BirdLife Northern Queensland Annual General Meeting 13 April 2025

Lindsay Fisher | Treasurer

This year BirdLife Northern Queensland’s (BLNQ) Annual General Meeting (AGM) was held on Sunday 13 April 2025 at the excellent facility of Cominos House on Greenslopes Street, Cairns. We had 20 attendees including our Secretary Renee who ‘Zoomed’ in from her home on the Central Coast of NSW.

BLNQ’s 2025 AGM attendees at Cominos House, Cairns during our new Convenor, Denis Walls’ presentation. Photo by Lindsay Fisher.

The event commenced with a delicious lunch of quiche and salad, giving everyone a chance to catch up before the main proceedings commenced.

Pre-AGM lunch spread and catch-up time. Photo Lindsay Fisher.

From left: Doug, Dominic and Peter during the pre-AGM catch-up in Cominos House. Photo by Lindsay Fisher.

From left: Denis, Mikey and Stella during the pre-meeting catch-up. Photo by Lindsay Fisher.

Earlier this year our Convenor, Sanne Boland, had handed over her duties to Denis Walls so she could concentrate on her studies. Huge thanks to Sanne for her great contribution over the past 20 months.

Sanne Boland.

Denis has been a stalwart of environmental matters in Cairns for over 30 years and is well-known to most of our members. He comes with a wealth of knowledge and experience, and we warmly welcome him.

Our new Convenor, Denis Walls. Photo by Stella Martin.

The AGM proceedings commenced with the Minutes from the 2024 AGM being approved.

An excellent PowerPoint presentation was shown outlining all the various aspects of BLNQ’s activities.

View presentation

In this presentation the passing away of birding stalwarts over the past year was recognised, as well as congratulations to the two Award winners (see below).

In Memoriam slide from the AGM PowerPoint presentation prepared by Renee and Denis.

Thank you, Renee and Denis for producing this excellent Report, and thank you Denis for presenting it.

The Treasurer’s Report, presented by Lindsay Fisher, showed that the group was still financially viable.

The Committee was then dissolved, and Dominic Chaplin took over proceedings for election of office bearers, the committee, and the various project leaders.

The elected Committee is as follows:

Convenor

Denis Walls

Secretary and Communications Coordinator

Renée Cassels

Treasurer

Lindsay Fisher

Conservation Officer and Tablelands Area Coordinator

Peter Valentine

Cairns Area Coordinator

Mikey Kudo

Birds with Altitude Project Leader and Cassowary Coast Area Coordinator

Ceri Pearce

Cape York Area Area Coordinator and Facebook Manager

Doug Herrington

Grasswren Project Leader

Kath Shurcliff

Crane Count Project Leaders

Ed Bell and Sanne Boland

Threatened Coastal Birds Project Leaders

Paul Fisk and Sally Sheldon

Birds With Altitude – Bowerbird Monitoring Project

Dominic Chaplin

Contact Call Editor

Jenn Muir

There was then a celebration for Brian Venables who had been awarded the prestigious J.N. Hobbs Memorial Medal by BirdLife Australia in recognition of his outstanding contribution to ornithology in the region.

Convenor, Denis Walls (on left) with Brian Venables (right), BirdLife Australia’s worthy recipient of the prestigious Hobbs Medal. Photo by Lindsay Fisher.

Another Award went to Margaret Muoio for completing the most surveys in the Birds with Altitude Project last year. As well as receiving a Certificate, Margaret was given a voucher for a river trip from Murray Hunt, of the Daintree River Boatman, as a reward for her impressive effort. An article follows about this Award in BLNQ’s Contact Call, so “watch this space”….

Birds with Altitude Project Leader Ceri Pearce with Margaret (with her Award Certificate) and her friend, fellow birder Elinor. Photo by Lindsay Fisher.

Congratulations to Brian and Margaret!

There was then a tea break and a slice of a delectable lemon cake. A raffle was held and two tables of second-hand bird books were for sale by donation.

To finish the afternoon events, Mikey Kudo had put together an excellent presentation of our favourite wader – ‘Nordy’. Mikey’s presentation “Five Years of Nordmann’s Greenshank” showcased the discovery, media attention, and all-round good feeling this bird has bought to us all. Some great footage showed just what a character this migrant is including chasing down godwits to steal crabs! Mikey also showed how Nordy’s moult has presented over the years, and went into great detail to explain just how migratory waders cope with this process. Thank you, Mikey.

A slide from Mikey Kudo’s excellent presentation “Five Years of Nordmann’s Greenshank”. Photo taken (during the presentation) by Lindsay Fisher.

Mikey has kindly prepared a summary of his presentation for Contact Call, so “watch this space”….

It was an excellent AGM and we look forward to the next 12 months of BirdLife Northern Queensland.