To Perth for the 2025 Australasian Ornithological Conference!
- Lindsay Fisher
- 12 hours ago
- 4 min read
Lindsay Fisher | Treasurer
Attending the 13th Australasian Ornithological Conference (AOC) in Perth, Western Australia (WA) in November 2025, made me reflect on previous ones Keith and l have been to.
It all started for us in 1992 when the AOC was held at the Genazzano Centre on the Atherton Tablelands, followed by a campout at Silver Plains on Cape York. We were then only members of the Bird Observer's Club of Australia (BOCA); and the Royal Australasian Ornithologist's Union (RAOU), which ran that conference, appeared to us to be a serious, professional organisation a bit out of our league.
However, we met so many people and learnt so much that this became the first of many conferences we have attended over the years. Times have changed hugely since then: from notebook data, overhead projectors and slides, to the high technology of 2025.
We attended the AOC in Brisbane in 2023, and when they announced the next one would be in Perth in 2025, we saw it as the perfect ‘excuse’ to plan a South-west WA birding trip around it. So we had three weeks in a campervan in the South-west before heading back to Perth for the Conference.
We were glad that fellow Far North Queenslanders Ceri Pearce, Golo Maurer and Simon Kennedy were also attending, so we had some local support!
The three-day Conference was held at the University of Western Australia’s School of Business Studies, and over 450 delegates attended from Australia, New Zealand, and beyond.
The first morning was a little confusing as we had to work out where the lecture theatres were and, more importantly, where the food was being served! We soon figured everything out, and then had to decide which sessions to attend from the detailed programme.
There were four concurrent 15 minute sessions in four venues, which sometimes entailed dashing from one venue to another to catch the speaker you were interested in. As the talks were short, it didn't matter too much if you sat through a subject that didn't really interest you, as often by the end of that talk you found you had learnt something new and interesting.
The Conference Program was extensive. Subjects ranged from Behavioural Ecology; Shorebirds (always very popular); EcoAcoustics; Evolution of Birds; Woodland Birds; Seabird Conservation; Urban Birds; and Windfarms and Birds.
A lot of the talks included data based on genetics and bio-acoustics, and observations by remote camera monitoring: terms that would have been unknown at a conference 30 years ago.
Many of the speakers were students passionate about their subject. It bodes well for the future of ornithology in Australia and New Zealand that there were so many of these students. The more experienced speakers gave highly informed, entertaining, and often humorous and engaging presentations.
A highlight in the Conference was the launch of Australia’s inclusion in the Avian Sensitivity Tool for Energy Planning (AVISTEP). The AVISTEP tool provides government planners and the renewable energy sector with detailed interactive maps showing where birds are most at risk from energy infrastructure on land and at sea. The maps are the result of collaboration between BirdLife International and BirdLife Australia, with generous support from Fortescue.
With Australia aiming to achieve 82% of its electricity generation from renewable sources by 2030, this new tool is desperately needed. The maps are freely available, so everyone can see where wind and solar resources are, how badly affected an area’s birds are by each type of energy infrastructure, and the species found at these sites.
Our region was represented at the Conference by a presentation by the Mungalla Aboriginal Corporation (Ingham) and Simon Kennedy talking about ‘The restoration of estuarine conditions which transformed tropical wetland bird habitats in Northern Queensland.’ Local Cairns resident Golo Maurer, who works for BirdLife Australia National Office, gave a talk on ‘BirdLife Australia’s exciting strategy to overcome the ‘implementation crisis’ in bird conservation and put birds on the path to recovery.’
There are usually Poster Displays at conferences giving people who aren’t able to give a talk the opportunity to display their work. BLNQ was represented by Ceri Pearce who produced an informative poster about ‘Birds With Altitude’ summarising this excellent project.
Between the sessions were copious cups of coffee and tea, and delicious snacks and lunches.
These are when the social side of the Conference flourished: everyone meeting old friends and making new ones.
Networking is a major part of conferences and as everyone at the AOC was interested in birds, conversation flowed easily. Overseas delegates offered different perspectives.
Another social highlight was the Conference Dinner held at The Aviary in the city. BirdLife Australia’s Sean Dooley put on his comedian hat and gave us a very entertaining quiz, and then challenged people to come on stage and give their best bird call impression: another extremely successful event.
Congratulations to the organising committee, BirdLife Australia and BirdLife New Zealand for convening such an excellent event.
At the end of the Conference was the big announcement of where the next AOC would be held....
Auckland, New Zealand
15–19 February 2027
It has been a while since we visited New Zealand, so plans are already being made for that conference.