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Date: Tuesday October 22nd 2024

Project:ÌýEastern Australian Waterbird Survey

°¿²ú²õ±ð°ù±¹±ð°ù²õ: John Porter (NSW DPE), Shannon Dundas (DPI)

°Õ°ù²¹¾±²Ô±ð±ð: Scott Henshall (Vic GMA)

±Ê¾±±ô´Ç³Ù: Thomas Clark

Our stay in Broken Hill was badly timed as we had arrived in the midst of a total power black-out. Without power we couldn’t recharge our navigation gear, audio recorders, cameras or navigation equipment. Cold showers and food from the supermarket were the order of the day. We solved our most pressing power needs using portable power banks but sadly (some would say almost catastrophically) there was no power for morning coffee.

Heading out of Broken Hill we completed our final counts on Menindee Lakes and once again encountered large number of birds on Lakes Menindee and Cawndilla – including a small colony of around 150 Pelicans with newly laid eggs on Cawndilla. Thousands of Grey Teal, Pacific Black Duck and Pink-eared Duck were the most abundant species on these lakes.

Menindee Lake shallow water habitat

Menindee Lake shallow water habitat

ÌýLake Cawndilla

Pelicans nesting on Lake Cawndilla

Next up were the Darling Anabranch lakes – a system of around 10 large temporary freshwater lakes which fill intermittently after flooding. They can support high biodiversity and large concentrations of waterbirds when inundated; today we found half the lakes still holding water from the previous years flooding. There were moderate numbers of waterbirds in the more shallow lakes. Mainly Grey Teal, Pink-eared Ducks, with smaller numbers of PAcific Black Duck, Mountain Duck, Hardhead and Wood Ducks as well as Whiskered Terns, Black Swans, Pelicans, cormorants, herons, spoonbills, grebes, coot and egrets. Several of the lakes that had dried back had crops of wheat or other grains, utilising the subsoil moisture to raise the crop.

Lake bed cropping on Popio Lake in the Darling Anabranch system

Lake bed cropping on Popiltah Lake

Warrawenia Lake

After a fuel stop at Mildura we surveyed a series of small lakes and wetlands south as we headed towards Balranald; most of these wetlands were dry or supported only small numbers of waterbirds. ÌýFrom Balranald we headed into the Lowbidgee wetlands (including Yanga NP and Gayini Wetlands), which were considerably drier than the previous year, counting moderate to low numbers of birds on Lakes Paika, Yanga, Loorica and Tala. ÌýPiggery Lake, Breer and Steam Engine swamps were dry and there was very little breeding to record. After a long hot day we headed into Hay for the night.

Saline temporary wetland near Murray-Sunset National Park

Paika Lake near Balranald

Pollen Creek on the Lowbidgee

Water in lignum channels – Gayini Wetlands on the Lowbidgee