Milly Formby wanted to better understand life as a bird, so she learned how to fly.
Not by growing wings, or developing a superpower, but by getting her pilot's licence.
She is about to embark on a 20,000-kilometre trip around the coast of mainland Australia and is believed to be the first woman to do so.
And one day, she has a dream to fly all the way from Australia to Siberia.
It is all in an effort to raise awareness for the migratory shorebird, many which are critically endangered.
'The birds just blow you away'
Migratory shorebirds encompass a group of a species which travel extraordinary distances across the globe.
They fly a route known as the East Asian-Australasian Flyway, a 25,000km round trip from Australia and New Zealand to Siberia which snakes through eastern Asia, including China and Japan.
Unlike seabirds, shorebirds will drown if they land on water, so they stop off at various wetlands along the route to rest and eat, eventually reaching Siberia to breed in the Arctic summer.
But some can do the whole journey without a break.
The bar-tailed godwit holds the world record for longest non-stop bird flight, having travelled nearly 13,000km from Alaska to Australia.
Ms Formby was studying zoology in Melbourne, and volunteered on the Victorian coast banding and flagging shorebirds, when she was captivated by their "phenomenal" journey.
"These birds just blow you away."
Then she discovered how endangered they were — there has been an 80 per cent reduction in their numbers across the last 30 years, mainly due to wetland habitat loss along their travel route.
"The wetlands are undervalued a lot of a time. They tend to be developed quite often because they're boring, boggy spots," she said.
She said Australians living and travelling to coastal areas lacked awareness of the birds, which was also threatening their populations.
"[Beachgoers] should keep their distance if they see birds, be mindful about using boats and vehicles, take rubbish home, mindfully bird-watch, and let other people know that the birds are needing to eat and rest when they're here."
Her love of birds lead to her current job as a shorebird migration project officer with BirdLife Australia, where she researches and educates others on the species.
'Never dreamed of being a pilot'
It was back in 2016 while living in Perth when she was "hit" with the idea to learn to fly.
She booked a trial instructional flight and was hooked.
"I only started learning to be a pilot when I came up with the idea to follow the shorebirds," she said.
After months of fitting in lessons around full-time work and stormy weather, she got her licence in 2017.
Her vessel of choice is a microlight — a small plane for two people with an open cockpit which holds enough fuel for a five-hour flight.
Why? Because it is the most similar to how shorebirds fly.
"You're exposed to the elements and flying a similar speed at 50 to 55 knots, or just under 100kph," she said.
She then set a goal to follow the migration route of the birds from Australia to Siberia.
Trip around the country
But for now, she plans to fly around the coast of mainland Australia in a crowdfunded project called Wing Threads, which combines her talents as a zoologist, illustrator, and pilot.
With a two-person team following her on land — and expressions of interest open for volunteers — she is lifting off from Broome in northern Western Australia in May and travelling anti-clockwise around the coast, arriving back where she started in November.
It is a 20,000km trip through the air, but she will spend plenty of time on the ground.
She plans on stopping at 70 schools and libraries along the way to educate young Australians about shorebirds and their role in the planet's ecosystem.
She simultaneously plans to share her new children's book, written by Australian author Jackie Kerin and illustrated by Ms Formby herself, which raises awareness for the birds.
"[The book is] actually based on my dream to one day follow the shorebirds on migration in the microlight and the reader learns all about how awesome these birds are," Ms Formby said.
She has got influential friends supporting her project.
Ms Formby reached out to Gardening Australia host Costa Georgiadis via email, who has worked with BirdLife Australia in the past.
His enthusiasm for the project lead to him joining her on a microlight flight.
He said he was in awe of her commitment to realising her dream.
"I'm getting behind Milly because of her dedication and commitment to our shorebirds, our waterways, and the undeniable connection of our landscapes — the ones our birds rely on from Siberia, to Broome, and beyond," he said.
"She's fearless, fastidious, and freaking awesome!"
What's next?
Ms Formby said she still wanted to travel the East Asian-Australasian Flyway.
"That's a massive dream I would love to do, but I have to do things one step at a time," she said.
Now based in Newcastle, she said she was thrilled to bond with bird lovers from around the country in the meantime.
"Teaching people about shorebirds, teaching people how to identify the birds, and seeing people connect to the shorebirds themselves is a huge thing for me," Ms Formby said.
And she will continue telling the story of the shorebirds and their impressive trek across the world, one which she believes helps us realise how humans and the environment are intrinsically linked.
"Shorebirds are our greatest teachers about how we're all connected to one another through a global ecological network," she said.
"The wetlands are like a chain — any one of those fails, the whole chain collapses.
"Protecting the habitat is essential for our own health and wellbeing. They protect our coast from storms, clean our water, and provide us with food, and shorebirds are a way to connect people with that.
"They remind us we are part of nature and not separate to it."
