Eastern Curlew's 10-day flight to China stuns bird enthusiasts calling for greater habitat protections

Local bird enthusiasts are celebrating after a critically endangered Eastern Curlew successfully made its maiden flight to China, after it flew some 8,000 kilometres from the mudflats of Queensland's Moreton Bay. Key points: Researchers have been tracking the movements of three-year-old Eastern Curlew named AAJ The Eastern Curlew population has declined by more than 80 per cent in the last 30 years There is pressure to develop parts of the Moreton Bay wetlands, home to 1,400 critically endangered Eastern Curlews Researchers have been tracking the juvenile wading bird for the last two-and-a-half years, as it foraged for crabs and other crustaceans around the mudflats of Moreton Bay. "It's a new discovery about young Eastern Curlews, that perhaps they do leave later than others, but we'll need to study more birds to find that out," Dr Bush said. Dr Robert Bush from the Queensland Wader Study Group described AAJ's flight to China as "incredibly exciting".