WITH THE BIRDS

More than twelve years ago I first heard the story of the Eastern Curlew. I was standing on the edge of a bay with a bird-lover. He told me how the large slender bird only a short distance away, with the mottled brown feathers camouflaged against the mudflats, migrated from one side of the world to the other each year to have its babies. After breeding and nesting in the Siberian grasslands, the adult birds migrate south again within a month or so, leaving their chicks there in the tundra. When they are less than eight weeks old, the chicks make the 13,000 km migration across the world to parts of Australia and Aotearoa/New Zealand all on their own.

I was filled with wonder.

That day beside the bay this thought dropped from the sky - follow that bird!

Find out more about Waderbirds, the theatre project that started it all...

Where one journey ends another begins.

When I returned home from Waderbirds, my daughter who traveled with us across the world was only nine months old. She probably thought we’d just been down to the local supermarket and back. For Grace, and for Brenna who traveled with Waderbirds when she was only one, I wrote The Way of the Birds, illustrated by Shane Nagle and published by Allen & Unwin Australia in 1996.

Find out more about the book ...

This book attracted the attention of film producer Fiona Eagger. When she showed the idea to animation director Sarah Watt, the Curlew story continued. Their twenty-three minute animation, The Way of the Birds, was a finalist for the Australian Film Institute Awards 2000 and received Best Film in Category at the Cinanima International Animated Film Festival Portugal 2000.

Find out more about the animation ...

The idea that dropped from the sky didn’t rest there.
Nell White, one of the original Waderbirds team, now a film producer, thought of creating an online documentary - A Year on the Wing (www.abc.net.au/wing ) - one of the first of its kind produced in Australia. Nell invited me to co-write and Kate Clere to direct this exploration into new media.

Find out more about the new online documentary...

Sister Chick grew out of revisiting the story of the Curlew’s migration for the online. With Allen & Unwin’s encouragement, I had the rare opportunity to rewrite an earlier book and produce this new offering.

Is that the end of the story with the birds? I’m not sure. What I am sure of is my gratitude for the idea that dropped from the sky that day by the bay. May there always be wetlands to rest in and birds to fly.



meme mcdonald
Home	With the Birds More than twelve years ago I first heard the story of the Eastern Curlew. I was standing on the edge of a bay with a bird-lover. He told me how the large slender bird only a short distance away, with the mottled brown feathers camouflaged against the mudflats, migrated from one side of the world to the other each year to have its babies. After breeding and nesting in the Siberian grasslands, the adult birds migrate south again within a month or so, leaving their chicks there in the tundra. When they are less than eight weeks old, the chicks make the 13,000 km migration across the world to parts of Australia and Aotearoa/New Zealand all on their own. I was filled with wonder. That day beside the bay this thought dropped from the sky - follow that bird! Find out more about Waderbirds, the theatre project that started it all... Where one journey ends another begins. When I returned home from Waderbirds, my daughter who traveled with us across the world was only nine months old. She probably thought we’d just been down to the local supermarket and back. For Grace, and for Brenna who traveled with Waderbirds when she was only one, I wrote The Way of the Birds, illustrated by Shane Nagle and published by Allen & Unwin Australia in 1996. Find out more about the book ... This book attracted the attention of film producer Fiona Eagger. When she showed the idea to animation director Sarah Watt, the Curlew story continued. Their twenty-three minute animation, The Way of the Birds, was a finalist for the Australian Film Institute Awards 2000 and received Best Film in Category at the Cinanima International Animated Film Festival Portugal 2000. Find out more about the animation ... The idea that dropped from the sky didn’t rest there. Nell White, one of the original Waderbirds team, now a film producer, thought of creating an online documentary - A Year on the Wing (www.abc.net.au/wing ) - one of the first of its kind produced in Australia. Nell invited me to co-write and Kate Clere to direct this exploration into new media. Find out more about the new online documentary... Sister Chick grew out of revisiting the story of the Curlew’s migration for the online. With Allen & Unwin’s encouragement, I had the rare opportunity to rewrite an earlier book and produce this new offering. Is that the end of the story with the birds? I’m not sure. What I am sure of is my gratitude for the idea that dropped from the sky that day by the bay. May there always be wetlands to rest in and birds to fly. copyright meme mcdonald 2002

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With the Birds

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