About this Role
Every two years (in even years), BirdLife Australia's Beach-nesting Birds (BNB) team coordinates a population count with the primary aim of counting the number of Hooded Plovers in their Eastern mainland range. Hundreds of volunteers simultaneously survey thousands of kilometres of coast on a given weekend in November and this gives us the closest estimate of how many hoodies we have in the population.
Over time, the count has expanded to include surveys of other coastal regions for species of beach-nesting birds, such as a count of Red-capped Plovers on the Samphire coast.
This count is a great way to participate in helping threatened beach-nesting birds, particularly if you are unable to commit to anything more regular or involved. You may like to survey your local beach or put your hand up to travel further afield and count a more remote section of coast.
Key tasks:
Participating in a population count within a given time frame
Recording sightings on paper data sheets
Entering data onto the Birdata Portal (coming November 2020) and submitting data sheets to your regional coordinator
Complete a short, online induction
Desirable qualities:
Good fitness
A keen eye
Record keeping skills
VIDEO About this Role
The beach-nesting birds program coordinates population counts for target locations and species to better understand how populations are tracking and to ensure we can have early warning of population changes.
One such population count is the Beach Stone-curlew count, initially aiming for thorough coverage of Southern QLD and over time aiming to achieve a statewide count of their distribution and population size, to better guide conservation efforts.
Population counts are a great way to participate in helping threatened beach-nesting birds, particularly if you are unable to commit to anything more regular or involved. You may like to survey your local beach or put your hand up to travel further afield.
This role requires a low level of training.
Desirable qualities:
About this Role
The Beach-nesting Birds team is coordinating a Fairy Tern Population census along the entire eastern range of the species, from South Australia to southern New South Wales. This census is being conducted during the 2023/2024 breeding season and involves three surveys to capture different stages of the breeding cycle. First survey is in October 2023, second in December 2023 and third in February 2024. Each survey will be conducted within as narrow a time window as possible across all sites to obtain the most accurate population estimate of mature individuals and distribution.
This is the first time a census for the Fairy Tern is conducted simultaneously across multiple states and will provide a much needed snapshot of the size of the eastern subpopulation, which has undergone a steep decline in the last few decades and is estimated to be only ~1500 adults. The census is funded by the Australian Government.
This census is a great way to participate in helping a threatened beach-nesting bird, particularly if you are unable to commit to anything more regular or involved. You may like to survey your local area or put your hand up to travel further afield and count a more remote section of coast.
This role requires a low level of training.
Key tasks:
Participating in a population count within a given time frame
ID Fairy Terns in the field and recognise behaviours indicative of courtship or nesting
Recording sightings and threat data on paper data sheets or Birdata App
Entering data onto the Birdata Portal and submitting data sheets to your regional coordinator
Complete a short, online induction
Desirable qualities:
Good fitness
A keen eye
Record keeping skills
About this Role
This is one of the most important roles a volunteer can play in the conservation of beach-nesting birds. Information about the birds, their nesting successes and failures, and the threats at breeding sites is pivotal to guiding our conservation actions, and to evaluating our success at helping these birds.
A volunteer monitor typically commits to helping monitor a given pair of birds or a particular beach, or can be someone who travels to multiple sites and reports sightings of behaviours such as breeding, flocking or details of flagged/banded birds.
For breeding pairs, ideally we would like to build a complete picture of a given pair of birds or nesting site over the entire breeding season, which can mean a weekly visit over the peak breeding months. We understand, however, that not everyone has this much time to give. We aim to therefore have a number of volunteers who can share the monitoring of a given pair of birds and we encourage participants regardless of availability.
Victorian participants will require a free Victorian Working with Children Check with BirdLife Australia listed as a nominated organisation.
This role requires a high level of training.
Key tasks:
To monitor a particular pair of breeding birds or a particular beach, or a number of sites over time
To provide information about breeding activity and threats at the breeding site/s, or flocking or leg flag details
To record sightings and report these to BirdLife Australia's Beach-nesting Birds team using the online Mybeachbird portal or paper datasheets/notebooks
When opportunities arise and where there is interest, assist with additional research projects
Successfully complete online induction training (requirement for Hooded Plover participants)
Where possible, attend a training workshop run by BirdLife Australia and/or a one-on-one training session with experienced staff/volunteers
Desirable qualities:
A keen eye
Attention to detail
Patience
Record keeping skills
Works independently
Owns or has access to a pair of binoculars. Note: if you do not have access to binoculars, please contact BirdLife Australias Beach-nesting Birds team to discuss options of borrowing equipment.
VIDEO About this Role
This is one of the most important roles a volunteer can play in the conservation of beach-nesting birds. Information about the birds, their nesting successes and failures, and the threats at breeding sites is pivotal to guiding our conservation actions, and to evaluating our success at helping these birds.
A volunteer monitor typically commits to helping monitor a particular colony or breeding site, or can be someone who travels to multiple sites and reports sightings of Fairy Terns and their behaviours such as breeding or details about banded birds. BirdLife Australia currently has three established Fairy Tern projects and a Little Tern project:
For breeding colonies, ideally we would like to build a complete picture of the colony or breeding site over the entire breeding season, which can mean a weekly visit over the peak breeding months. We understand, however, that not everyone has this much time to give. We aim to therefore have a number of volunteers who can share the monitoring of a given colony and we encourage participants regardless of availability. Please note however, we currently only have a few small projects running in specific locations. Due to the limited number of monitored sites, and the limited accessibility of these sites (most are islands and require boat access), there might not be a lot of opportunities to participate in field work. We are however always after reports on sightings of Fairy Terns as this can help establish new sites to monitor.
Victorian participants will require a free Victorian Working with Children Check with BirdLife Australia listed as a nominated organisation.
This role requires a high level of training.
Key tasks:
To monitor a particular breeding colony or breeding site over time (Nov March)
To provide information about breeding activity and threats at the breeding site/s, and leg band details
To record sightings and report these to your BirdLife Australia Project Coordinator using the online Colonial Nesting Birds program in Birdata or paper datasheets
Successfully complete online induction training
Where possible, attend a training workshop run by BirdLife Australia and/or a one-on-one training session with experienced staff/volunteers
Desirable qualities:
A keen eye
Attention to detail
Patience
Record keeping skills
Works independently
Owns or has access to a pair of binoculars. Note: if you do not have access to binoculars, please contact your Project Coordinator to discuss options of borrowing equipment.
About this Role
This role involves responding to management alerts and setting up protective signage and fencing around vulnerable nest and chick sites. Depending on the support networks in place, this can either be done independently being guided by BirdLife Australia's Beach-nesting Birds team, or as part of an on-ground response team, working with land managers and/or other volunteers.
This role requires a high level of training and as a prerequisite you would also need to be registered as a Monitor/Citizen Scientist.
Key tasks:
Responding to email alerts from the Mybeachbird portal in a timely manner
Setting up (and later removing) protective signage and/or fencing around vulnerable nest sites
Assisting with breeding site protection when land managers are unavailable
Strictly following best practice protocols and seeking advice from BirdLife Australias Beach-nesting Birds team when set up needs adapting for site specific reasons
Working closely with BirdLife Australia and relevant land managers
Recording in the portal that management has been implemented
Updating nest/chick signs where applicable
Desirable qualities:
Good-very good physical fitness (heavy lifting involved)
Responsive to email alerts
Record keeping skills
Working as part of a team
VIDEO About this Role
This role involves spending time on the beach near an active breeding site, more commonly when chicks are present, to engage with beach users in an educational capacity. Beach users may be unaware of the plight of the birds, or the presence of newly-hatched chicks, and may not pay attention to signage. The presence of a guardian during this vulnerable time for the birds can be a great opportunity to get the beach-using community interested in the birds and sympathetic to their plight, resulting in improved compliance with on-site protection. While on the beach, guardians collect additional information and report this to BirdLife Australia's Beach-nesting Birds team. This helps us learn more about the beach use at given sites such as peak times of use and main types of activities.
This role requires a high level of training and as a prerequisite you would also need to be registered as a Monitor/Citizen Scientist. All Beach-nesting Bird Guardians must obtain a Working with Children Check (or equivalent for your State or Territory) with BirdLife Australia listed as a nominated organisation.
Key tasks:
Maintaining a presence on the beach at a safe distance from an active nest or chick protected area
Engaging with beach users in a friendly and professional manner
Providing education about the birds and the site protection in place
Offering additional information/incentives in the way of handouts (brochures, stickers, dog leads)
Where safe and appropriate, politely requesting that regulations or harm minimisation guidelines be followed
Offering alternatives/solutions e.g. nearest off-leash beach, nearest alternative access or route
Assisting with recruitment of new volunteers when an interested beach user is engaged
Collecting data: recording bird behaviour and threats present including numbers of different recreationists, numbers of dogs on and off leash, etc. using pre-defined data sheets
Ensuring arrangements are made to return the data sheets to the wardening coordinator (an update per day will be entered in to portal)
Special attention is made to OH&S, ensuring guardians do not spend long periods in the sun, have regular access to food and water, are well covered to protect from sun damage, and are mindful of their own safety in terms of the potential for some beach users to become aggressive
Participation in specialised communications workshops where available
Wearing BirdLife Australia volunteer name tag when participating
Desirable qualities:
A people person
Excellent communication skills
High levels of tolerance and patience
Controlled temperament
Conflict resolution skills
Ability to work independently or as part of a team
VIDEO About this Role
VIDEO
About this Role
You will be given restricted access to our set of best practice protocols and data sheets for using motion-sensing infra-red cameras (remote cameras for short) in the field on active Hooded Plover, Pied Oystercatcher or Red-capped Plover nests. You will need to ensure you are operating under a relevant state permit and ethics approval. We also need to be kept in the loop about any camera locations, and would like to be informed of locations, even if they are under a project approval separate to BirdLifes project, as then we are aware of the current density of cameras in the field. Most public Beach-nesting bird enquiries come through BirdLife Australias Beach-nesting Birds Team.
Remote cameras on beach-nesting birds nests are a useful tool to obtain information about predator suites, hatching success and nest fate. Collecting this information from direct observations in the field is very difficult and often involves assumptions from the observer, such as guessing the fate of eggs that have disappeared based on predator footprints around the nest. Remote-sensing cameras reduce the uncertainty of these assumptions as often we can obtain photographic evidence of roaming predators, hatching and nest predation. Cameras are ideal for those sites where nesting pairs have had multiple years of nest failures, and also for remote locations, where frequent monitoring of the pair is difficult.
About this Role
Volunteers can assist at events that our staff or regional groups are running, or even volunteers may like to organise and run events independently, with some support/resources from BirdLife Australia. Events include Dogs Breakfasts, stalls at festivals or markets, craft activities etc.
About this Role
Volunteers can assist staff in excursions or visits to schools, or can independently line up presentations or activities with their local schools, through discussions with BirdLife Australia. All participants must obtain a Working with Children Check (or equivalent for your State or Territory) with BirdLife Australia listed as a nominated organisation.
About this Role
Volunteers can assist with interviewing or handing out surveys to beach users or particular groups so that we can learn more about the values, attitudes and behaviours of these groups. You can also approach us with an idea.
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