First cohort planning · Late July / August 2026
Shorebird Steward Program · Moreton Bay

The Plan

Talk to Gazza. Go to the waterline. Observe. Record in ShorelineWatch. Return to Gazza — who has read every record. Get your updated plan. Go back. Repeat. This is how field literacy is built.

🗣 Talk to Gazza 📄 Your Plan 📚 Study 🌊 Waterline 👁 Observe 📱 SW Record 🔄 Return Updated Plan THE Field Cycle REPEATING
Step 1 of 8 · The cycle
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Talk to Gazza
The placement interview
Ten questions. Gazza maps your ecological literacy, field experience, and what draws you to the bay. From that conversation he builds your personal lesson plan — where to start, what to focus on, what to build toward. Not a test. A conversation.
Gazza reads every ShorelineWatch record before you return
The program milestones

Breaking out of the cycle

The field cycle runs at your own pace. But the program has three fixed moments that punctuate it — three field days in August when the tools become real, and a September camp at Jacobs Well when the birds have arrived.

📅
1 June 2026
Enrolment opens — the cycle begins immediately

A$95. Full portal access. Your first Gazza interview happens the same day. ShorelineWatch installed. Your personal lesson plan built from your answers. You have ten weeks of self-directed cycling before the first field days in August.

Gazza interview Personal plan ShorelineWatch active Full course library
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Mid-August 2026 · Three field days
Kakadu Beach, The Hub, Jacobs Well — tools become real

Day 1 — Kakadu Beach Constructed Roost. ShorelineWatch in a live roost context with up to 2,500 godwits. And for the first time: e you.

Day 2 — The Hub, Deception Bay (REF Environmental). Waterline Scripts in practice — how to read a crowd, time a conversation, handle the dog walker, the drone operator, the curious family. The conversation at the waterline is as important as the count.

Day 3 — Jacobs Well EEC. Southern Moreton Bay tidal flats. in 1975.

ShorelineWatch in practice Waterline Scripts Three delivery partner sites
🚢
Mid-September 2026 · JWEEC Camp
The EDUCAT — when the first migrants return from Alaska

September is arrival month. The camp is timed to it. A day on the EDUCAT — JWEEC's purpose-built 12-metre research catamaran across southern Moreton Bay. e now here.

EDUCAT research vesselSupervised field assessment First migrants arriving
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Saturday night · Jacobs Well EEC
Graduation

Field assessment complete. Gazza's assessment and your field record support certification. Your Shorebird Steward badge — a 3D-printed godwit silhouette — is yours. The program started at the waterline. The graduation happens on the bay.

Field certification issued Gazza badge Shorebird Steward
The two field instruments

Built for the bay. Used in the cycle.

ShorelineWatch runs from day one. Every visit logged. Every record read by Gazza before your next interview.

📱
Active from day one

ShorelineWatch

The longitudinal field record. Every visit logged — species, numbers, disturbance events, site condition. Works offline. Gazza reads every entry before your next interview. Your records build the case for site protection, visit by visit.

Introduced at the August field days

Roost Management Decision Tool. ALUATE/20 — flyway and social significance. Verdict: GREEN / AMBER / RED.

Open Field Practice

The cycle starts with one conversation.

Register your interest and Gazza is ready when you are. First cohort: Late July / August 2026 — but the interview is open now.

↗ Conversations With Birds