Shorebirds are birds of wetlands, both coastal and inland, and can often be seen at the following places:

• ocean beaches, spits and isthmuses
• sheltered bays
• lagoons
• lakes
• dams

At tidal wetlands they feed during low tide on invertebrates in the mud and sand flats - eg. cockles, worms - and at high tide they roost (rest) above the high water mark.

Shorebirds in Tasmania

There are two types of shorebirds in Tasmania:

Resident ­ 5 species that live and breed in Tasmania

• Hooded Plover
• Red-capped Plover
• Pied Oystercatcher
• Sooty Oystercatcher
• Masked Lapwing

Migratory ­ 17 species that breed in Siberia, Northern China and Alaska during the northern summer (our winter) and visit Tasmania between September and April each year.

• Eastern Curlew
• Whimbrel
• Great Knot
• Red Knot
Sharp-tailed Sandpiper
• Curlew Sandpiper
• Terek Sandpiper
• Common Greenshank
• Ruddy Turnstone
• Sanderling
• Pacific Golden Plover
• Grey-tailed Tattler
• Bar-tailed Godwit
• Red-necked Stint
• Double-banded Plover
• Grey Plover
• Lesser Sand Plover

Under Threat

Twenty per cent of migratory shorebirds have been officially classified as globally threatened, with substantial population decline. These birds share the flyway - their migration route - with nearly half of the world’s human population, and are particularly under threat from rapid economic development and population growth in east and south-east Asia. In Australia, threats to both migratory and resident shorebirds include:

• loss of coastal and inland wetlands (e.g. through agriculture and urban development)
• invasive weeds (e.g. sea spurge, spartina, marram grass)
• introduced predators (e.g. cats, dogs, foxes)
• human-related disturbance (people, pets and vehicles on beaches)
• climate change.

Beach nesting birds, such as Pied Oystercatchers, Hooded Plovers and Red-capped Plovers, which breed during the spring and summer months, are especially vulnerable to human disturbance as people, vehicles and dogs frighten the birds, leaving exposed eggs and chicks susceptible to predators and trampling.