid. 

But he said that was not the case on the south-west coast.

“The birds are a lot more habituated to human presence and you can get a better look at them,” he said.

Mr Lees said the Western Treatment Plant in Werribee was among the best places to see bird species. 

It hosts more than 280 species and has a waterbird population which exceeds 30,000 birds.

Mr Lees said while Werribee attracted a variety of birds, Warrnambool had a different range of species because of its open ocean landscape. 

Mr Lees said he thought the region could do more to promote and protect its rare bird species. 

The rare species have been in the spotlight for years in relation to the debate about allowing horses to train on beaches. 

In December the Warrnambool City Council decided to allow commercial horse training to return to beaches.

Training will recommence at Levys for the next few months while a cultural heritage management plan is completed for a permanent location at Spookys beach, west of Levys.