Date: Monday, October 12, 2015
Project: Eastern Australian Waterbird Survey
Observer - Terry Korn
Few people have the privilege to cross Cooper’s Creek, the Diamantina River, King’s Creek, Eyre Creek, Bulloo River, Paroo River and Warrego River in a day’s work. Today we did just that by flying west from Windorah on the northern edge of the Cooper’s Creek floodplain, out to Eyre Creek in the Simpson Desert before heading south and then east along Band 7 to overnight at Charleville. On this eastern run we re-crossed the Diamantina and Cooper’s Creek before crossing the Bulloo, Paroo and Warrego Rivers. In between, we broke for lunch at the Birdsville Pub.
This part of Australia is very dry so little water is flowing although good water persists in the big waterholes on the Cooper. Such waterholes are critical refugia for the specialist terrestrial and aquatic species adapted to this arid environment.
There were no big counts of waterbirds on any of the designated wetlands in either Band 8 or Band 7 other than 1500 Whistle ducks on a large permanent waterhole, just west of the main Diamantina channels.
Diamantina River channels. Photo: Terry Korn
Flood runners, Mipia Lake. Photo: Terry Korn
Mipia Lake. Photo: Terry Korn
We did pass over Mipia Lake north of Birdsville, which is not on our survey band, and it held thousands of birds of many species. There were more than 2000 red-necked avocets, about 150 brolgas, thousands of grey teal and hundreds of pelicans, pink-eared duck, hardhead and Austrlaian wood duck. Mipia Lake is part of the Lake Machattie complex which is spectacular in a flood. Visit it on Google Earth and get an appreciation of this wonderful arid wetland complex about 100km north-west of Birdsville.