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- Rivers and wetlands
- Eastern Australian waterbird survey
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Our research
- Atmospheric
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Conservation practice
- Water Information System for the Environment (WISE)
- Red list of ecosystems
- Shrub encroachment as a legacy of native mammal decline
- Foraging and habitat ecology of the yellow-tailed black-cockatoo
- Tackling prey naïveté in Australia’s threatened mammals
- Biodiversity sampling in Strzelecki Regional Reserve
- The reintroduction of locally extinct mammals: The landscape ecosystem approach
- The persistence of common wombats in road impacted environments
- Temperate highland peat swamps on sandstone
- Cumberland plain woodland restoration
- Strategic adaptive management
- Limit to climate change adaption in floodplain wetlands - Macquarie Marshes
- Managing for ecosystem change in the greater blue mountains world heritage area
- Adaptive management of Ramsar Wetlands
- Managing for biodiversity in boom and bust cycle environments
- Submission on Biodiversity Act Review
- Marine ecosystems
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Remote sensing and GIS
- Mangrove response to climatic variability
- Using radar satellite imagery to detect and monitor flooding in arid Australian wetlands
- Supporting continental retrieval of vegetation biophysical attributes
- The Injune Landscape Collaborative Project
- Tree species shifts in response to environmental change
- Regrowth mapping
- Regional biodiversity responses to climate change
- Will climate change affect the ecology of temporary lakes in Australia?
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Rivers and wetlands
- Changes to the Darling River and Menindee Lakes – past, present and future
- Lowbidgee wetlands of the Murray-Darling Basin - The Nimmie-Caira
- A stitch in time – synergistic impacts to platypus metapopulation extinction risk
- Tube fishway project
- National waterbird survey
- Eastern Australian waterbird survey
- Feather map of Australia
- Life history and dynamics of a platypus (Ornithorhynchus anatinus) population: four decades of mark-recapture surveys
- Adequacy of environmental assessment of the proposed Macquarie River pipeline to the city of Orange
- Increasing production from inland aquaculture in Papua New Guinea for food and income security
- Aquaculture and environmental planning group
- Understanding soil-related constraints on aquaculture production in the highlands of Papua New Guinea
- Improving technologies for inland aquaculture in Papua New Guinea (ACIAR Project FIS2014062)
- Drying of ancient Thirlmere Lakes caused by human activities
- Application of GIS and remote sensing to assess sustainable mariculture and protect conservation zones
- Improving the sustainability of rice-shrimp farming systems in the Mekong Delta, Vietnam
- A SWOT analysis of Papua New Guinea’s inland fisheries and aquaculture sectors
- Carbon and floodplain biota in the Macquarie marshes
- Micro-invertebrate community dynamics and flooding in the Macquarie marshes
- Just add water? The effectiveness of environmental flows during wetland vegetation restoration
- Application of motion sensing cameras as a tool for monitoring riparian fauna
- Captive or wild?
- Brolga and Sarus crane diet comparison
- Lake Brewster pelican banding
- Aquatic invertebrate strategies for coping with drought
- Submission on Draft Lake Eyre Basin Strategic Plan
- The Menindee Lakes Water Savings Project – an example of poor decision-making
- Flow-MER
-
Terrestrial ecosystems
- Post-fire recovery of threatened ecological communities
- Environment Recovery Project: Australian bushfires
- Community stability of upland swamp vegetation
- An innovative approach to maximising catchment water yield in a changing climate
- Post-fire seed production in Hakea Gibbosa
- Managing fire regimes with thresholds to save threatened flora and fauna
- Stopping the toad
- Trophic cascades in NSW North Coast forests
- Individual hunting behavior in feral cats
- Mallee Ecosystem Dynamics
- Investigating artificial waterhole utilisation and management in north-eastern Botswana
- Investigating the spatial ecology, habitat use, behaviour, and ecosystem engineering of hippopotamus (Hippopotamus amphibius), a keystone species in the Okavango Delta and Chobe River, northern Botswana
- Does overgrazing reduce ecosystem functions
-
Study with us
- Courses
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Postgraduate research projects
- Platypus breeding
- Maximising establishment success in reintroduced populations
- PhD scholarship saving our species - patch value, viability and resilience
- PhD scholarship – mechanics of species irruptions
- Conservation ecology of Greater bilby: survival, reproductive success and movement ecology in a breeding sanctuary in NSW
- Scientia PhD scholarship - Identifying healthy burning practices for Australia’s threatened plant species
- Scientia PhD scholarship - Ecosystem restoration through rewilding
- Platypus population health and dynamics
- Tackling prey naiveté in Australia’s endangered mammals
- Testate amoebae: a new biomarker of climate change and human impact in peatlands
- Surface water dynamics as a function of climate and river flow data
- Multisensor integration for environmental flows
- Response of northern Australian mangroves to climatic variability
- Comparative effects of extreme heat on threatened desert mammals
- Alumni - Where are they now?
- FAQ
- Workshops
- Our Impact
- News
- Wild Deserts
- Home
- About us
-
Our research
Conservation practice
- Water Information System for the Environment (WISE)
- Red list of ecosystems
- Shrub encroachment as a legacy of native mammal decline
- Foraging and habitat ecology of the yellow-tailed black-cockatoo
- Tackling prey naïveté in Australia’s threatened mammals
- Biodiversity sampling in Strzelecki Regional Reserve
- The reintroduction of locally extinct mammals: The landscape ecosystem approach
- The persistence of common wombats in road impacted environments
- Temperate highland peat swamps on sandstone
- Cumberland plain woodland restoration
- Strategic adaptive management
- Limit to climate change adaption in floodplain wetlands - Macquarie Marshes
- Managing for ecosystem change in the greater blue mountains world heritage area
- Adaptive management of Ramsar Wetlands
- Managing for biodiversity in boom and bust cycle environments
- Submission on Biodiversity Act Review
Remote sensing and GIS
- Mangrove response to climatic variability
- Using radar satellite imagery to detect and monitor flooding in arid Australian wetlands
- Supporting continental retrieval of vegetation biophysical attributes
- The Injune Landscape Collaborative Project
- Tree species shifts in response to environmental change
- Regrowth mapping
- Regional biodiversity responses to climate change
- Will climate change affect the ecology of temporary lakes in Australia?
Rivers and wetlands
- Changes to the Darling River and Menindee Lakes – past, present and future
- Lowbidgee wetlands of the Murray-Darling Basin - The Nimmie-Caira
- A stitch in time – synergistic impacts to platypus metapopulation extinction risk
- Tube fishway project
- National waterbird survey
- Eastern Australian waterbird survey
- Feather map of Australia
- Life history and dynamics of a platypus (Ornithorhynchus anatinus) population: four decades of mark-recapture surveys
- Adequacy of environmental assessment of the proposed Macquarie River pipeline to the city of Orange
- Increasing production from inland aquaculture in Papua New Guinea for food and income security
- Aquaculture and environmental planning group
- Understanding soil-related constraints on aquaculture production in the highlands of Papua New Guinea
- Improving technologies for inland aquaculture in Papua New Guinea (ACIAR Project FIS2014062)
- Drying of ancient Thirlmere Lakes caused by human activities
- Application of GIS and remote sensing to assess sustainable mariculture and protect conservation zones
- Improving the sustainability of rice-shrimp farming systems in the Mekong Delta, Vietnam
- A SWOT analysis of Papua New Guinea’s inland fisheries and aquaculture sectors
- Carbon and floodplain biota in the Macquarie marshes
- Micro-invertebrate community dynamics and flooding in the Macquarie marshes
- Just add water? The effectiveness of environmental flows during wetland vegetation restoration
- Application of motion sensing cameras as a tool for monitoring riparian fauna
- Captive or wild?
- Brolga and Sarus crane diet comparison
- Lake Brewster pelican banding
- Aquatic invertebrate strategies for coping with drought
- Submission on Draft Lake Eyre Basin Strategic Plan
- The Menindee Lakes Water Savings Project – an example of poor decision-making
- Flow-MER
Terrestrial ecosystems
- Post-fire recovery of threatened ecological communities
- Environment Recovery Project: Australian bushfires
- Community stability of upland swamp vegetation
- An innovative approach to maximising catchment water yield in a changing climate
- Post-fire seed production in Hakea Gibbosa
- Managing fire regimes with thresholds to save threatened flora and fauna
- Stopping the toad
- Trophic cascades in NSW North Coast forests
- Individual hunting behavior in feral cats
- Mallee Ecosystem Dynamics
- Investigating artificial waterhole utilisation and management in north-eastern Botswana
- Investigating the spatial ecology, habitat use, behaviour, and ecosystem engineering of hippopotamus (Hippopotamus amphibius), a keystone species in the Okavango Delta and Chobe River, northern Botswana
- Does overgrazing reduce ecosystem functions
-
Study with us
Postgraduate research projects
- Platypus breeding
- Maximising establishment success in reintroduced populations
- PhD scholarship saving our species - patch value, viability and resilience
- PhD scholarship – mechanics of species irruptions
- Conservation ecology of Greater bilby: survival, reproductive success and movement ecology in a breeding sanctuary in NSW
- Scientia PhD scholarship - Identifying healthy burning practices for Australia’s threatened plant species
- Scientia PhD scholarship - Ecosystem restoration through rewilding
- Platypus population health and dynamics
- Tackling prey naiveté in Australia’s endangered mammals
- Testate amoebae: a new biomarker of climate change and human impact in peatlands
- Surface water dynamics as a function of climate and river flow data
- Multisensor integration for environmental flows
- Response of northern Australian mangroves to climatic variability
- Comparative effects of extreme heat on threatened desert mammals
- Our Impact
- News
- Wild Deserts
Overview
Aerial survey of waterbirds provides one the few quantitative, large scale biodiversity datasets that can monitor changes in the distribution and abundance of 50 waterbird species, including threatened species, and the health of rivers and wetlands. The survey is a powerful tool to observe changes in Ramsar wetland conditions as well as other global and international conservation agreements. The survey can also detect potential long-term changes through implementation of the Basin Plan.
The Eastern Australian Waterbird Survey is one of the largest wildlife surveys in Australia, surveying major wetland sites in the Murray-Darling Basin, providing invaluable information on the ecosystem health of wetlands and rivers. 2024 will be the 42nd year the survey has run. This long-term data provides the essential baseline information with which to assess changes and impacts on the environment, particularly wetlands and rivers. It is also providing some of the only long-term objective data on waterbird populations in Australia. This has proved particularly relevant in understanding the dynamics of environmental water needs for biodiversity purposes especially as they relate to waterbirds and wetlands. Changes in waterbird numbers provides a tangible way of indicating and measuring changes in the ecological health of river and wetland systems.
The surveys began in 1983, when the eastern states (Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia), the Commonwealth government and the CSIRO began an ambitious program to monitor waterbirds across one third of the continent, from the east coast to the Northern Territory border and from Prosperpine to south of Melbourne. From 1987 to 2004, the survey project was run by the New South Wales National Parks and Wildlife Service. Since 2005 the project has been run by The University of New South Wales, based on its recognised long-term expertise in this field.
Detailed data and expert analysis produced from the aerial survey project have provided the impetus for major improvements to onground management of waterbirds, rivers and wetlands. The ongoing and up to date information provided as a result of the surveys has been vital in identification of the national importance of inland wetlands, protection of the Paroo River and Cooper Creek and major changes or contributions to water management policies for the Macquarie Marshes, Menindee Lakes and the Lowbidgee floodplain wetlands.
Many of the Commonwealth’s responsibilities in relation to migratory waterbirds and management of wetlands under the EPBC Act are informed by the information collected during the aerial survey. The survey information has provided a substantive base for discussions held under Australia’s bilateral agreements on migratory waterbirds with Japan, China and the Republic of Korea.
In October of each year, waterbirds in eastern Australia are counted from the air on over 2000 wetlands (100 hours flying). Abundance indices for all waterbird species are collected during aerial surveys of eastern Australia each year on every wetland surveyed. An area of 2,697,000 km2 is systematically sampled within ten survey bands 30 km in width, spaced every 2° of latitude from 38°30’S to 20°30’S (Kingsford et al. 1999a, see Braithwaite et al. 1985 for methodology; Fig. 1). More than 50 taxa of waterbirds are counted on all water bodies larger than 1 ha. All lakes are surveyed during October and November each year from a high-winged aircraft (Cessna 206) with two observers, one each side of the plane, estimating numbers of waterbirds of each species onto digital audio recorders.
Observer's survey blogs
- 2024 Eastern Australian Waterbird Survey
- 2023 Eastern Australian Waterbird Survey
- 2022 Eastern Australian Waterbird Survey
- 2021 Eastern Australian Waterbird Survey
- 2020 Eastern Australian Waterbird Survey
- 2019 Eastern Australian Waterbird Survey
- 2018 Eastern Australian Waterbird Survey
- 2017 Eastern Australian Waterbird Survey
- 2016 Eastern Australian Waterbird Survey
- 2015 Eastern Australian Waterbird Survey
- 2014 Eastern Australian Waterbird Survey
Figure 1. Ten aerial survey bands (each 30 km in width), every two degrees of latitude, crossing eastern Australia to monitor up to 2000 wetlands and provide estimates for up to 50 species of waterbirds in October each year (1983-2023).
The aircraft is flown at a height of 30 – 46 m and a speed of 167 km hr-1 (90 knots), within 150 m of the shoreline, where waterbirds usually congregate (Kingsford and Porter 1994). Most waterbirds are identified to species, although species in four groups could not be separated: small egrets (3 species), small grebes (2 species), small (>20 species) and large (>5 species) migratory waders (Kingsford and Porter 1994; Kingsford et al. 1994). Either the whole wetland is circumnavigated or a proportion of the wetland (> 50 %) counted. Counts for each species are totalled for each observer to give either a total count for a wetland or a proportional count for the wetland.
This survey is run by the Centre for Ecosystem Science at the University of NSW in partnership with the NSW Office of Environment & Heritage, with additional funding provided by the South Australian Department of Environment and Water, the Queensland Department of Environment and Science, the Victorian Department of Environment, Land, Water & Planning, the Victorian Game Management Authority and the Department of Environment of the Australian Government.
Eastern Australian waterbird survey team members, 2023
The aerial survey team has now completed the 42nd annual waterbird survey of eastern Australia, surveying all major wetland sites in the Murray-Darling Basin and other sites in the Riverina for waterbirds. The project is supported by all eastern State conservation agencies and the Murray-Darling Basin Authority.
To view highlights and gain an insight to the condition of wetlands in Eastern Australia over October and November 2024, select a day of the blog by using our interactive flight sections on the map below.