DOCUMENTARY BY SORREL WILBY FROM AUSTRALIAN GEOGRAPHIC
The well-known Australian TV presenter and nature film producer Sorrel Wilby and her film team joined us in September 2011 to report on our work on the Abbott's Booby. We were filmed and interviewed while catching an Abbott's Booby on its nest in the rainforest canopy to attach a GPS logger.
The footage will be part of a documentary on Christmas Island within the framework of Sorrel's TV series Best of Australia. It will be broadcasted in Australia in 2012. In addition, an article will be published in the Australian Geographic magazine.
We hope that the appearance in the documentary and the article will draw further attention to the Seabird Project and create further awareness of the problems of the Christmas Island seabirds.
BIRD AND NATURE WEEK 2011
In August 2011, the 6th Christmas Island Bird and Nature Week took place. Like every year, the participants accompanied us during the fieldwork on Abbott's Booby and Christmas Island Frigatebird. They got detailed insights into the work of the Seabird Project and the threats to the seabirds. At the end of the week, the participants were so impressed by our investigations and commitment that they made a generous donation to the Seabird Project. Thanks a lot!
WWF STAMPS OF THE CHRISTMAS ISLAND FRIGATEBIRD
Using a number of photos of the Seabird Project, the WWF designed a series of stamps of the Christmas Island Frigatebird together with an information package on this species in 2010.
AUSPEX AUSTRALIS ART PROJECT
The Trajectory Art Project (see below) was developed further and in 2010 AUSPEX AUSTRALIS was performed live and with great success at the Planetarium of the
SciTech Centre in Perth. More information on Auspex Australis …
ARTICLE IN THE AUSTRALIAN
In 2010, two journalists of THE AUSTRALIAN, the main international newspaper of Australia, accompanied us during fieldwork. Please find the article here.
ABBOTT'S BOOBY HELICOPTER SURVEY
During the field season 2009, we conducted a helicopter survey of the Abbott's Booby in collaboration with the Christmas Island National Park to estimate the
breeding population of this endangered species.
CAT ERRADICATION TRIALS
Influenced by the shocking findings of the Seabird Project on the extreme mortality of Red-tailed Tropicbird chicks due to cat predation, Parks Australia North Christmas Island and several Australian researchers undertook a first trial of baiting feral cats in October 2008 to tackle the problem of cats severely impacting on the fauna of Christmas Island. Despite many baiting nights, however, only a few baits were eaten by the cats. Yet, a first important step has been made! In the next steps attempts will be made to improve the attractiveness of the bait to the cats before starting another trial on Christmas Island next year.
MONEY BOXES
On the occasion of the 3rd Christmas Island Bird and Nature Week in September 2008, two beautiful money boxes for donations for the Seabird Project were set up at the visitor center and at the airport. The boxes are decorated with a gorgeous paper-mâché Abbott's Booby with chick and an impressive male Christmas Island Frigatebird respectively. The boxes were skilfully designed and built by Robyn Stephenson, the art teacher of the Christmas Island High School. We hope that these beautiful boxes will make visitors and people of Christmas Island donate plenty to support the project.
THE SEABIRD PROJECT GOES ART - THE TRAJECTORY ART PROJECT
The work of the Seabird Project will be part of the multimedia art project Trajectory by Australian multimedia artist David Carson and UK sound artist Phil Mouldycliff. David accompanied the team of the Seabird Project during fieldwork in May and September, to take time-lapse photographs and video footage. Phil joined in September to for video sessions. Within the framework of the Bird and Nature Week 2008, David and Phil gave a first spectacular work-in-progress presentation in a dome projection which was very well received by the audience.
THE SEABIRDPROJECT IN THE NEW IDEA MAGAZINE
The Christmas Island Seabird Project made an appearance in a September 2008 issue of the Australian top selling weekly magazine New Idea. As part of an article on Christmas Island, the work of the Seabird Project was described, contact details were given, and the possibility to adopt a frigatebird was specifically promoted. New Idea is one of Australia's most popular magazines. It has a circulation of over 430.000, (more than Reader's Digest) and it reaches over 2.3 Mio readers (more than 10 % of the Australian population!). The mentioning of the Seabird Project is a huge success to create public awareness of the problems the seabirds of Christmas Island are facing! There was overwhelming feedback from readers interested in the project and in adopting a frigatebird. Hopefully this enthusiasm and concern will lead to a lot of support for the Seabird Project.
In December 2008, the article was published in New Idea New Zealand.
