Griffith to Sydney
Week 5 Waterbird counting team (from L to R Tom Clark, Jody O’Connor & John Porter)
Date: Thursday October 31st 2024
Project:ÌýEastern Australian Waterbird Survey
°¿²ú²õ±ð°ù±¹±ð°ù²õ: John Porter (NSW DPE), Jody O'Connor (MDBA)
±Ê¾±±ô´Ç³Ù: Thomas Clark
Having completed our counting work our final day of week 5 is a transit direct to Sydney, with no more counting until next week. Ìý
Macquarie Marshes
After finishing our counts on the Marshes we flew to Bourke to refuel then it was northward to Yantabulla wetlands and Currawinya Lakes National Park, another Ramsar site. Parts of the Yantabulla wetland system have been protected by the recently declared Brindingabba National Park, but today the wetland was mostly dry with a few small areas of water and low numbers of waterbirds. Currawinya Lakes were also mostly dry. Only a small area of water remained in the usually large freshwater Lake Numalla. We were not anticipating what we found! The drying lake was teeming with waterbirds – tens of thousands of Grey Teal and thousands of Pink-eared Duck, Pacific Black Duck, Red-necked Avocet, terns and large numbers of lapwings, stilts, Silver Gulls and migratory waders. It was a stunning site, and a great way to end the day's counting!
Thousands of Grey Teal on Lake Numalla