Birds of the Murray–Darling Basin Edited by Richard Kingsford, Jenny Lau and James O’Connor TABLE OF CONTENTS Birds of the Murray–Darling Basin: 2 Birds of the Murray–Darling Basin: Overview Overview Jenny Lau 4 Introduction Richard Kingsford 8 Boom-and-bust cycles of waterbirds Richard Kingsford 9 Counting the continent’s waterbirds Richard Kingsford, John Porter and Stuart Halse 10 The enigmatic travels of Australian waterbirds David Roshier and Richard Kingsford 12 Ramsar wetlands of the Murray–Darling Basin Richard Kingsford 14 Waterbird communities of the Living Murray Icon Sites John Porter and Richard Kingsford 16 Wetland and floodplain IBAs of the Murray– Darling Basin Jenny Lau 18 The Coorong, Lower Lakes and Murray Mouth— an important and complementary bird habitat in the Murray–Darling Basin Daniel Rogers and David Paton 22 The Paroo: the last free-flowing river in the Murray–Darling Basin Richard Kingsford The declining state of the rivers and wetlands 24 Australasian Bitterns in the Murray–Darling Basin of eastern Australia, particularly those of Andrew Silcocks, Rick Webster and Matt Herring the Murray–Darling Basin, was brought into sharp focus during the Millennium Drought 27 Painting the picture: identifying key habitat for the Australian Painted Snipe (1997–2009). The failure of the ‘Mighty Murray’ Chris Purnell, Janelle Thomas and James O’Connor to break through to the sea from 2001 until 2010 sent a clear message that Australia risked 30 Egrets, ducks and… Brown Treecreepers? losing its beloved river to the ravages of water The importance of flooding and healthy floodplains over-extraction and the salinity, toxic acid for woodland birds soils, algal blooms and other environmental James Fitzsimons, Chris Tzaros, James O’Connor, problems resulting from low river flows. Many Glenn Ehmke and Kerryn Herman media stories used declining waterbird numbers, 34 Grey-crowned Babblers on Victoria’s lower Loddon particularly in the Coorong, as a call for urgent River floodplain action. While water management issues in Chris Tzaros, Ian Davidson, Doug Robinson and Ashley Herrod the Murray–Darling Basin are complex, the community understood that waterbirds were 36 A changing woodland bird community in the the ‘canary in the coal mine’ for the Murray– Macquarie Marshes Darling Basin. Four years on, the mouth of the Alice Blackwood Murray River remains open and the controversial 37 Impact of dams and river regulation on colonially Basin Plan has been passed into law. But it breeding waterbirds will be 10 years before the Basin Plan will be Kate Brandis and Richard Kingsford fully implemented and doubts remain over its capacity to restore the wetlands, floodplains and 38 Environmental water planning rivers of the Murray–Darling Basin (see page 44). Kathryn Stanislawski The Murray–Darling Basin contains nearly 40 Colonial waterbird breeding in Barmah–Millewa Forest half of all wetlands where colonial waterbirds and the use of environmental water breed in Australia. The devastating impacts Keith Ward of the over-extraction and regulation of water 43 Maximising ecological returns from environmental water on our birds are most evident in some of the at the Hattah Lakes Icon Site Murray–Darling Basin’s most important wetlands Jenny Lau and Andrew Greenfield such as Macquarie Marshes, Narran Lakes, the Lowbidgee wetlands and Barmah–Millewa 44 Policy migration in the Murray–Darling Basin Forest (see page 37). For example, Barmah– Jamie Pittock Millewa Forest, which was once celebrated as 46 Waterbird conservation in 2050 the largest egret colony in Victoria, did not Richard Kingsford Jenny Lau BirdLife Australia. host a successful egret breeding event from impacts on wetland-dependent species such important habitat for Australasian Bitterns and 1969–2010 (see page 40). In the Coorong, as Australasian Bittern Botaurus poiciloptilus Australian Painted Snipe (see pages 26, 29). the total number of migratory shorebirds (see page 24) and Australian Painted Snipe declined by 60 per cent between the early Rostratula australis (see page 27) can be dire. This Conservation Statement is not all doom 1980s and early 2000s, while Grey Teal Anas Data from BirdLife Australia’s Atlas of Australian and gloom. It also celebrates the wonder of gracilis, Red-necked Avocets Recurvirostra Birds shows a decline of more than 50 per cent Australia’s waterbirds by exploring boom- novaehollandiae and Australian Pelicans in the number of records of Australasian Bitterns and-bust species that track changing Pelecanus conspicillatus declined by 85 per in the Murray–Darling Basin between the first environmental conditions across the continent, cent, 75 per cent and 77 per cent, respectively, Atlas period (1977–81) and subsequent Atlas particularly following flooding rains (see page between 1985 and 2007 (see page 18). periods (2000–04 and 2005–09). Similarly, 8). The mobility and flexibility of these species reporting rates for Australian Painted Snipe have presents researchers with a major monitoring While the decline of waterbirds and wetlands declined steadily since the 1950s. Both species challenge across the vast expanse of Australia’s across the Murray–Darling Basin is well are now listed as nationally Endangered. inland lakes and wetlands (see page 10). recognised, relatively few people appreciate how reductions in river flows and frequency of To address these declines, our waterbirds The Conservation Statement also highlights flooding degrade floodplain woodlands and require a network of well connected, resilient what can be achieved when environmental impact on woodland birds. In the Macquarie and healthy wetlands. This is particularly water is used to support breeding birds and Marshes, the declining health and death of important in the Murray–Darling Basin where the restoration of wetlands and floodplains large numbers of River Red Gums has led weather and available wetland habitat is (see page 40). The overdevelopment and to a decline in populations of foliage and spatially and temporally variable. Through decline of ecosystems in the Murray–Darling understorey specialists, such as Striated its Important Bird and Biodiversity Areas Basin should act as a salutary warning against Pardalotes Pardalotus striatus and Crested program, BirdLife Australia has identified sites rampant development of our northern rivers Shrike-tits Falcunculus frontatus, while species within the Murray–Darling Basin that could (see page 46). Recent political debate about more typical of open agricultural areas, such form the basis of such a network (see page the need for Australia to develop northern as Crested Pigeons Ocyphaps lophotes, have 16). It is essential that sufficient resources are Australia as the ‘food bowl of Asia’ must be increased (see page 30). Similar changes have committed to the restoration and protection of accompanied by a rigorous, science-based probably affected woodland bird communities these areas. Most importantly, the critical input assessment of the potential environmental throughout the Murray–Darling Basin wetlands. for resilient wetlands — water — needs to be impacts of such schemes. It would be protected and returned to its natural regime tragic if an affluent nation like Australia The decline of a single wetland or river wherever possible. However, conservation repeated the mistakes of its very recent past, catchment may not have a significant impact reserves are only part of the solution, and it particularly in the Murray–Darling Basin. on individual species whose populations are has long been recognised that agricultural highly dispersed. However, when multiple land can play a role in bird conservation. For rivers are degraded across a system as large example, BirdLife Australia’s ‘Bitterns in Rice’ as the Murray–Darling Basin, the cumulative project has shown that rice crops can provide Above: The Coorong has long been a stronghold for Banded Stilt. Photo by Glenn Ehmke BIRDS OF THE MURRAY–DARLING BASIN I 3 Introduction Richard Kingsford Centre for Ecosystem Science, School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of NSW With a catchment of over 1 million km2 The floodplains and wetlands of the Murray– (around 14 per cent of the Australian continent), Darling Basin provide some of the most the Murray–Darling Basin holds more than important habitat in Australia for around 98 30,000 wetlands covering 62,164 km2, almost species of waterbirds. Large concentrations 6 per cent of the land area of the Basin. These of waterbirds feed and breed on the extensive include 16 of the 65 Australian wetlands listed floodplains associated with the 23 river systems. under the Ramsar Convention (the Convention After extensive flooding, dense colonies of on Wetlands of International Importance) tens of thousands of waterbirds occur on the and more than 200 listed in A Directory of Macquarie Marshes, Narran Lakes and the Important Wetlands in Australia. The two Booligal, Gwydir and Lowbidgee wetlands. main rivers, the Murray River (2,508 km) and Other wetlands, most notably the Coorong, the Darling River (1,545 km) which form the are critical for migratory shorebirds, terns and southern and northern parts of the Basin, Banded Stilts Cladorhynchus leucocephalus. respectively, are fed by 23 individual river catchments. The Murray–Darling Basin produces The spectacular colonies and high $15 billion of agricultural produce each year, concentrations of waterbirds on many of including $5 billion from irrigated agriculture. the Basin’s wetlands