"Bird nerd" Amellia Formby is taking flight to save endangered migratory shorebirds

If you've ever encountered a nesting pair in a field fiercely protecting their chicks with that ear-splitting cry, you might not be a fan. Or, you might admire their pluck. This ground-dwelling bird repels intruders by loudly and aggressively taking flight, often followed by a magpie-style "swoop".

Plovers are part of the shorebird family, distinguishable by their long legs and their preferred intertidal or wetland habitats. There are two different groups of shorebirds in Australia - resident and migratory. Resident shorebirds are here all year round and breed here as well, like our friend the plover.

Migratory shorebirds, on the other hand, fly to and breed in the Arctic. And, like their plover cousins, there's more to them than meets the eye. When they take flight, migratory shorebirds perform the longest feats of migration known to the natural world.

Amellia Formby is a zoologist, an illustrator, a pilot, and arguably Australia's biggest admirer of migratory shorebirds. In May she will be flying a microlight around the coast of Australia to raise awareness of migratory shorebirds and the need to protect their habitats.

The distance is similar to what shorebirds typically fly when they migrate from Australia to the Arctic and back - about 25,000 kilometres.

Formby expects the trip - Wing Threads: Flight Around Oz - will take her about six months. It is her dream to one day follow the shorebirds on migration all the way from Australia to the Arctic.

Microlights are small and light and fly at a similar speed to what shorebirds do on migration. Like the shorebirds, Formby will be exposed to the elements and will stop to rest and refuel. Unlike the shorebirds, though, she will be visiting schools and libraries along the way to share her book, A Shorebird Flying Adventure, with students and their teachers.

The book was commissioned by CSIRO Publishing in 2019 after they heard Formby give a talk about her passion project, Wing Threads, at the Australasian Ornithological Conference in Darwin.

Wing Threads is an online STEM education adventure project designed for primary school-aged students.

"The CSIRO wanted to have more children's books with female role models in STEM," Formby explains.

"In the book the main character, Microlight Milly, takes the reader on a journey through the East Asian-Australasian Flyway to learn how amazing and awesome migratory shorebirds are.

"In addition to the book, I'm putting together an eLearning pack of lesson plans, videos and PowerPoint presentations on shorebirds for teachers that they can download for free to make it easy for them to bring shorebirds into the classroom.

"It is funded by the Hunter Bird Observers Club and the East Asian-Australasian Flyway Partnership.

"I also have a number of shorebird profiles on the Wing Threads website for teachers and kids to learn more about shorebirds. Everything is for free."

Formby grew up in Gippsland, Victoria. After graduating from high school she started a Diploma of Illustration but didn't finish it, instead completing a Bachelor of Visual Arts at Monash University, majoring in tapestry.

"I first learned about shorebirds in 2012 when I was working as a tapestry weaver at the Australian Tapestry Workshop in South Melbourne and also studying zoology part-time," she says.

"We were collaborating with artist John Wolseley and he had an unveiling of a mural in the city that featured many species of shorebirds. I attended the unveiling and was blown away by their migration story.

"I joined the Victorian Wader Study Group soon after and began volunteering to band and flag shorebirds around the Victorian coast."

The more she interacted with them, the more her admiration for shorebirds grew.

"Shorebirds teach us that we are all connected through a global ecological network," Formby explains.

"Every year they migrate from Australia to Siberia and back again following a path called the East Asian-Australasian Flyway.

"On the way they stop at wetlands to rest and refuel. The Flyway is like a chain with links in it. If any one of the links fails, the whole chain collapses. Their migration highlights the importance of protecting Australian wetlands within this global context."

Formby finished her Masters in Zoology in 2014 and moved to Perth to work as a technician in animal biology at the University of Western Australia. Driven by a passion for science communication, she says she was "struck by the idea for Wing Threads".

"I learned to fly a microlight purely so that I could create this project and share the magic of shorebirds with everyone."

In 2018 Formby moved to Newcastle and worked in the Airborne Australia factory at Lake Macquarie Airport for six months, helping to assemble microlights. During that time she raised enough money through crowdfunding, sponsorship and donations to purchase and build her own aircraft.

"I then set off on a trip around Australia with the microlight on a trailer (you can take the wing off and fold it up to transport it) to get flying experience. Three days in I broke my leg while shifting the trailer and the jockey wheel collapsed, causing the hitch to fall on my left tibia," she says.

"I kept travelling around the country and when I got to Perth, I slipped in the bathroom and broke my right wrist as well. I was out of action for five months. I moved back to Newcastle at the beginning of 2019 and have been working for BirdLife as a project officer for their Migratory Shorebird Program for over two years."

Formby is raising funds to make Wing Threads: Flight Around Oz a reality. She needs to cover the costs of fuel and maintenance for the microlight and the car, plus food and accommodation for herself and a two-person ground crew.

Her target is $75,000 and, to date, just over $71,000 has been raised. She is humbled by the response and even more committed to her cause.

"The aim is to raise awareness of shorebirds outside of the birding community by bringing them into our schools and classrooms," Formby says.

"Shorebirds are one of the most endangered groups of birds in the world. The main contributor to their decline is habitat loss of the wetlands they rely on to rest and refuel throughout the Flyway.

"The species that have been hit hardest are those that rely heavily on the Yellow Sea around China. Around 65 per cent of the mudflats in the Yellow Sea have been reclaimed for industry and building ports. As a result, species like the eastern curlew and the curlew sandpiper have seen declines of up to 80 per cent in the past 40 years and are listed as critically endangered."

Formby will embark on her Wing Threads: Flight Around Oz adventure in May, launching from White Gum Farm near Perth.

Donate at chuffed.org/project/ashorebirdflyingadventure.

For more information about her work, go to wingthreads.com.

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