On the way from Bourke to Armidale, surveying the extensive Yantabulla Swamp, sometimes known as the Cuttaburra Basin. Most of the wetland was dry, except for a relatively small area (about 10% of its total) which was flooded in the northwestern corner of the wetland. It had hundreds of waterbirds, mainly grey teal and pink-eared duck but also swans, avocets, and glossy ibis.
Broken Hill to Hay. The patterns of flooding in the Gayini wetlands are mesmerising, intricate and ever changing in their paths and colours.
A large flooded wetland with lignum bushes. A small colony of a few thousand straw-necked ibis had established in the middle of the wetland, and there were also a few white ibis breeding. When there is really widespread flooding, other colonies set up across the floodplain because there is so much food available. There can be tens of thousands of birds breeding.
There were hundreds of pink-eared ducks on Lake Numalla, as well as pelicans and cormorants. Once again, the Paroo River delivers for this wonderful internationally important wetland system, which is part of Currawinya National Park.
Surveying the magnificent Currawinya Lakes, one of Australia’s most spectacular wetland systems. They were full for the first time in a long time - and their contrasting colours of blue and brown are amazing, reflecting the saline Lake Wyara and freshwater Lake Numalla.
On the Bourke Loop. The country looks spectacularly green out here for the outback. Southwest of Cunnamulla and on the Paroo River floodplain, it was obvious to see the effects of rainfall with the flooding of small claypans, swamps and cane grass swamps which dot the landscape.
Some of this area – also on the Bourke Loop – had tens and twenties of different species of waterbirds, including grey teal, pink-eared duck and Pacific herons.
Menindee Lakes, where the density of waterbirds was low. They only really get going with large numbers of waterbirds when the lakes are drying. Today, there were just a few teal, pink-eared duck, pelicans, cormorants and swans. In total there were probably no more than a hundred or so waterbirds on this massive complex of wetlands.
Every year, Professor Richard Kingsford and his team from UNSW Science’s Centre for Ecosystem Science (CES) spend more than a hundred hours conducting the Eastern Australian Waterbird Survey – one of the largest wildlife surveys in Australia. They survey major wetland sites across eastern Australia, including the Murray-Darling Basin, providing invaluable information on the ecosystem health of wetlands and rivers.
Aerial survey of waterbirds provides one of the few quantitative, large scale biodiversity datasets that can monitor changes in the distribution and abundance of 50 waterbird species, including threatened species, and the health of rivers and wetlands.
“The survey is a powerful tool to observe changes in Ramsar wetland condition as well as other state, national and international conservation agreements, policies and initiatives,” Prof. Kingsford says. “The survey can also detect potential long-term changes of implementing the Basin Plan.”
The surveys began in 1983.Today, CES runs the survey in partnership with the NSW Department of Planning, Industry and Environment; the Queensland Department of Environment and Science; the South Australian Department of Environment and Water; the Victorian Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning and the Murray-Darling Basin Authority.
Professor Kingsford’s team documents their survey on CES’s website, including lots of videos and photos. If you want to follow the work, you can catch up on each day's flying here: https://www.ecosystem.unsw.edu.au/logs/2020 - or explore our image gallery for a few highlights from the first couple of survey weeks.