2024 Waterbird Survey Map

 

 

Date Location Description
08/11/2024 Swan Hill to Sydney

Observers:Richard Kingsford, John Porter

Pilot:Thomas Clark

Swan Hill lies on the River Murray and a key place for us to stay once we have finished the surveys of the Kerang Lakes. 

07/11/2024 Day 24, Goolwa to Swan Hill

Observers:Richard Kingsford, John Porter, 

Trainee: Shelley Thompson

Pilot:Thomas Clark

We left Goolwa pretty early and headed northeast towards the Lower River Murray to do our second count.

06/11/2024 Day 23, Goolwa to Goolwa

Observers:Richard Kingsford, John Porter, 

Trainee: Shelley Thompson

Pilot:Thomas Clark

We always start this full day on the Lower Lakes and the Coorong very early. 

05/11/2024 Day 22, Mildura to Goolwa

Observers:Richard Kingsford, John Porter

Trainee: Shelley Thompson

Pilot:Thomas Clark

We headed northwest of Mildura towards the town of Wentworth where the Darling River ...

04/11/2024 Day 21, Sydney to Mildura 

Observers:John Porter, Richard Kingsford, 

Pilot:Thomas Clark

A heavily overcast day with plenty of haze is the order of the day as we depart Sydney to head south west along the floodplain of the Murray River...

31/10/2024 Griffith to Sydney

Observers: John Porter, Jody O'Connor

Pilot:Thomas Clark

Transit day

30/10/2024 Day 20, Bourke to Griffith

Observers: John Porter, Jody O'Connor

Pilot:Thomas Clark

Another clear morning for us as we prepared the aircraft to depart Bourke, knowing the increasing temperatures during the day would mean increasingly bumpy conditions.

29/10/2024 Day 19, Moree to Bourke

Observers: John Porter, Jody O'Connor

Pilot:Thomas Clark

Another day of warm temperatures and clear skies greeted us at Moree airport as we prepared the aircraft and headed west as we counted along Carole Creek,

28/10/2024 Day 18, Sydney to Moree

Observers:John Porter, Jody O'Connor

Trainees: David Preston and Jorge Maldonado Arciniegas

Pilot:Thomas Clark

Another day with clear skies greeted us on Monday morning at Bankstown airport; our first destination for the day was Moree...

23/10/2024 Day 17, Hay to Sydney

Observers:John Porter, Shannon Dundas

Trainee: Kurt Murphy

Pilot: Thomas Clark

Our morning's counting objective was heading east along the highly modified Murrumbidgee flood plain towards Griffith. 

22/10/2024 Day 16, Broken Hill to Hay

Observers:John Porter, Shannon Dundas

Trainee: Scott Henshall

Pilot: Thomas Clark

Our stay in Broken Hill was badly timed as we had arrived in the midst of a total power black-out. 

21/10/2024 Day 15, Sydney to Broken Hill 

Observers: John Porter, Shannon Dundas

Trainee:Kurt Murphy

Pilot: Thomas Clark

After the usual pre-flight checks and preparation we departed Sydney and headed to Burrendong Dam in the upper reaches of the Macquarie River. 

17/10/2024 Day 14, Wangaratta to Sydney

Observers: John Porter, Paul Wainwright

Trainee: Scott Henshall

Pilot: Thomas Clark

Clear blue sky and barely a breath of wind greeted us as we departed Wangaratta – perfect duck counting conditions! 

16/10/2024 Day 13, Narracoorte to Wangaratta

Observers: John Porter, Paul Wainwright

Trainee: Scott Henshall

Pilot: Thomas Clark

Departing Narracoorte we flew north to reach survey Band 2 and then continued east. 

15/10/2024 Day 12, Warrnambool to Narracoorte

Observers: John Porter, Paul Wainwright

Trainee: Scott Henshall

Pilot: Thomas Clark

The weather serves us up a mixed bag today with rain showers hampering visibility for short periods but then clearing...

14/10/2024 Day 11, Sydney to Warrnambool

Observers: John Porter, Paul Wainwright

Trainee: Scott Henshall

Pilot: Thomas Clark

Despite some uninspiring weather forecasts we departed Sydney and headed south to Avon and Cordeaux dams near Wollongong. 

11/10/2024 Day 10, Armidale to Sydney

Observers: Richard Kingsford, Chris Sanderson

Pilot: Thomas Clark

Our last survey day was short. We left with low cloud around Armidale and headed south to survey Band 4. 

10/10/2024 Day 9, Tibooburra to Armidale

Observers: Richard Kingsford, Chris Sanderson

Pilot: Thomas Clark

Again, we headed off early in the morning after refuelling at Tibooburra and headed south to survey Band 5...

09/10/2024 Day 8, Tibooburra to Tibooburra - Coongie Lakes

Observers: Richard Kingsford, Chris Sanderson

Pilot: Thomas Clark

We headed off early, north of Tibooburra to pick up survey Band 6 where we left off yesterday. 

08/10/2024 Day 7, Dalby to Tibooburra

Observers: Richard Kingsford, Chris Sanderson

Pilot: Thomas Clark

We headed off early down to survey Band 6 which starts with Coolmunda Dam. 

07/10/2024 Day 6, Birdsville to Dalby

Observers: Richard Kingsford, Chris Sanderson

Pilot: Thomas Clark

It was a beautiful morning, with the sun shining on the dunes, as we left Birdsville to go south...

06/10/2024 Day 5, Rockhampton to Birdsville

Observers: Richard Kingsford, Chris Sanderson

Pilot: Thomas Clark

We started the survey on Band 8, just east of Biloela, south of Rockhampton on a hazy humid day.  

04/10/2024 Day 4, Mount Isa to Rockhampton

Observers: Richard Kingsford, Chris Sanderson

Pilot: Thomas Clark

Today was a long leg, demanding an early start with a plane load up before dawn. 

03/10/2024 Day 3, Airlie Beach to Mount Isa

Observers: Richard Kingsford, Chris Sanderson

Pilot: Thomas Clark

Taking off over Shute Harbour and looking out to the Whitsunday Islands on our way west, along Survey Band 10.

02/10/2024 Day 2, Maroochydore to Airlie Beach

Observers: Richard Kingsford, Chris Sanderson

Pilot: Thomas Clark

Maroochydore lies within one of our survey bands and so soon after we got in the air...

01/10/2024 Day 1, Sydney to Maroochydore

Observers: Richard Kingsford, Chris Sanderson

Pilot: Thomas Clark

Great day for flying. The 42nd year of our aerial survey of waterbirds was all in front of us.

01/10/2024 Day 1, pre-survey, Sydney

Observers: Richard Kingsford, Chris Sanderson

Pilot: Thomas Clark

Lead researcher Richard Kingsford provides a summary of the upcoming 2024 aerial survey.