Scientists have been out in the field surveying wetlands and waterbirds across the region’s floodplains.

With many wetlands and creeks still containing water due to recent flooding, there has been an influx of water-birds across our region. Scientists have been monitoring bird abundance, diversity, and breeding activity to assess aquatic ecology health to compare data collected from dry years.

Ecological monitoring of birds as part of this project began in 2021 and provides important data for Mallee Catchment Management Authority about the ecosystem’s health as well as helping to support the planning of future projects.

Surveys

Surveys were carried out throughout 2022-23 at 79 floodplain sites and eight wetlands. The widespread flooding during 2022-23 provided larger areas of inundation and greater habitat variation such as water depth, plant cover and food resources for many waterbird species.

This provided vital resources for visiting water-birds in the short term, and for breeding in the long term.

As a result, there was an increase in the diversity and abundance of waterbirds compared to the previous year, with 43 waterbird species recorded.

Breeding

Excitingly, it was a great year for waterbird breeding on the floodplain with eight species confirmed as breeding, and observations suggesting breeding had occurred for several other species.

This included colonies of cormorants and darters at wetlands such as Lake Powell. Large breeding events like this are crucial for maintaining our waterbird populations.

Some of the unusual species recorded during 2022-23 included the Plumed Whistling-Duck, Glossy Ibis, Australian Gull-billed Tern, and the Azure Kingfisher, all likely to have been attracted by the flooding event.

There were also good numbers of the Eastern Great Egret, a threatened bird in Victoria. Other threatened species found on the floodplain included the Black Falcon, Pink Cockatoo and Regent Parrot. Floodplain surveys also recorded 113 species of woodland birds.

Some of the more common species like Brown Tree-creeper and White-plumed Honeyeater appeared to respond positively to the floods. Woodland birds can benefit during floods due to the increase in insect numbers and even more so after the floods (as the water draws down and floodplain plants and insects flourish).

Interestingly, in addition to field surveys acoustic monitoring is also being carried out, which increases the ability to detect cryptic and rare species.

The abundance of waterbirds on the floodplain has also seen an increase in visitors such as birdwatchers, with many reporting exciting finds as part of their field trips to many of our wetlands and floodplains.

This survey work provides important insights into the presence and abundance of different bird species in Mallee floodplain habitats and helps inform future planning and implementation of natural resource management projects.

To keep up to date with the latest information about the programs Mallee CMA is delivering follow our social media pages.

The project was funded by Mallee CMA and undertaken by the Arthur Rylah Institute, Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action (DEECA).

This article appeared in The Buloke Times, 28 July 2023.