The Australasian Wader Studies Group (AWSG), established in 1981, is a special interest group of the Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union

Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union

The Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union, also known as Birds Australia, was founded in 1901 to promote the study and conservation of the native bird species of Australia and adjacent regions. This makes it Australia's oldest national birding association. It is also Australia's largest...

, also known as Birds Australia. It publishes a journal, The Stilt

Stilt (journal)

The Stilt is the journal of the Australasian Wader Studies Group , a special interest group of the Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union, also known as Birds Australia. It was first issued in 1981.-External links:...

, usually twice a year, with occasional extra issues. Its mission statement is "to ensure the future of wader

Wader

Waders, called shorebirds in North America , are members of the order Charadriiformes, excluding the more marine web-footed seabird groups. The latter are the skuas , gulls , terns , skimmers , and auks...

s (shorebirds) and their habitats in Australia through research and conservation programs and to encourage and assist similar programmes in the rest of the East Asian - Australasian Flyway

East Asian - Australasian Flyway

The East Asian–Australasian Flyway is one of the world's great flyways. At its northernmost it stretches eastwards from the Taimyr Peninsula in Russia to Alaska. Its southern end encompasses Australia and New Zealand. Between these extremes the Flyway covers much of eastern Asia, including China,...

".

The AWSG organises the nearly annual series of North-West Australia Wader Expeditions, which use experienced international cannon netting

Cannon netting

Cannon-netting is a method of catching large numbers of animals, often birds, usually to band them, or otherwise tag them, as well as acquiring biometric data , in order to find out about their movements, migration routes, survival rates and metabolism...

 teams to catch and study the very large numbers of migratory waders that visit the beaches of Roebuck Bay

Roebuck Bay

Roebuck Bay is a bay on the coast of the Kimberley region of Western Australia. Its entrance is bounded in the north by the town of Broome, and in the south by Bush Point and Sandy Point. It is named after HMS Roebuck, the ship captained by William Dampier when he explored the coast of...

 near Broome

Broome, Western Australia

Broome is a pearling and tourist town in the Kimberley region of Western Australia, north of Perth. The year round population is approximately 14,436, growing to more than 45,000 per month during the tourist season...

, Eighty Mile Beach and Port Hedland in north-west Western Australia

Western Australia

Western Australia is a state of Australia, occupying the entire western third of the Australian continent. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Great Australian Bight and Indian Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east and South Australia to the south-east...

.

AWSG Objectives

• To monitor wader populations through a programme of counting and banding in order to collect data on changes on a local, national and international basis.
• To study the migrations of waders through a program of counting, banding, colour-flagging and collection of biometric data.
• To instigate and encourage other scientific studies of waders such as feeding and breeding studies.
• To communicate the results of these studies to a wide audience through the Stilt
  Stilt (journal)
  The Stilt is the journal of the Australasian Wader Studies Group , a special interest group of the Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union, also known as Birds Australia. It was first issued in 1981.-External links:...
  
  , the Tattler
  Tattler (newsletter)
  The Tattler, with the subtitle 'Newsletter for the East Asian - Australasian Flyway', is produced quarterly by the Australasian Wader Studies Group for distribution to its members and other interested people and organisations. It is available both as hard-copy and on-line. From 2006 it became...
  
  , other journals, the internet, the media, conferences and lectures.
• To formulate and promote policies for the conservation of waders and their habitat, and to make available information to local and national governmental conservation bodies and other organisations to encourage and assist them in pursuing this objective.
• To encourage and promote the involvement of a large band of amateurs, as well as professionals, to achieve these objectives.