This year, most of us might have to stay at home for the World Migratory Bird Day, still it can be fun.  As the theme of World Migratory Bird Day 2020  mentioned “Birds Connect Our World”, and let’s get linked up by migratory waterbirds in East Asian Australasian Flyway! On 9 May, four amazing groups of Artists will bring us an hour of performance on music, visual art, story telling and a flying adventure with the migratory birds, about the stories of our Flyway.

About the performance

1. Story of “Tom the Red-necked Stint” by Story-teller Jackie Kerin

Tom the Red-necked Stint is a kamishibai  (paper drama) story. This is a popular way of telling stories in Japan. Tom was gifted from Yatsu-Higata Wetlands Japan, to their sister wetlands, Boondall, Moreton Bay, Queensland Australia. With permission, the rangers at Boondall scanned the images and sent the jpegs south to Jackie in Hobsons Bay Victoria. Tom has travelled the Flyway and become part of a storytelling show, Tales from the Flyway. Jackie developed Tales with her collaborator, violinist Sarah Depasquale. They have performed the stories in galleries, on foreshores, schools, kindergartens and literary and folk festivals.

Tom the Red-necked Stint ©John Kean

About the performer:

Jackie Kerin lives 12 kilometres from the city of Melbourne, west of the river, where migratory shorebirds visit every year. She is a storyteller working in the oral tradition and the author of several non-fiction illustrated books for children. She has a deep interest in using her skills to bring people, especially children, closer to nature, to support their curiosity and encourage them to become agents for a better, kinder world. More about Jackie, click [here]. (add link: https://www.jackiekerin.com.au/)

©Jackie Kerin

2. The Flyway Print Exchange – an example of how art can help Birds Connect Our World by Visual Artist Kate Gorringe-Smith

The Flyway Print Exchange is an art project aimed to celebrate and publicise the East Asian-Australasian Flyway and our migratory shorebirds. The project involved 20 artists from nine of the 23 Flyway countries. Since its inaugural exhibition in 2014, the Flyway Print Exchange has been viewed by over 4,000 people in exhibitions in throughout Australia as well as in Singapore, Hong Kong, Indonesia and New Zealand. In her presentation Kate will discuss this project and how art can engage people with the Flyway and our migratory shorebirds.

Flyway mosaic ©Kate Gorringe-Smith

About the performer:

Kate Gorringe-Smith is a practicing artist with a background in Zoology. Her art investigates our relationship with the environment: the threats we create vs our connectedness with it. Kate’s work often references migratory shorebirds to illustrate the environmental connections that link us individually and globally, and she has initiated three major art projects, including the Flyway Print Exchange, that engage with other artists to raise public awareness of migratory shorebirds, our most endangered group of birds, and their habitat. Kate has also run art workshops for adults and in schools to help raise awareness for migratory shorebirds and their habitat. More about Kate, click [here]. Add link: http://www.kategorringesmith.com.au/)

©Kate Gorringe-Smith

3. Wing Threads by Illustrator/Pilot Amellia (Milly) Formby

Wing Threads is a non-fiction storybook to educate mid-primary age students about ecosystems using migratory shorebirds as a model. Co-authored by Jackie Kerin and Amellia (Milly) Formby, it tells the real-life story of how shorebirds taught a zoologist, Milly, that we’re all connected and turned her into a pilot. Milly will use the Wing Threads book to share the awesomeness of shorebirds with Australian students and the world when she flies her microlight around Australia in 2022.

Milly Formby with her microlight aircraft ©Milly Formby

About the performer:

Milly Formby is a zoologist and recreational pilot who first began learning to fly in 2016 to follow the shorebirds on migration. She currently works for BirdLife Australia as a Project Officer for their Migratory Shorebird Program. Milly also has a background in the arts and is illustrator of the Wing Threads children’s book, co-authored with Jackie Kerin, that will be coming out in 2021. More about Wing Threads, click [here]. (add link: https://wingthreads.com/)

Milly Formby ©Neva Bull

4. Invisible Connections by Musicians Simone Slattery (violin) and Anthony Albrecht (cello)

Invisible Connections presented by Bowerbird Collective as a preview of their musical and visual celebration of shorebird migration, an awe-inspiring odyssey that draws Invisible Connections across the globe.

©Tiger Webb ABC

About the performer:

Simone Slattery (violinist) and Anthony Albrecht  (celloist) created The Bowerbird Collective in 2017 to explore links between art and science and to tell stories using a multimedia performance platform. Two of Australia’s most accomplished and adventurous classical musicians, Simone and Anthony are committed to presenting transdisciplinary knowledge in accessible, informative, emotive and innovative ways, to weave new aesthetic, philosophical and emotional connections and engage with highly diverse audiences. Their past work includes Where Song Began, a storytelling of the evolution of songbirds and how they shaped the world based on Tim Low’s amazing book.

Visit World Migratory Bird Day Official Page

Visit EAAFP activities for World Migratory Bird Day 2020