At the end of June, the NSW government declared a massive new national park in north-western NSW - a welcome and timely development, according to UNSW ecologist Professor Richard Kingsford, who did the first comprehensive aerial surveys of the area’s waterbirds in the 1990s. The park is an extensive inland wetland east of Tibooburra that includes Caryapundy Swamp and the Bullo Overflow.
In June 1990, one of the only extensive surveys done, the researchers estimated that there were more than 100,000 water birds there: red-necked avocets, freckled duck, pink-eared duck and black swans.
"The wetland was so extensive and shallow and provided so much habitat for many different plants and animals – and it sustained some through a period of frenetic breeding activity,” Prof Kingsford says.
“Black swans and many other waterbirds breed in this magnificent wetland. It is also a very important area for grey grass wrens – the new area includes nearly 90 per cent of NSW’s critical habitat and breeding areas for this nationally endangered species. This very specialised bird relies on the wetland plants.”
Read the full story on the announcement.