Results from the 2025 Curlew Count

Written By Angela Hoskins

The information in this article below was compiled by the Wildlife Team in the Environment and Education Unit, Redlands City Council (RCC). It was emailed to participants of the 2025 Curlew Count on Coochiemudlo Island in February 2025.

The ‘Count’ did not go ahead in 2020 because of Covid, nor in 2022 because of an RCC administrative decision. We’re so pleased it happened in 2025 and to see the increased numbers!

Coochie Curlew Count statistics from 1997 - 2025. Compiled by the Wildlife Unit, RCC.

‘A total of 264 curlews were counted on the night (277 adults, 26 juveniles and 11 chicks) — the highest count to date! There were a number of curlews recorded outside of designated areas and, when checked, these birds were no longer there when that area was surveyed. Great work on recording the "lurkers"! There were also quite a few tagged birds recorded as well. 

We do not profess to count every curlew on the island, but this method gives us a brilliant "snapshot" of numbers in one night. This data is shared with bird organisations and researchers to help further protect and conserve the population on Coochiemudlo Island.’

~ Emailed information, from the RCC Wildlife Unit, received 31 March 2025.  

Participants of the 2025 Curlew Count preparing to start the count on the island. Photo by Vivienne Roberts-Thomson

Bush Stone-Curlew family on Coochiemudlo Island.

Angela Hoskins

Built my first site in 2000 and steadily learned what it takes to make websites work. Dabbled in WordPress back then, still do. Since building my first Squarespace site in 2016, I’ve been impressed with the relatively streamlined approach to website design and development that Squarespace offers compared to WordPress. SEO was a major challenge from the start — I’ve spent a lot of time keeping up with what’s required to get sites working, ranking well on a SERP. I have confidence with what Squarespace offers for SEO.

Having worked for more than 10 years in the web team of an inland, regional university in Australia and dealing with frustrations that come with working for a large corporate enterprise, the idea of setting up my own web design business became my goal.

Set up my business in late 2017. Opted for a sea change, too: I now live on Coochiemudlo Island 45 minutes from Brisbane. Love working from home. Love working for small business clients. Still get casual work with the university.

Challenges? The main one is pricing my work for small businesses. Doing quality work, doing the research to be up to date in the industry, takes time; it’s hard to factor in this time to my pricing while being competitive in the market and affordable for many small businesses.

https://sitecontent.com.au
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Ex. Tropical Cyclone Alfred: the impact on Coochiemudlo Island