7th June Swift Day

The Swift is a medium-sized aerial bird, which is a superb flyer. Sleeping, eating, bathing and even mating on the wing (while flying), Swifts rarely touch the ground. They are also the fastest birds in level flight, with an impressive top speed of 69mph. Swifts are plain sooty brown, with a white throat, but in flight against the sky they appear black. They have curved wings and a forked tail. Swifts are summer visitors, breeding across the UK, but are most numerous in the south and east. Spending their winters in Africa, Swifts migrate more than 6,000 miles twice a year, stopping off to refuel in places like Portugal and France along the way.

Swifts have red conservation status in the UK. I didn't think that we had swifts in Australia, but we do. Australia is home to three regular swift species:

• Fork-tailed Swift:  A summer migrant that breeds in eastern Asia and spends the warmer months (October to April) scattered across Australia. 

• White-throated Needletail :  This is another non-breeding summer migrant from Asia that favours eastern Australia. 

• Australian Swiftlet: Unlike the migratory swifts, this is a resident species found year-round in the tropical lowlands and gorges of northeast Queensland

The two picture books about swifts are both beautifully illustrated and factual, but they are not Australian or set in Australia.

Super Swifts  by Justin Anderson & Clover Robin

Follow the swifts on their incredible journey north, from the jungles of Africa to their nesting site in Europe. A little bird, small enough to sit in the palm of your hand. Swifts may be small and brown, but they are the champions of the bird world – flying faster, higher and for longer than any other bird! This is one of the wonderful series of Nature Storybooks from Walker Publishers.

Swift: An Epic Story of a Small Bird's Courage by Lorna Hill 

Swift feels safe tucked up in his nest. But when all the other birds fly to a new home on the other side of the world, Swift doesn't want to be left behind. It's a treacherous journey across land and sea and there's a storm coming ... Will Swift find the courage to spread his wings?

.

 

6th September World Shorebirds Day

Shorebirds are a diverse group of birds that include about 217 recognized species worldwide! Many are long-distance migrants, traveling millions of kilometres each year. They are found around sandy beaches, rocky coastlines, freshwater wetlands, grasslands, and even flooded agricultural lands, feeding on mollusks, marine worms, and insects. The Shorebird Conservation Society aims to highlight the difficulties shorebird populations face to the public, take action to identify and protect natural habitats and  partner with local NGOs for conservation.

Shorebirds are also called “waders” and they make up about 10% of Australia's bird species. They are a group of birds that wade in shallow water and look for food on coastal mudflats, estuaries and along the edges of inland wetlands.

Australia has over 50 species of shorebirds. There are resident species, which means they stay here all year and breed on many of Australia's beaches. There are also 37 migratory species regularly seen in Australia. See Wingthreads website for more amazing statistics.

Yesterday I had a long walk along the shore just south of Sydney and the beach and the nearby wetlands had a lot of birds to wonder about, but shorebirds are the world's most endangered group of bird species.

Shorebirds come with great names...sandpiper; oystercatcher; curlew; plover; stint; spoonbill; sanderling; godwit; avocet; snipe; shearwater; and dotterel. See the Shorebird Identification charts.

Time for a book display and some reading!

• The Best Beak of Boonaroo Bay  by Narelle Oliver

Pelican announces that he will adjudicate contest between the shorebirds. Each water bird – spoonbill, darter, oyster catcher and more compete. As each one is awarded a gold medal, the ‘wise old pelican’ turns its yellow eye upwards and towards the reader to share the joke - which is, of course, that fit-for-purpose is always best.

• Beach Birds  by Bridget Farmer

This book invites children to guess 12 Australian coastal birds through playful rhymes and hidden flaps. Each page features a riddle and an illustration; lift the flap to reveal the bird name hiding beneath.

• A Shorebird Flying Adventure  by Jackie Kevin and Milly Formby

This book takes you on a trip to the Arctic tundra and back. On the way you’ll meet the birds who travel phenomenal distances every year and explore their precious wetland habitats and breeding grounds. Learn fascinating facts about their diet and find out Milly’s top tips to tell one species from another. 

• Windcatcher  by Diane Jackson Hill and Craig Smith

A short-tailed shearwater flies from the edge of the Southern Ocean to the rim of the Arctic Circle – and back – every year. This remarkable 30,000 kilometre journey is driven by seabird law.

• Circle  by Jeannie Baker 

This is the story of the little-known Bar-tailed Godwit who, following invisible pathways that have been used for thousands of years, undertakes the longest unbroken migration of any bird, a total of 11,000 kilometres, flying from their breeding grounds in Alaska across the Pacific Ocean to Australia or New Zealand. 

• The Godwits  by Bruce Pickworth and Lorraine Robertson

A thought-provoking visualisation of the plight of the migratory Bar-tailed Godwits due to habitat depletion. Harnessing dual perspectives through the voice of young Goa Wei living on the coast of China’s Yellow Sea and Gowie, a young godwit who leads the flock from their summer roost in Shoalhaven Heads, in New South Wales. 

13th May World Migratory Bird Day

This year the theme for World Migratory Bird Day is “Birds Connect Our World” and it was chosen to highlight the importance of conserving and restoring the ecological connectivity and integrity of ecosystems that support the natural movements of migratory birds and that are essential for their survival and well-being. What a great theme!

I have written about this day before, but wanted to write about it again because lately I have been reminded of so many beautiful books that do this topic so well.

Mike Unwin and Jenni Desmond's wonderful book Migration gives many examples of birds that do these great migrations, but it is the individual picture story books that heighten our awe and empathy for both the birds and the sheer vastness of the journeys.

Jeannie Baker's Circle  tells the migration story for the Bar-tailed Godwit which makes the longest unbroken migration of any bird, a total of 11000 kilometres, all the way from Alaska to New Zealand. The illustrations allow the reader to follow the journey very closely and to marvel at the ingenuity and tenacity of such a small bird. New Zealand authors have also written about this bird and a new book  Little Godwit Finds His Wings was published this year.

Two books that look at migrating cranes are Grandfather's Dream by Holly Keller and Lotus and Feather by Ji-Li Jiang. Holly Keller's book, set in Vietnam tells the story of Nam and her grandfather who is constantly harking back to the days when the cranes came to the delta as part of their migratory journey.  Jiang's story, set in China tells of a crane that fails to finish a migration because of a hunter's bullet. The discussions elicited by classroom readings of these two books. Lotus and Feather could be read along side Rechenka's Eggs by Patricia Polacca as there are similarities in that Rechenka is an injured goose who also needs to be nursed back to health.

Another two books for comparison are about hummingbirds. Look for Tiny Bird by Robert Burleigh and Wendell Minor and Hummingbird by Nicola Davies and Jane Ray. Both of these chart the long journey from Mexico to Canada that this tiny bird that is smaller than you thumb makes each Spring.    

In Is this Panama? by Jan Thornhill and  Soyeon Kim,  a young Wilson's warbler wakes up one day knowing this is the day to start a long journey from the Arctic Circle to Panama and because this bird is named, Sammy you cannot help but get involved in his plight. He is no longer, just any bird!

I noticed there is a new book coming called The Sea Swallow and the Humpback Whale by Catherine Barr and Gerry Turley which tracks two migratory journeys across sea and sky. I look forward to seeing this.

While each of these books tells an amazing story of persistence, resilience and sheer determination it is the illustrations in each that make them very special. The illustrations do much more than give a map or track a journey. They personalise, imbue wonder and allow the reader to marvel.