10,000 Birds

JULY 1, 2018

This year is the eighteenth year since we discovered our first Pied Oystercatcher nest on Cable Beach in Broome and it didn’t take us long to realise that they are not at all successful at raising young due to egg and chick predation. He last raised a chick successfully in 2016 and has nested in this area since 2008.

Breeding 100

Breeding 2018 Eggs 2016 100

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 8, 2015

In the case of the two pairs of Pied Oystercatchers that did actually hatch their eggs and have chicks for a few days they did lay once more, but then they failed to even hatch the second clutch and then no longer attempted to breed. There was only one that survived to fledge in 2010, two in 2011 and two in 2012.

Breeding 134

Breeding Eggs 2011 2008 134

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 23, 2015

Since discovering our first Pied Oystercatcher nest on Cable Beach in July 2000 we have observed the breeding of these local shorebirds along the coast between Gantheaume Point in the south and Willie Creek in the north, which is a distance of 23 kilometres. The last time they successfully raised a chick was in 2012.

Feral Cats 158

Feral Cats Eggs Feral Cats 158

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 12, 2012

After 28 days of sharing the duty of sitting on three eggs we finally had the arrival of our first Pied Oystercatcher chicks for 2012 on Friday August 3rd. It is at the same time of year that the migratory shorebirds that spend part of each year in Broome are also breeding, but in the Arctic.

Eggs 176

Eggs Dogs Shelters Family 176

10,000 Birds

JULY 3, 2012

What I didn’t know was how this relationship actually works: the mechanics of Red Knot migration, the reduced digestive systems necessary for their long flighta, the need to fatten up quickly so they can fly to the Arctic and breed, how they compete with other shorebirds and gulls and, it turns out, humans, for horseshoe crab eggs.

Delaware 176

Delaware New Jersey Research Eggs 176

10,000 Birds

MARCH 14, 2011

For my new book, due out in 2012 from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, I’ve been researching sandhill crane hunting. Letters from Eden (Houghton Mifflin, 2006) will soon be followed by a memoir about the birds she has raised, healed, studied and followed throughout her life. 18 Responses to “Sandhill Crane Hunt in Kentucky?!

2011 239

2011 Kentucky Tennessee Hunting 239