Day 14, Naracoorte to Mildura

Date: Thursday October 27th 2022

Project: Eastern Australian Waterbird Survey

Observers: John Porter & Heath Dunstan

Pilot: Alex Katopodis

Bad weather again prevents survey work on the 26th forcing a days unplanned stop in Naracoorte. By the 27th we are keen to get going but the weather once again causes us to re-plan our route and we abandon plans to survey the southern Victorian coast from Warrnambool to Sale. Instead, we head north to the Wimmera Lakes (including Lakes Hindmarsh, Albacutya and Tyrell). Lake Albacutya is almost dry, with only a small puddle of water and no birds; 

Surveying Lake Hindmarsh.

Lake Tyrell is highly saline and rarely supports many birds although we do see our first flock of banded stilts – a highly nomadic salt water specialist. From there we fly over the Raak plains then refuel at Mildura. 

Highly saline, Lake Tyrell often has a pink tinge from red algae.

Surveying Lake Tyrell.

After a quick pit stop, we venture west, counting along the Murray River floodplain between Mildura and Renmark. The floodplain here is covered with sheets of water and we pick our way methodically west, but only encounter very low densities of waterbirds. The most common are Mountain Duck, Grey Teal, spoonbills, egrets, herons and ibis. We return to Mildura overnight.