Redlands good for bird's eye view of migrating flocks

Redland City is a major habitat for various migratory birds and bird lovers will farewell shorebirds leaving Australia for their annual 13,000km flight to Siberia where they breed.

An estimated 50,000 birds fly thousands of kilometres each year from the northern hemisphere to visit wetlands in and around the Redlands over summer.

More than 43 species of shorebird use Redlands including more than 30 species of migratory wading birds.

At low tide they wander over the exposed sandbanks, seagrass beds and mudflats to feed.

When these areas are covered by the rising tide, the birds move to roosting areas such as Oyster Point.

BirdLife Southern Queensland committee member Rob Clemens said among the 35 species, one weighs as little as two 50-cent coins while another doubles its body weight before the migration.

Mr Clemens said bird watching was a rapidly growing niche market in global tourism.

He said bird watchers would have plenty of scope to view the migration from vantage points in Redland City along the coastline between Cleveland Point and Victoria Point.

"Most of southern Moreton Bay is in a site listed under the Ramsar Convention, an agreement to protect wetlands signed by more than 160 countries," he said.

"Australia has also entered into bilateral agreements with China, Korea and Japan to protect migratory birds along the “flyway” which links East Asia to Australasia: one of the world’s eight major migratory bird flyways."