Flight Lines to Tasmania: the critical challenges to migratory shore birds

The success of Flight Lines in the Tasmanian Literary Awards comes as its subjects – long distance migratory shorebirds – face critical challenges in Tasmania. This is a chance to join author Andrew Darby and the widely recognised  bird expert Dr Eric Woehler to hear in depth about these extraordinary birds and their lives on our coasts.

Flight Lines headed strong local lists to win the $25,000 Premier’s Prize for Non-fiction in December, following its short-listing for the Prime Minister’s Literary Awards in 2021. Andrew is taking up the opportunity of this recognition to seek better protection of these birds, some of which are critically endangered.

We marvelled at the recent record flight of a satellite-tracked Bar-tailed Godwit which flew non-stop for 11 days from Alaska to north-east Tasmania. In this conversation we will hear how such seemingly impossible feats are achieved – and how we can better ensure these birds’ survival, particularly from coastal threats such as wind farms. We will also hear about the dangers to other birds of wind turbines as their development in Tasmania snowballs.

Andrew Darby is embarking on his third narrative non-fiction book, after the success of Flight Lines, and Harpoon: Into the Heart of Whaling. He is a former Hobart correspondent for The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald, and has a special interest in nature conservation at the poles and their adjacent realms.

Eric Woehler, OAM, is without question the state’s go-to bird expert. Convenor of Birdlife Tasmania, he has spent around 40 years in the service of bird science and is a global figure, particularly when it comes to seabirds and Antarctic birds in particular. Eric has also trudged the coastline of Tasmania for years to collect data on our shorebirds and beach-nesting seabirds.

Fullers will donate $5 from every ticket sold to Birdlife Tasmania.

Join Andrew and Eric at Fullers Afterword Cafe.

You can purchase tickets below.