Day 5, Rockhampton to Birdsville
After a quick dash for coffee we arrived at the airport ready to leave Rockhampton and head to Birdsville on the edge of the Simpon desert. It’s a journey that will take us across more 2,000 km of central and western Queensland.
Photo: Lake Torquinnie
Survey details
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Date
Sunday 5th October 2025
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Author
John Porter
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Project
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Observers
John Porter (NSW DCCEEW), Chris Sanderson
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Pilot
Thomas Clark
Our first target is Callide reservoir near Biloela – its got lots of water and a reasonable number of birds, mainly grey teal, black duck, wood duck and hardhead as well as pelicans, cormorants, egrets and terns.
From Biloela we work our way west, covering small creek lines and lagoons as well as dams and reservoirs. The waterbirds are all there but in low numbers.
The braided channels of the Barcoo and Thompson Rivers are next but have only small amounts of water and relatively few waterbirds
The Diamantina channels are holding water from the flooding rains earlier in the year – but there are only low numbers of waterbirds – Black Duck, Grey Teal, egrets and herons.
Lake Machattie is a large (18,000ha) freshwater lake that fills from channels of the Diamantina River – together with nearby brackish Lakes Mipia and Koolivoo they form a spectacular site – and of course are a fantastic habitat for waterbirds and aquatic biota.
Our final targets for the day are Lakes Mumbleberry and Torquinnie – two beautiful temporary wetlands that become saline as they dry back, causing the water to become very clear and enabling the growth of invertebrates and submergent aquatic plants communities that can support huge numbers of waterbirds.
Today we found moderate to high numbers of birds – several thousand Grey Teal, Pink-eared Ducks, as well as Black Duck, Freckled Duck, Hardhead and Wood Duck plus terns, herons, egrets and stilts. Very few cormorants or Pelicans were on these lakes, probably because their salinity makes it unsuitable for most fish species.
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