The 'Rescue of Riverina Native Birds Project' is hoping to raise awareness of the native Plains-Wanderer, Australasian Bittern and/or Malleefowls in their native habitats, but with the increasing scarcity and difficulty in spotting them, they've elected to depict them through more artistic media.

The organisation is calling for artists to express interest, with twelve receiving $500 to put towards their depictions of the birds. The finished entries will tour the region from March 2022 in a bid to engage the community with the creatures.

The intiative is being supported by Murray Local Land Services, Riverina Local Land Services, South West Arts Inc and Western Riverina Arts.

Aanya Whitehead, the Regional Arts Executive Director at Western Riverina Arts, explained that the project had followed from a successful run last year.

"This follows an initiative from last year from South West Arts - they did an initative commissioning a whole lot of work so this time, we partnered together and we've done this new one to tour next year," she explained.

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"It was really about coming together with landholders through conservation techniques ... We felt that it was so successful on two fronts, it informed the local community on what funding and grants are there to protect Australia's unique species of birds and at the same time, it had a really good artistic outcome."

She said she had a particular love for the plains-wanderer, a unique Riverina bird. The plains-wanderer's closest genetic relative is a sea wader in South America, making it unique in it's presence.

"It's completely unique and it's only found in the Riverina. Our community has this really pretty and unique bird that sits by itself and has no relatives," Ms Whitehead said.

Expressions of interest can be sent to comms@westrivarts.com.au or promo@southwestarts.com.au. The closing date to express interest will be November 26.

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