So thrilled to be a guest artist in this annual exhibition which coincides with National Bird Week, celebrating Australiaโs unique birdlife and helping raise awareness of the importance of bird conservation.
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EVENT: Journey - A Bird Week Exhibition
DATES: 15 October through 25 October
PART OF: Bird Week Aus / National Bird Week
FEATURING: 48+ artists
SUPPORTING: BirdLife Australia
@thebirdphotog
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I have created three hand formed and painted bar tailed godwits which are perfect for hanging on your wall, much like the flying ducks from the 1950s.
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Journey of the Bar Tailed Godwits
by Nicole Miranda 2026
Bartailed Godwits make the longest nonstop flight of any bird and have been recorded travelling 13,500 km from Alaska to Tasmania in 11 days flying at an average of 50km/h without eating, drinking, or resting and losing almost half of their body weight along the way.
Bar-tailed godwits breed on Arctic coasts and tundra from Scandinavia to Alaska, and overwinter on coasts in temperate and tropical regions of Australia and New Zealand arriving between August and October and departing again from February to April.
Before migrating, godwits undergo extreme physical changes: they store fat up to 55% of their body weight, enlarge their heart and flight muscles, and shrink their digestive organs, which are rebuilt after arrival. Their navigation relies on an inherited mental map shaped over thousands of years, using celestial and magnetic cues.
For millennia, godwits have helped sustain wetland ecosystems by moving nutrients across hemispheres. Their transPacific journey is one of natureโs greatest endurance feats and highlights the need for international conservation as habitat loss and climate change threaten their migratory routes.
The status of the bar-tailed godwit is Near Threatened, and the population is declining.
Photo reference with kind permission of Tasmanian wildlife photographer @dean.creedy_wildnatureimages.
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#nicolemirandaartist #nicolemirandaceramicist #birdweekaustralia @birdlifeoz
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