Project underway to save critically endangered migratory birds in Port Macquarie, Australia

 Photo: A Pied oystercatcher with chicks on Pelican Island near Lake Macquarie. (Supplied: Silva Vaughan-Jones, Hastings Birdwatchers)

By Emma Siossian:  A couple from the New South Wales mid north coast has been awarded a Federal Government grant to rehabilitate an island crucial to critically endangered migratory birds.

   Sue Proust and Peter West, from the Camden Haven area, have received $23,000 to fund work to restore and regenerate Port Macquarie's Pelican Island.
   Located in the Hastings River, Pelican Island is part of the National Parks and Wildlife Service Woregore Nature Reserve.
   It provides habitat for rare and endangered northern hemisphere birds to feed and rest during migration.
However, in recent years, the island has been overtaken by weeds.
   Ms Proust said that had impacted on the roosting grounds and food available for migratory bids, including the Curlew sandpiper and Eastern curlew, and bird numbers were dropping...Continue reading...