Campus Desk :
Mya-Rose Craig also known as birdgirl is a real rarity. She is a 12 year old young birdwatcher, conservationist, writer and speaker. She is based near Bristol in the UK and writes the successful birdgirl blog, with posts from around the world.
She has recently been listed with the singer songwriter George Ezra and actress Maisie Williams from Game of Thrones as one of her hometown’s most influential young people. Mya-Rose was included for her work in bird conservation and writing. Her response was “I hope that I can use that influence to try and save our planet along with everything on it. I am ecstatic to be recognised for my work in conservation”.
In 2013, she became the youngest person to see 3000 bird species in the world. She has now gone on to see 3,700 birds out of a total possible in the world of 10,500 and hopes to see her 4,000th bird species in December 2015 in Antarctica, her seventh continent. After that, her next target is to see 5,250 birds, which is half the world’s birds, before she is 18 years old.
Mya-Rose first came to prominence in the 2010 BBC Four documentary “Twitchers: A Very British Obsession” when a delightful 7 year old Mya-Rose was seen bird watching around the UK with her parents.
Mya-Rose has also been chosen to be Ambassador for the international bird conservation initiative, World Shorebird Day. She has written about her love of waders (shorebirds in the USA) and has a special love for the Spoon-billed Sandpiper, one of the world’s rarest waders with only 200 left.
Mya-Rose explains “Spoon-billed Sandpipers breed in Arctic Russia during the summer and then fly 8,000 kilometres south all the way to Bangladesh to spend the winter. World Shorebirds Day raises awareness and money for these birds and I am really proud to be supporting them.”
Mya-Rose recently came on a one week trip to Bangladesh with a camera crew, to see and survey just this one bird. The Spoon-billed Sandpiper is critically endangered and of the 200 birds left in the world, about 25 birds are known to winter in Bangladesh but the number is thought to be much higher. She has wanted to see this bird since 2010, when they were re-found on the mud flats of Sonadia Island.
Mya-Rose’s family is from Sylhet, Bangladesh and she feels proud that this bird is found in Bangladesh and how much has been done here to save it.
There are lots of organisations around the world involved in the project to save this bird. One is WWT Slimbridge in the UK, which took eggs back and have 26 birds that they hope will breed this year. Mya-Rose was lucky to see the chicks not long after they arrived with Sayam U Chowdhury who runs the Bangladeshi project.
After setting off from Cox’s Bazar by boat, they carried out the survey on Sonadia Island with researchers Mohammed Foysal and Sakib Ahmed, during which they found 19 birds. She said “Today was the most amazing days possible for any bird watcher. I am feeling so happy from the experience and so am really glad to be telling you about it.”
It was a spring tide, which meant that the tide rose quickly from low tide. Getting off the boat, they had to roll up their trousers and walk through deep water, sinking into the mud and making it hard to walk.
Within a few minutes, the group saw their first 3 Spoon-billed Sandpipers. As the birds turned their heads, they could see their trademark bill which is black and shaped like a flat spoon. Over the next 40 minutes, a total of 19 birds were counted which is 10% of the world population, seen on just one island.
On the way back, they stopped at a village, meeting lots of children and I handing out colourful postcards and clothes. They then met an ex-hunter who had received money to start a shop and was happier than trying to feed his family with the tiny birds. They then had to rush back to the boat to avoid getting stranded at low tide. Mya-Rose commented “I have seen other rare birds, but the Spoon-billed Sandpiper seems the most special to me.”
Mya-Rose is already an accomplished speaker and gave a talk at the high profile WWT Slimbridge Festival of Birds in January. A 3 person team from the BBC Natural History Unit filmed her talk following on from a meeting with 4 of their senior producers the week before.
On 20th February 2015, Mya-Rose gave a well attended talk at The Long Beach Suites Hotel, Gulshan 2, Dhaka which was presented by the Bangladesh Bird Club. In it, she highlighted conservation issues in Bangladesh including the Sundarbans oil spill and the risks to the Spoon-billed Sandpiper if a deep sea port was built. Mya-Rose will also be talking at the well regarded Oriental Bird Club AGM in Cambridge about her trip to Bangladesh and her film will be shown on TV stations in the UK and Bangladesh.
Mya-Rose Craig also known as birdgirl is a real rarity. She is a 12 year old young birdwatcher, conservationist, writer and speaker. She is based near Bristol in the UK and writes the successful birdgirl blog, with posts from around the world.
She has recently been listed with the singer songwriter George Ezra and actress Maisie Williams from Game of Thrones as one of her hometown’s most influential young people. Mya-Rose was included for her work in bird conservation and writing. Her response was “I hope that I can use that influence to try and save our planet along with everything on it. I am ecstatic to be recognised for my work in conservation”.
In 2013, she became the youngest person to see 3000 bird species in the world. She has now gone on to see 3,700 birds out of a total possible in the world of 10,500 and hopes to see her 4,000th bird species in December 2015 in Antarctica, her seventh continent. After that, her next target is to see 5,250 birds, which is half the world’s birds, before she is 18 years old.
Mya-Rose first came to prominence in the 2010 BBC Four documentary “Twitchers: A Very British Obsession” when a delightful 7 year old Mya-Rose was seen bird watching around the UK with her parents.
Mya-Rose has also been chosen to be Ambassador for the international bird conservation initiative, World Shorebird Day. She has written about her love of waders (shorebirds in the USA) and has a special love for the Spoon-billed Sandpiper, one of the world’s rarest waders with only 200 left.
Mya-Rose explains “Spoon-billed Sandpipers breed in Arctic Russia during the summer and then fly 8,000 kilometres south all the way to Bangladesh to spend the winter. World Shorebirds Day raises awareness and money for these birds and I am really proud to be supporting them.”
Mya-Rose recently came on a one week trip to Bangladesh with a camera crew, to see and survey just this one bird. The Spoon-billed Sandpiper is critically endangered and of the 200 birds left in the world, about 25 birds are known to winter in Bangladesh but the number is thought to be much higher. She has wanted to see this bird since 2010, when they were re-found on the mud flats of Sonadia Island.
Mya-Rose’s family is from Sylhet, Bangladesh and she feels proud that this bird is found in Bangladesh and how much has been done here to save it.
There are lots of organisations around the world involved in the project to save this bird. One is WWT Slimbridge in the UK, which took eggs back and have 26 birds that they hope will breed this year. Mya-Rose was lucky to see the chicks not long after they arrived with Sayam U Chowdhury who runs the Bangladeshi project.
After setting off from Cox’s Bazar by boat, they carried out the survey on Sonadia Island with researchers Mohammed Foysal and Sakib Ahmed, during which they found 19 birds. She said “Today was the most amazing days possible for any bird watcher. I am feeling so happy from the experience and so am really glad to be telling you about it.”
It was a spring tide, which meant that the tide rose quickly from low tide. Getting off the boat, they had to roll up their trousers and walk through deep water, sinking into the mud and making it hard to walk.
Within a few minutes, the group saw their first 3 Spoon-billed Sandpipers. As the birds turned their heads, they could see their trademark bill which is black and shaped like a flat spoon. Over the next 40 minutes, a total of 19 birds were counted which is 10% of the world population, seen on just one island.
On the way back, they stopped at a village, meeting lots of children and I handing out colourful postcards and clothes. They then met an ex-hunter who had received money to start a shop and was happier than trying to feed his family with the tiny birds. They then had to rush back to the boat to avoid getting stranded at low tide. Mya-Rose commented “I have seen other rare birds, but the Spoon-billed Sandpiper seems the most special to me.”
Mya-Rose is already an accomplished speaker and gave a talk at the high profile WWT Slimbridge Festival of Birds in January. A 3 person team from the BBC Natural History Unit filmed her talk following on from a meeting with 4 of their senior producers the week before.
On 20th February 2015, Mya-Rose gave a well attended talk at The Long Beach Suites Hotel, Gulshan 2, Dhaka which was presented by the Bangladesh Bird Club. In it, she highlighted conservation issues in Bangladesh including the Sundarbans oil spill and the risks to the Spoon-billed Sandpiper if a deep sea port was built. Mya-Rose will also be talking at the well regarded Oriental Bird Club AGM in Cambridge about her trip to Bangladesh and her film will be shown on TV stations in the UK and Bangladesh.
(For more about, Mya-Rose Craig’s blog- http://birdgirluk.blogspot.co.uk/ and like her Facebook Page https://www.facebook.com/myarosebirdgirlcraig?ref=hl/)
