Another bivalve victim

[Frank O'Connor <>]

Steven Creber wrote:

> It's always interesting to me that the pro-banding
> lobby argue that there is insufficient proof provided
> by opponents to justify claims that banding does more
> harm than good. I'd like to see the shoe on the other
> foot. How long have we been banding waders in Australia
> - fifty years maybe? How long does it take to establish
> the life expectancy of a Red-necked Stint or its
> migration patterns? If banding hasn't delivered the
> goods by now, so to speak, isn't it time to move on to
> a better practice or technology? What evidence is there
> that banding is actually doing anything to halt the
> wholesale destruction of wader habitat in Asia for
> example? There is unarguably an attrition rate with
> banding - maybe now is the time for banders to actually
> justify their existence as wader numbers continue to
> dwindle alarmingly.

If Steven did a little research, he could easily find out that the
banders are doing a lot to publicise the results and implications of
their work.  In Australia the AWSG (Australasian Wader Study Group)
publishes the journals Tattler and Stilt.  They contribute articles
to a number of publications worldwide include the Wader Study
Bulletin.  They regularly attend conferences in Australia and
overseas and present their results.

They spend a lot of time and effort networking with projects in the USA
(Delaware Bay), UK (The Wash), Russia, China, Korea, Taiwan, Japan, Hong
Kong, Thailand, Indonesia, etc.  Volunteers from these countries are
a regular part of the North West Australia expeditions.  This
cooperation between countries is invaluable.

They publish their findings in reports, and make submissions to
governments.  Their work has led to funding for projects such as the
Shorebirds 2020 project in Australia, and the Global Flyway
Network.

We don't know the movement of the shorebirds well enough. 
Especially the breeding grounds for some species.  Recent work has
involved the use of geolocators on Ruddy Turnstone, Sanderling and
Greater Sand Plovers.

Very recent work has been the use of geolocators on Red Knot and Great
Knot to document their use of the Yellow Sea.  This is to be able to
provide a direct response to the reclaiming of many of the mud
flats.

Previous work has involved the use of satellite transmitters to find out
more about the migration of Eastern Curlew and Bar-tailed
Godwit.

Ongoing work involves monitoring the breeding success, and population
dynamics.  It is too late when you notice something has
happened.  You must have ongoing monitoring to be able to
respond.

Work has involved the monitoring of avian born diseases.  This was
very important at the time of bird flu to prove that the migratory
shorebirds were not bringing this disease into Australia.  There was
a totally misleading report about shorebirds being a threat several years
back on the ABC Radio morning news, which was very quickly refuted by Dr
Clive Minton on the AM program shortly after.  The person making the
claim turned out to be someone working for the company that makes
Tamiflu.  This disease monitoring is ongoing.

Work has involved the analysis of feathers to study the isotopes and
whether this can be used to determine where the birds have stopped over
during migration.

You may not like banding, but the majority of the actual work on
shorebirds, and the majority of the support for them is done by the
people who have developed their knowledge through banding.  This
work is highly respected.  Dr Clive Minton is a Fellow of BirdLife
Australia (and a Life Member?).  He has been awarded their medal for
outstanding research (Hobbs Medal?).  He has been recognised by the
Federal Goverment with the award of an AM (or possibly higher?).

Noone takes the survival of shorebirds more to heart than the people
involved in the expeditions.  They have put their time, effort and
money into it.  They don't just talk about it ...

_________________________________________________________________
Frank O'Connor           Birding WA http://birdingwa.iinet.net.au
Phone : (08) 9386 5694              Email :

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