Following another spring of high water flows and water across floodplains, colonial-nesting waterbird breeding occurred for the second time in two years, and only the second time in 10 years. Water for the environment was released to create these large flows and trigger breeding. Since the beginning of 2023 flows have been maintained at steady low flows to minimise the risks to the colonies breeding successes.
The northern Basin has been rapidly drying. The Commonwealth Environmental Water Holder (CEWH) arranged for large volumes of water to be released during February, this water has provided refreshing flows in the lower Balonne. One benefit of this flow has been successfully ensuring that the wetlands areas have remained wet for waterbird breeding. Among the waterbirds breeding, has been large colonies of pelicans.
Photo: Pelican colony at Narran Lake. Shot by Harro on behalf of CES, UNSW.
Did you know that there are over 300 species of dragonfly in Australia? These species are divided into eight families, two of which (Hemicorduliidae and Aeshnidae) occur within the Gwydir Wetlands State Conservation Area. We study these as part of our Food webs indicator because they can tell us a lot about the health of our waterways. In Issue 34 we explain the importance of invertebrates and the dragonflies lifecycle.
Deb Bower has been out on Toorale’s Western Floodplain checking out the Murray River turtle’s interaction with the floodplain, and she shared her findings in an interview with Bourke’s Outback Radio 2Web and an article in Bourke’s Western Herald Newspaper.
The environmental release from Eastern Australia Agriculture’s on-farm storages has reached Narran Lakes and is maintaining important foraging habitat for waterbirds. Inflows to the lakes will cease later this week. You can read more about the environmental release in the attached update.
The rainbow bee-eater (Merops ornatus) is classified as a significant migratory land bird species in the Flow-MER program. It is one of the bird species that is recorded at Toorale National Park and the Warrego Western Floodplain.
Over the last 3 years our team has only found 6 Murray Cod in the Darling-Baaka River between Bourke and Louth. This is reason for concern.
What a year 2021-22 was. With lots of rainfalls, many successful waterbird breeding events and the rebuilding of face-to-face community engagements we in the Flow-MER program have had a year of many highlights.
With the end of the year fast approaching, we also have another quarter of the year done and dusted. During this quarter we have had a continued La Nina year for the third time, meaning more wet times in the Gwydir. These wet conditions mean that presently neither Commonwealth nor NSW water for the environment is being delivered in the Gwydir.
Congratulations to 2rog’s own Paul Frazier and also to Brad Moggridge, who last week, were co-awarded the Peter Cullen Water and Environment Trust ‘2022 Ripple Award’.
