Carpenters Rocks local Maureen Christie has been awarded a Member of the Order of Australia medal for her commitment to wildlife conservation.

Ms Christie was humbled to receive the honour, which she said was fairly overwhelming.

“I could not quite believe it,” she said.

“I was quite blown away; I am also quite embarrassed by it because in the field I am in there are so many other people who do so much work and lots of people who do more than I do.

“It is a huge honour; I hope I can use it to increase awareness of shorebirds and the challenges they are facing.

“I really do want to acknowledge there are so many other people who do a great deal of work.”

Ms Christie’s work in wildlife conservation began with the Orange-bellied parrot, progressed to migratory shorebirds, then resident shorebirds.

“We have two sorts of shorebirds, we have those that breed in Australia and are in Australia all the time and we have the migratory ones that, except for one species, breed in the northern hemisphere,” she said.

“The ones we work with mainly go virtually as far as you can go in Siberia, so that brings you up with all sorts of issues.

“The majority of our shorebirds, they use the beaches in summer which is the same time that we use the beach.

“I always talk about sharing the beach and we have got to remember birds like our hooded plovers, we use the beach for recreation, for them, it is their home, so we really do need to make room for them.”

Ms Christie is the Friends of Shorebirds SE secretary, a group involved with regular shorebird counts, protection of nests, estimating how many hooded plovers have fledged during the year and tracking where they go.

“During breeding season if we find a nest, it depends where the nest is and whether or not it is in danger of being run over or disturbed by people, we will put roped fences around it and temporary signs up so people can see,” she said.

“Us going on the beaches, having our dogs on the beaches and things like that, they all have impact.”

Ms Christie is also involved with investigating the invasive weed species seaweed grass that is changing the profile of beaches.

“The head of the beach becomes this sandy cliff and the tide bangs right up onto this sandy cliff,” Ms Christie said.

“We are losing from the beach the nice undulating part of the beach where the spinifex twines around and that is where the birds’ nest, that is where they roost, it is a real problem.”

Ms Christie has received numerous awards over the years, including the 2021 Serventy Conservation Award and the 2023 SA Environment Lifetime Achiever Award.

She was also included in the 2021 South Australian Women’s Honour Roll for her work as an environmental champion and community educator.

Ms Christie is passionate about the work she does and is amazed by the capabilities of shorebirds.

Ms Christie said red-necked stint chicks usually hatch in July and their parents teach them about predators and regulating their body temperature, looking after them until they begin to grow proper feathers.

“As soon as the chicks can feed themselves, look after themselves and are aware what predators are, the adults come back to Australia and leave the chicks there by themselves,” she said.

“Then the chicks come, they are about six weeks old, these little, tiny dots that only weigh about 30g, pick themselves up and come to Australia.

“There is a larger species called a bar-tailed godwit that we know will make the return journey.

“It will fly 11,000km in one stop, taking about 9 days.

“But the smaller ones do it in hops.

“These little, tiny things that only weigh 30g fly backwards and forwards every year for perhaps 20 years.

“If you did not know it was true, you would think it is science fiction.

“It is just so incredible, and they do incredible things, they are not like pelicans and wedge tail eagles and things that soar and glide and of course the albatross they will float on the sea.

“Our birds flap all the way.

“We really do need to look after them.”