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Bird Conservation
The vital importance of preserving the habitats in which the various shorebirds and waterbirds feed, rest and breed cannot be underestimated.
Click on the symbol to download the Belongil Estuary Seabird and Shorebird Management Plan
Areas in and around Byron Bay and all along the NSW far north coast, are under enormous and sustained pressure from growing populations and development. Everyone seems to want to live in and around water and that is also the chosen habitat for these birds.
At the Belongil Estuary, NSW Ministerial approval has been granted for the construction of a large eco-sensitive holiday resort to be constructed adjacent to the Estuary. This in itself will bring large numbers of visitors in direct contact with the shorebirds and waterbirds of the area. In addition, the estuary is located next to a large residential estate in Byron. Many of the residents wishing to access the beach do so via the estuary and in the past this has brought dogs in direct contact with the breeding birds.
Byron Bird Buddies has in consultation with Marine Parks Authority, NSW Parks and Wildlife and Byron Shire Council, prepared a Seabirds and Shorebird Management Plan. The aim of the plan is to raise the critical issue of managing the estuary for the long-term survival of the birds and implementing education and conservation measures which will enable the community and visitors to access the non-critical parts of the beach without presenting a threat to the shorebirds.
Each breeding season (from July to March each year), Byron Bird Buddies undertakes various conservation activities in and around the Belongil Estuary.
A fence has been place around the known breeding areas of the shorebirds. This fence is moved according to the activites of the birds during the breeding and non-breeding periods.
In addition signs have been placed in strategic locations to direct people to non-shorebird areas of the estuary. During the 2007 breeding season, Byron Bird Buddies also expanded it's conservation activities by placing signs on the breeding requirements of Sooty Oyster-catchers in Lennox Heads and on the feeding activities of Little Terns and Crested Terns from Brunswick Heads to North Ocean Shores. A community education program accompanied the launch of the breeding season.
Byron Bird Buddy members also travel to other bird breeding locations and work with other bird conservation groups in order to learn from each other and share resources.