Stories and diversity of Gippsland Lakes birds were celebrated during National Bird Week, marked from October 17 to 23.
Birdlife Australia’s East Gippsland conservation coordinator Deb Sullivan conducts regular program surveys in the Gippsland Lakes, which includes regular banding and tracking activities of Australian pelicans; she has banded more than 100 Gippsland Lakes pelicans.
Placing leg bands on the pelicans enables researchers and citizen scientists to record their movements and behaviour, with red and white coloured leg bands being unique to the Gippsland Lakes.
Earlier this year Birdlife Australia banded several young birds which have since made their way into New South Wales.
“One young bird was sighted in Narrabri where it was photographed and observed for a week at Narrabri Lake – 520 kilometres northwest of Sydney. This is the first of our pelicans banded in the Gippsland Lakes recorded to travel to an inland area,” Ms Sullivan said.
“Others have been seen along the eastern coastal strip at places like Stockton Point, Eden, Tuncurry and South Moruya in NSW.”
Ms Sullivan said sightings reported by citizen scientists are an important contribution to Birdlife Australia’s research.
“It helps us build a better picture of the movement dynamic of the pelicans – not just in the Gippsland Lakes but at a broader landscape level,” she said.
“All of the NSW sightings were made by dedicated citizen scientists so, if you have relatives living interstate, please let them know to look out for banded pelicans as they may be from the lakes and information about their travels is really important; without these reports, we wouldn’t know where they were.”
With extensive rainfall in the past 12 months, Ms Sullivan said coastal and inland pelican colonies have benefitted.
“There is so much water around everywhere, they have more opportunities to disperse across the landscape rather than the drought years; you just never know where our birds are going to turn up,” she said.
National Bird Week 2022 is an annual celebration hosted by BirdLife Australia and dates back more than 120 years. The event aims to inspire Australians to take action and get involved in bird conservation efforts.
Birdlife Australia invites you to take some time to count the pelicans in your Gippsland Lakes backyard and play a part in conserving this iconic species.
