Biological, Earth & Environmental Sciences Centre for Ecosystem Science

Day 1, Sydney to Maroochydore

The 44th year of waterbird aerial surveys kicks off today. This first day sees us head north and count the eastern sections of our ten 30km wide survey bands.

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Coast line looking toward the ocean with green bushland in foreground, sand and ocean in backgroun
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Photo: Moreton Island Shoreline
Preparing the plane and equipment

Survey details

  • Calendar plane icon
    Date

    Tuesday 29 September 2026

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    Author

    John Porter

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    Project

    Eastern Australian Waterbird Survey

  • Style three pin binoculars icon
    Observers

    John Porter (NSW DCCEEW), Heath Dunstan

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    Pilot

    Thomas Clark
Small plane with a person loading equipment into the back

The first day of the 2026 Aerial Waterbird Surveys has arrived! After loading the aircraft, doing preflight checks and setting up our equipment, we head north to the NSW Central Coast.

Unfortunately, airspace restrictions at Williamtown were active, so we were unable to conduct our low-level surveys over Myall Lakes; we will have to cover these wetlands on our return journey.  
Aerial image of of town and estuary and ocean in background

Coast estuary near Kingscliff

After refuelling at Port Macquarie, we continued north, tracking along the coastline. Our next counts are over some rivers and creeks between Urunga and Nambucca Heads, where we found low numbers of waterbirds – a few Cormorants, Terns and Egrets.
Stradbroke Island coastline
Our next destination was some small coastal streams and estuaries between Byron Bay and Brunswick Heads; there is little shallow habitat to attract waterbirds, and only a few Terns, Gulls and Cormorants are there to be counted.
The last part of our day is tracking along the beaches of the Gold Coast with its high-rise towers perched precariously on a narrow strip of sand. From here, it’s quite a contrast to fly over the beautiful mudflats and mangroves of Moreton Bay and over Stradbroke and Morton Islands before finally heading into Maroochydore as the shadows lengthen.