Local bird enthusiasts are celebrating after a critically endangered Eastern Curlew successfully made its maiden flight to China, after it flew some 8,000 kilometres from the mudflats of Queensland's Moreton Bay.
- Researchers have been tracking the movements of three-year-old Eastern Curlew named AAJ
- The Eastern Curlew population has declined by more than 80 per cent in the last 30 years
- There is pressure to develop parts of the Moreton Bay wetlands, home to 1,400 critically endangered Eastern Curlews
Researchers have been tracking the juvenile wading bird for the last two-and-a-half years, as it foraged for crabs and other crustaceans around the mudflats of Moreton Bay.
The bird was one of three that were caught and fitted with tiny trackers so their movements could be monitored.
When the more mature Eastern Curlews migrated north in mid-March, three-year-old AAJ, as she's known to researchers, remained behind.
Robert Bush from the Queensland Wader Study Group said he thought the bird might wait until next year to migrate.
But six weeks later, under the cover of darkness, AAJ began her epic non-stop journey.
She headed up the Queensland coast, over the New Guinea Central Highlands and across the western Pacific Ocean.
Ten days after taking off, AAJ landed on mudflats adjacent to Yinyangzhen, north-east of Shanghai, China.
She'll spend the northern summer feeding on crustaceans along the Yellow Sea Coastline.
"It's incredibly exciting … I get quite emotional about it … to have the privilege to catch these birds and look after their health," Dr Bush said.
Curlew population down by 80 per cent
The waders usually arrive at breeding grounds in Eastern Russia by May, making AAJ's late departure highly unusual.
"It's a new discovery about young Eastern Curlews, that perhaps they do leave later than others, but we'll need to study more birds to find that out," Dr Bush said.
The Eastern Curlew population has declined by more than 80 per cent in the past 30 years — mostly due to the destruction of mudflats along the East Asian Australiasian Flyway, which is a kind of migration superhighway for birds.
Around 1,400 Eastern Curlews roost around Moreton Bay where the last large flock remain in Australia.
Moreton Bay is listed under the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands — an international treaty to protect important habitats.
But there's pressure to upgrade infrastructure at the bay's southern end, which is close to where AAJ was first found.
Toondah Harbour serves as the gateway to North Stradbroke Island and in 2013 was declared a Priority Development Area under then premier Campbell Newman.
It's now where the Walker Group is seeking approval for a controversial $1.3 billion development.
The proposal would see part of the wetlands reclaimed to make way for 3,600 residential dwellings, a new port facility, ferry terminals and a 200-berth marina.
Around 43 hectares of the development will encroach on the Ramsar wetlands.
'It's an example of broken nature laws'
But Birdlife Australia's Judith Hoyle said that wasn't the only impact the proposed development would have.
"It sends a very bad message to other signatories of the Ramsar convention."
After two proposals were knocked back by the Federal Government, a revised plan by Walker Group was given the green light in 2018 to proceed to the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) phase.
The company said the revised plan will be completed and open for public review by the end of the year.
Walker Group declined a request for an interview, but in a statement said it was "committed to a science-based EIS".
It said the proposal represents "less than a third of one per cent of the total area of the Moreton Bay Ramsar site where the birds forage".
The Federal Government said a decision on whether to approve the proposal will be made "after careful consideration of the Environment Department's assessment, as well as public comments received on the draft EIS".
That's cold comfort for bird enthusiasts.
"So to me, it's an example of broken nature laws."
But for now, AAJ is foraging on the mudflats north of Shanghai, fattening up ahead of her return journey in a few months time.