An international environmental art project is helping to raise awareness for our most endangered group of birds, migratory seabirds, and their habitat degradation.
The Overwintering Project is designed to fund migratory birds' conservation and research projects, in Australia and New Zealand, by asking print artists to submit a print of shorebirds in their area.
"Artists are invited to find out where their local migratory shorebirds' habitat is," said project co-ordinator and facilitator, Kate Gorringe-Smith.
"Then to go out into that habitat and hopefully see the birds then they make a print identifying the features of that habitat."
The works are being exhibited across Australia with sold prints raising money for Birdlife Australia to fund migratory bird conservation and research.
'These birds flap all the way'
There are 36 species of migratory shorebirds in Australia and New Zealand.
Traditionally the birds visit our shores between October and May when they take the East Asian-Australasian Flyway from their breeding grounds in the Arctic tundra of Russia and Alaska.
"After breeding they come back again," Ms Gorringe-Smith said.
She says the bar-tailed godwit travels from Alaska to New Zealand without pause.
"This bird holds the record for making the longest non-stop migratory flight of any bird in the world," she said.
Satellite navigation was used to track the migratory patterns of a single bar-tailed bird.
"[It] was satellite-tracked from her breeding ground in Alaska to New Zealand non-stop — it took eight-and-a-half days," Ms Gorringe-Smith said.
"These birds flap all the way — they don't soar like eagles. And they sleep on the way."
Biscuit-sized bird's impressive feat
Ms Gorringe-Smith says shorebirds migrate across the globe every year, flying tens of thousands of kilometres in the process.
"Because the migration is annual, many of these birds will fly more miles than from the Earth to the moon," she said.
"The smallest bird to make this trip — which is a 25,000-kilometre round trip — is the red-necked stint, which only weighs as much as a Tim Tam."
Ms Gorringe-Smith says shorebirds rely on the habitats along their annual flight path but particularly on the habitats in Australia and New Zealand where they spend most of the year.
"These birds are small and they are very well camouflaged," she said.
"Not many people know about them and their habitat is under a lot of pressure because it's coastal.
"If we don't look after their habitat here in Australia the chain will break, and we'll lose these amazing birds forever."
Prints fly across the country
Ms Gorringe-Smith says the project focuses on submissions specifically from printmaking artists in order to create a travelling exhibition of shorebird prints.
"I chose printmaking as the overall medium for the project because I am a printmaker," she said.
"The printmaking community in Australia and NZ, some might add worldwide, are a close-knit dedicated community.
"To date we have over 253 beautiful prints, in all sorts of different media, donated to the project."
The project is currently in focus at the Jervis Bay Maritime Museum and Gallery on the New South Wales South Coast.
The exhibition opened days before the museum shut its doors to comply with the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions.
It remains on site until mid May, after which the bird prints fly north to be exhibited in Queensland.
Artists are welcome to make a contribution to the Overwintering Project at any time.
