2016 Eastern Australian Waterbird Survey Daily Blog

Observer: Richard Kingsford An early start again on our last day of surveying. Today it was all focused on the Macquarie Marshes, about forty…

Observer: Richard Kingsford We headed west again to count some of the Gwydir wetlands for the second time. We survey all of the major wetlands in…

Observer: Richard Kingsford The next few days will be the last of the survey for the year. I will be glad to be out of the plane, even though it has…

Observer: Richard Kingsford Yesterday evening we flew over our first wetland that we needed to survey today – Bogandillon Swamp, part of the Lachlan…

Observer: Richard Kingsford We spent a beautiful crisp morning surveying the large Victorian lakes of the Murray-Darling Basin, gently bouncing…

Observer: Richard Kingsford We headed for the Lachlan River and its floods, via Griffith to refuel and have lunch. It was slow going heading west…

Observer: Richard Kingsford Today was our last day surveying the River Murray. The Lower Lakes, the Coorong and the Murray Mouth is a very special…

Observer: Richard Kingsford Today was delightful for aerial survey but disappointing for the waterbirds. We experienced the best conditions for…

Observer: Richard Kingsford Today was a great day for ‘water sights’. Low wind and a cool day were ideal conditions for flying, starting with where…

Observer: Richard Kingsford We left early to get to Albury and start surveying the River Murray. On the way, we flew past Lake George again, not one…

Observer: Richard Kingsford We got away just before daybreak. It was smooth to begin with as we surveyed the King and then the Ovens Rivers, south…

25/10/16 Observer - Richard Kingsford We left early on a crisp morning, flying over the crater lake, Tower Hill Nature Reserve, near Warrnambool on…

Observer: Richard Kingsford Day 14 of our survey was a beautiful one. Not a cloud in the sky and just a breath of wind when we took off from Sydney…

Observer: Terry Korn After an overnight stay in the Walter Burley Griffin designed Riverina town of Griffith, we woke to five degrees outside and…

Observer: Terry Korn Forecast rain and threats of 100km/hr. winds worried us as we departed south from Broken Hill for Renmark on the banks of the…

Observer: Terry Korn Cloud shrouded mountains were caressed by our Cessna 206 as we crossed the Blue mountains on a path which would ultimately have…

Observer: Richard Kingsford Today is the last leg of our northern surveys. The amount of water everywhere is the standout ‘take home’ message from…

Observer: Richard Kingsford We decided on an early start today to capitalise on the cool conditions. Plane is loaded and ready to go at dawn at…

Observer: Richard Kingsford It was cold in Cunnamulla early this morning when we left – jumper weather. We even had to put the heater on in the…

Observer: Richard Kingsford A welcome cold morning at 150 C. Cool is ideal when we are surveying the outback. On hot days, the plane bounces as it…

Observer: Richard Kingsford This is another of our long days, particularly because there is so much water around. We have to head west along Band 8…

Observer: Richard Kingsford Today we head west to the channel country where we will stop for the night. From Rockhampton, we go south over the Mt…

Observer: Richard Kingsford Today’s survey from Mt Isa to Rockhampton is a long day. We start early in the relative cool, hoping that we wont have a…

Observer: Richard Kingsford West today to Mt Isa – surveying all of the wetlands and rivers for their waterbirds, along our most northerly survey…

Observer - Richard Kingsford One of my favourite days of survey – flying along the Queensland coastline, up to the Whitsunday Islands. First on our…

Observer: Richard Kingsford Once again it seems, we can say the 2016 aerial survey of waterbirds across eastern Australia is going to be different…