An Australasian bittern at a carefully preserved wetland near Balranald in the NSW Riverina.
Photo by
Peter Morton
New footage from a carefully preserved wetland shows an abundance of wildlife, in a project ecologists hope will reveal the beauty of the Murray-Darling Basin.
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A yabby makes a daring escape from a bird of prey, while two ibis squabble over a meal.
Black swans frolic, spiders hunt in the moonlight, and an elusive frog warbles in the reeds.
While it might sound like a mythical tale, this is the abundance of life on a carefully preserved wetland in Australia’s largest river system.
Ecologists have collaborated with farmers at Balranald, where the Murray separates NSW and Victoria, to record the movement of wildlife as environmental water ebbs and flows.
Cameras captured a pelican landing in the dawn light when the water was high in late 2024, soon followed by flocks of spoonbills, herons, egrets and ducks.
In a dramatic moment, two whistling kites, which are large raptors, fought over a yabby before the crustacean was spared and dropped back into the water with a splash.
Four months worth of footage has been collated for an interactive digital project called Mosaic: Life on the Western Lakes, which researchers hope will highlight conservation efforts and the beauty of the Murray-Darling Basin.
“We wanted to inspire and lessen the despair that you always hear with the basin,” Charles Sturt University freshwater ecologist Emmalie Sanders said.
A flock of black swans at a carefully preserved wetland near Balranald in the NSW Riverina.
Photo by
Peter Morton
“There’s been a lot of amazing work and collaboration ... to conserve the vegetation and the areas around these wetlands."
The project, a collaboration with the Australian National University, also aims to demonstrate the value of environmental water flows and stands as a reminder of what’s at stake if the deadly bird flu spreads.
The Lower River Murray, further west, was declared critically endangered in January, including waterways, flood plains, wetlands and vegetation.
The condition of the nation’s wetlands, which are critical for biodiversity, has declined over decades, mostly due to urban expansion and intensive agriculture.
Against this backdrop, ecologists were thrilled to hear the distinctive call of the endangered southern bell frog at Balranald.
“You can see and hear some of the success stories of conservation,” Dr Sanders said.
“The southern bell frog is one of the loudest frogs you can hear in some of the audio recordings, which is fantastic.”
A chorus of other bird species, such as honeyeaters, kingfishers and reed warblers, can also be heard, a particularly poignant sound as Australia braces for the H5N1 bird flu after detections in WA and SA.
The basin’s wetlands could become the epicentre of the flu spread, the Murray-Darling Conservation Alliance warned, calling for prolonged environmental flows to assist breeding events.
“Without emergency co-ordinated action to give these birds the best possible chance of survival, the impact could be catastrophic to bird populations right across the Murray-Darling,” the group’s co-director Craig Wilkins said.
Water birds play an important role in nature by dispersing plant seeds, while species like the straw-necked ibis are sometimes called “farmers’ friends” because of their appetite for insect pests.
“Historically, there’s been a lot of clearing, so we’ve lost a lot of wetlands,” Dr Sanders said.
“They provide a habitat that’s necessary for waterbird breeding events, with a lot of invertebrates like dragon flies that may not be provided by flowing systems.
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