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Biological, Earth & Environmental Sciences Centre for Ecosystem Science

Day 17, Griffith to Sydney

Departing Griffith, our first survey sites are a series of small dams and watercourses, including Lake Centenary near Temora. There are very few waterbirds.

Personalise
Photograph captures underside of small airplane with blue, white, and red fuselage, landing gear, and propeller over a grassy, muddy airstrip. Tilted view shows runway, drainage channels, distant shoreline, and blue sky, documenting aircraft position during low-altitude flight or landing.

Photo: Tuckerbil Swamp
Lake Centenary near Temora

Survey details

  • Calendar plane icon
    Date

    Wednesday 21 October 2026

  • Paper write icon
    Author

    John Porter

  • Real estate dimensions map icon
    Project

    Eastern Australian Waterbird Survey

  • Style three pin binoculars icon
    Observers

    John Porter (NSW DCCEEW), Shelley Thompson (MDBA)

  • Aircraft military plane 2 icon
    Pilot

    Thomas Clark
Our next survey sites are the Ramsar-listed Tuckerbil and Fivebough Swamps. They are holding water, and there are large numbers of waterbirds, as is often the case at these wetlands. We count mostly Grey Teals, Black Ducks, Wood Ducks, Hardheads, Pelicans, Pied Cormorants, egrets, Gull-Billed Terns, Yellow-billed Spoonbills and Glossy, Straw-necked and White Ibis, as well as Purple Swamphens, White-headed Stilts, Magpie Geese and Mountain Ducks.
Fivebough Swamp
Continuing east, the landscape below becomes progressively greener and increases in vertical relief with more hills and ridgelines to negotiate. We count a series of small watercourses, dams and reservoirs with low to moderate numbers of waterbirds before arriving at the larger wetlands fringing the towns of Bowral and Mittagong.
Aerial photograph shows small aircraft wing above an extensive wetland during an ecological survey. Dark water channels, irregular green vegetation mats, shoreline hills, and aircraft shadow.
Aerial photograph documents a small aircraft flying over a brown-water wetland, with wing and propeller visible at left and aircraft shadow below. Shallow channels, vegetated marsh, green hills, distant mountains, and blue sky.

These include a weir pool on the Wingecarribee River and Wingecarribee Reservoir and Swamp.

There are low numbers of waterbirds, mainly Grey Teal, Wood Duck, cormorants and Pelicans.
Wingecarribee Swamp
With that done, we head back to Sydney to regroup for the next sections of the 2026 survey program.

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Aerial photograph shows a small single-engine airplane viewed from below while flying over a vast desert landscape. White fuselage with blue and red stripes, landing gear, wing structure, and expansive tan terrain beneath blue sky are visible.

Previous day: Day 16, Broken Hill to Griffith

Tuesday 20 October 2026
Light airplane in flight over water and rocks

2026 Eastern Australian Waterbird Survey Daily Blog

See all blogs from the 2026 survey.Â