Autumn rain turns SA Riverland birds into spectacle

The often dry landscape of South Australia’s Riverland is turning green following heavy rain. Sixty-six millimetres of rain fell in Renmark last weekend, making it the wettest place in the the state, and more than 40mm fell in other Riverland towns. The wet weather followed an extended period of drought and brought a sense of relief to farmers looking to seed. A boom in birdlife has come along with the optimism. Twitchers are delighted to see pelicans on the river and birds rarely seen in

the region. Bird numbers at Gluepot Reserve, about 60 kilometres out of Waikerie, have exceeded what is normally expected at this time of year. “We’ve had 32mm of rain over the [past] weekend, which puts it in the realms of an exceptional season,” Gluepot Management Committee chairman Ian Falkenberg said. “These are the sort of years where you see birds that probably wouldn’t normally be seen at Gluepot, so anything’s possible.” He has seen orange chats, white-fronted chats, pink cockatoos and high numbers of woodswallows

as the water settles. “We’re certainly seeing other waterbirds around that standing water,” Mr Falkenberg said. “Particularly ducks, grebes … some herons. Renmark-based birdwatcher Teresa ter Bogt said she had noticed an increase in numbers in the Mallee. “Black-faced cuckoo-shrikes, they seem to have increased in numbers,” she said. “The honeyeaters are really coming back now there’s some Mallee flowering. “The striped honeyeater is one that I’ve seen a lot more. “The last time I was out there, [I saw] the black-eared cuckoo, which is

the first time I’ve ever seen that in the Mallee just north of Renmark.” Ms Bogt said even rarer birds, such as the buff-banded rail, had been spotted at environmental watering sites near Bookmark Creek. “[It] is a very uncommon bird to see — they are very cryptic and hide in the reeds,” she said. Weebills, chestnut-rumped thornbills, red-capped robins and fairy wrens have all popped up too. What do the experts say? University of New South Wales Centre for Ecosystem Science director Richard Kingsford

said there was plenty for the birds to eat because of the rain. “There’s so many pent-up areas of seeds and insects that just get going at an incredible rate and that just builds the productivity that we have in these amazing boom periods that are so characteristic of our country,” he said. “Those are all such an important part of the food for so many of our birds.” Breeding season has also kicked off, Professor Kingsford said. “When they’ve got enough fat and they

go through their courtship, they’re in a place where they can nest and essentially lay their eggs and feed their chicks because there’s so much food around,” he said. “You’ve also got the predators, like the kites and owls and those sort of species, because there are so many prey for them in terms of small mammals and even birds that they can feed on. That triggers their breeding cycles.” A dry El Niño year is forecast and Professor Kingsford said the birds would eventually

move to other parts of the country. “As the inland dries out a lot of those birds sometimes then move to the wetter parts nearer where we live in the south-eastern part of the continent,” he said. “So we may see more birds later on in the spring and summer than you would see when you didn’t have one of these boom periods.”

South Australia, Riverland, Renmark, Gluepot Reserve, birdlife, pelicans, drought, El Niño, birds breeding, Reuters