Completed September 2023
Wing Threads:
Flight Around Oz
A flying quest to share the amazing journeys of migratory shorebirds with Australian primary schools. Using science, art and adventure to foster nature stewardship.
Engage students with the wonders of migratory shorebirds
Inspire the next generation with a real-life flying adventure
Free teaching resources that meet Australian Curriculum objectives
Join Milly on her microlight adventure and discover how amazing and awesome migratory shorebirds are!
Available from CSIRO Publishing
In A Shorebird Flying Adventure you’ll take a trip to the Arctic tundra and back. On the way you’ll meet the birds who travel phenomenal distances every year and explore their precious wetland habitats and breeding grounds. Learn fascinating facts about their diet and find out Milly’s top tips to tell one species from another.
Grab your binoculars, hop on board and let’s go bird watching!
Written by Jackie Kerin and illustrated by Milly Formby
Shortlisted for The Wilderness Society Environment Award for Children's Literature 2023
Picture Fiction Notable Book, The CBCA Eve Pownall Award for Information Books 2023
Watch the new Wing Threads documentary!
Written and directed by Chris McCormack from Remember the Wild. Many thanks to ABC TV, VicScreen and The Doc Society for funding this film as part of the Your Planet Short Docs initiative.
Shorebirds teach us we are all connected.
Every year, shorebirds fly a 25,000 kilometre round trip from Australia to the Arctic and back again to breed.
Shorebird migration connects us to over 4 billion people in 23 countries through a network of wetlands in the East Asian-Australasian Flyway.
The wetlands are like a chain with links in it. By taking care of our wetlands here at home, we help to keep the Flyway chain strong, which has an impact on an international scale.
Hi. I'm Milly Formby, illustrator of the children's book, A Shorebird Flying Adventure. I'm also a zoologist, pilot & adventurer!
I love birds – especially migratory shorebirds, which are among the most endangered birds in the world. Shorebirds and their wetland habitats are valuable and need our protection.
BirdLife Australia identifies a lack of awareness as the number one threat to shorebirds. But how to get everyone’s attention?
While searching for answers, I came up with a idea. What if I could inspire people by doing what shorebirds do best – flying! So I learned to fly a microlight.
I decided to fly around Australia in 2022/23, which is a distance similar to what the shorebirds fly on migration to Siberia every year (~14,000kms). I completed that goal on September 20th, 2023, when I finished the flight at White Gum Farm, WA.
Be part of the adventure
with a free shorebird STEM incursion at your school!
Wing Threads creator and illustrator of A Shorebird Flying Adventure, Milly Formby, is landing at a town near you as she flies around Australia for Wing Threads: Flight Around Oz.
This endeavour will bring free STEM incursions directly to Australian classrooms and connect urban, regional and remote primary school kids with their local wetlands.
Invite Milly to your school and be taken on an illustrated journey into the amazing lives of migratory shorebirds - and learn how to draw them too!
Aimed at Grades 3-6. Click the button to find out more.
Hello. I'm Amellia Formby, illustrator & co-author of A Shorebird Flying Adventure.
I'm also a zoologist, pilot & adventurer!
I love birds – especially migratory shorebirds, which are among the most endangered birds in the world. Shorebirds and their wetland habitats are valuable and need our protection.
BirdLife Australia identifies a lack of awareness as the number one threat to shorebirds. But how to get everyone’s attention?
While searching for answers, I came up with a idea. What if I could inspire people by doing what shorebirds do best – flying! So I learned to fly a microlight.
I decided to fly around Australia in 2022/23, which is a distance similar to what the shorebirds fly on migration to Siberia every year (~14,000kms). I completed that goal on September 20th, 2023, when I finished the flight at White Gum Farm, WA.
Shorebirds teach us
we are all connected.
Every year, shorebirds fly a 25,000 kilometre round trip from Australia to the Arctic and back again to breed.
Shorebird migration connects us to over 4 billion people in 23 countries through a network of wetlands in the East Asian-Australasian Flyway.
The wetlands are like a chain with links in it. By taking care of our wetlands here at home, we help to keep the Flyway chain strong, which has an impact on an international scale.
Wing Threads: Flight Around Oz
June 6th 2022 - September 20th 2023
Visit polarsteps to see Where Microlight Milly flew on her trip around Australia
Watch in-flight livestream video replays
Completed 20th September 2023
Learn more about shorebirds in
'A Shorebird Flying Adventure'
Here's what schools are saying:
Here's How It Works:
1. Buy the book $24.99
Purchase A Shorebird Flying Adventure from CSIRO Publishing
2. Invite Milly to visit your school
Meet Milly in person, go behind the scenes of the Wing Threads: Flight Around Oz journey, listen to a reading of A Shorebird Flying Adventure and learn how to draw shorebirds!
FAQs
I planned 59 flight legs to do a complete lap of Australia. A full list of stopovers with dates can be seen below.
Yes. I had different people volunteer to drive my car with the microlight trailer for me as I flew around Australia.
No, I just flew around the coast of mainland Australia.
When the shorebirds migrate, they fly from Australia to Siberia in the northern hemisphere. I flew around the coast of Australia. The distance around Australia (~14,000kms) is a similar distance to what the shorebirds fly from Australia to the Arctic (~12,500kms).
It is my dream to one day follow the shorebirds on migration all the way from Australia to the Arctic!
No. This wasn’t like the movie, Fly Away Home, where a group of geese were trained to follow a microlight aircraft so they could learn how to migrate. Migratory shorebirds are wild and avoid being near the aircraft.
As the name suggests, microlights are small, light and fly at a similar speed to what the shorebirds do on migration. I am exposed to the elements in an open cockpit, just like the birds are.
Learn more about shorebirds in
'A Shorebird Flying Adventure'
Click on each state to see a List of stopovers
BUNBURY24th June
KOJONUP25th June
NARRIKUP (Albany)13th July
BREMER BAY19th July
ESPERANCE12th August
CAIGUNA13th August
EUCLA20th August
2022
WARNAMBOOL
10th October
BARWON HEADS (Melbourne)
16th October
TYABB (Melbourne)
19th October
LATROBE VALLEY
5th November
BAIRNSDALE
6th November
2022
MERIMBULA
19th November
MORUYA
24th November
WOLLONGONG (Sydney)
25th November
LAKE MACQUARIE (Newcastle)
27th March 2023
2023
PORT MACQUARIE
28th March
SOUTH GRAFTON
1st April
BALLINA
12th April
2023
CABOOLTURE - 3rd May
BUNDABERG - 7th May
ROCKHAMPTON - 18th May
MACKAY - 21st May
TOWNSVILLE - 23rd June
CAIRNS - 24th June
GEORGETOWN - 28th June
NORMANTON - 4th July
MOUNT ISA - 14th July
CAMOOWEAL - 15th July
2023
BARKLY HOMESTEAD
19th July
TENNANT CREEK
20th July
ELLIOTT
27rd July
DALY WATERS
27th July
MATARANKA
DNF
EMKAYTEE (Darwin)
14th August
KATHERINE
15th August
TIMBER CREEK
16th August
2023
KUNUNURRA - DNF
HALLS CREEK - DNF
FITZROY CROSSING - DNF
DERBY - DNF
BROOME - 2nd September
ANNA PLAINS STATION - 6th September
PORT HEDLAND - 10th September
KARRATHA - 10th September
ONSLOW - 11th September
EXMOUTH - 14th September
CARNARVON - 15th September
KALBARRI - 16th September
JURIEN BAY - 20th September
Awards
PanAir RPL/PPL Flight Training Scholarship 2019
Women in Aviation International
Amelia Earhart Fly Now Scholarship 2016
The Ninety-Nines International Organization of Women Pilots
Qualifications
RAAus Recreational Pilot Certificate
GA Recreational Pilot License
Passenger & cross-country endorsements
Controlled airspace & aerodrome endorsements
Master of Science | Zoology
Bachelor of Science | Zoology
The University of Melbourne
Bachelor of Visual Arts
Monash University