Natimuk-Douglas Wetlands
Encyclopedia
Wetland
A wetland is an area of land whose soil is saturated with water either permanently or seasonally. Wetlands are categorised by their characteristic vegetation, which is adapted to these unique soil conditions....
s in the semi-arid
Semi-arid
A semi-arid climate or steppe climate describes climatic regions that receive precipitation below potential evapotranspiration, but not extremely...
Wimmera
Wimmera
The Wimmera is a region in the west of the Australian state of Victoria.It covers the dryland farming area south of the range of Mallee scrub, east of the South Australia border and north of the Great Dividing Range...
region of western Victoria
Victoria (Australia)
Victoria is the second most populous state in Australia. Geographically the smallest mainland state, Victoria is bordered by New South Wales, South Australia, and Tasmania on Boundary Islet to the north, west and south respectively....
. Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
. They are important for waterbirds.
Description
The wetlands lie between the small towns of GorokeGoroke, Victoria
Goroke is a town in the Wimmera region of Victoria. The town is located in the Shire of West Wimmera Local Government Area, north west of the state capital, Melbourne...
on the west and Natimuk
Natimuk, Victoria
Natimuk is a town in Western Victoria, Australia. It is located about 300km northwest of Melbourne. A further 10km west of Natimuk is one of Australia's best climbing areas, Mount Arapiles. At the 2006 census, Natimuk had a population of 449.-History:...
on the east, while the Little Desert National Park
Little Desert National Park
The Little Desert National Park is in Victoria, Australia, 375 kilometres west of Melbourne. It extends from the Wimmera River in the east to near Naracoorte over the South Australian border in the west.-History:...
lies to the north and the Grampians National Park
Grampians National Park
The Grampians National Park is a national park in Victoria, Australia, 235 kilometres west of Melbourne. The Park was listed on the Australian National Heritage List on 15 December 2006 for its outstanding natural beauty and being one of the richest indigenous rock art sites in south-eastern...
to the south-east. The Wimmera experiences hot, dry summers and mild, wet winters; waterbird numbers peak between July and November in most years, especially when there has been good local rainfall and when inland Australia is dry. Most of the wetlands are ephemeral
Ephemeral
Ephemeral things are transitory, existing only briefly. Typically the term is used to describe objects found in nature, although it can describe a wide range of things....
and subject to seasonal flooding, but some retain water throughout the year. Many of the wetlands are fringed by saltmarsh
Salt marsh
A salt marsh is an environment in the upper coastal intertidal zone between land and salt water or brackish water, it is dominated by dense stands of halophytic plants such as herbs, grasses, or low shrubs. These plants are terrestrial in origin and are essential to the stability of the salt marsh...
; other plant communities such as sedgeland
Cyperaceae
Cyperaceae are a family of monocotyledonous graminoid flowering plants known as sedges, which superficially resemble grasses or rushes. The family is large, with some 5,500 species described in about 109 genera. These species are widely distributed, with the centers of diversity for the group...
and paperbark
Melaleuca
Melaleuca is a genus of plants in the myrtle family Myrtaceae known for its natural soothing and cleansing properties. There are well over 200 recognised species, most of which are endemic to Australia...
forest also occur. Most of the wetlands have some protection in small, individual reserves surrounded by farmland, though seasonal waterfowl hunting is permitted on many.
Birds
The area has been identified by BirdLife InternationalBirdLife International
BirdLife International is a global Partnership of conservation organisations that strives to conserve birds, their habitats and global biodiversity, working with people towards sustainability in the use of natural resources...
as a highly fragmented 65 km2 Important Bird Area
Important Bird Area
An Important Bird Area is an area recognized as being globally important habitat for the conservation of bird populations. Currently there are about 10,000 IBAs worldwide. The program was developed and sites are identified by BirdLife International...
(IBA) because it has supported over 1% of the world populations of Australian Shelduck
Australian Shelduck
The Australian Shelduck, Tadorna tadornoides, is a shelduck, a group of large goose-like birds which are part of the bird family Anatidae, which also includes the swans, geese and ducks. The Anatidae article should be referred to for an overview of this group of birds.This is a bird which breeds...
s, Banded Stilt
Banded Stilt
The Banded Stilt is a nomadic stilt from Australia. It belongs to the monotypical genus Cladorhynchus. It gets its name from the red-brown breast band found on breeding adults, but this is mottled or entirely absent in non-breeding adults and juveniles. Its remaining plumage is pied and the eyes...
s, Red-necked Avocet
Red-necked Avocet
The Red-necked Avocet is a water bird found throughout Australia, except for the northern parts of the Northern Territory....
s and Red-capped Plover
Red-capped Plover
The Red-capped Plover , also known as the Red-capped Dotterel, is a small plover. It breeds in Australia. The species is closely related to the Kentish Plover, Javan Plover and White-fronted Plover.-Description:Red-capped Plovers have white underparts and forehead...
s. Other waterbirds sometimes using the site in moderate numbers include Musk Duck
Musk Duck
The Musk Duck is a highly aquatic, stiff-tailed duck native to southern Australia. It is the only living member of the genus Biziura. An extinct relative, the New Zealand Musk Duck or de Lautour's Duck , once occurred on New Zealand, but is only known from prehistoric subfossil bones...
s, Black Swan
Black Swan
The Black Swan is a large waterbird, a species of swan, which breeds mainly in the southeast and southwest regions of Australia. The species was hunted to extinction in New Zealand, but later reintroduced. Within Australia they are nomadic, with erratic migration patterns dependent upon climatic...
s, Grey Teal
Grey Teal
The Grey Teal, Anas gracilis is a dabbling duck found in open wetlands in New Guinea, Australia, New Zealand, Vanuatu and Solomon Islands....
s, Hoary-headed Grebe
Hoary-headed Grebe
The Hoary-headed Grebe, Poliocephalus poliocephalus, is a member of the grebe family found in Australia and, since 1975, New Zealand, where it is scarce....
s and Sharp-tailed Sandpiper
Sharp-tailed Sandpiper
The Sharp-tailed Sandpiper, Calidris acuminata is a small wader.- Taxonomy :More recently, a review of new data has indicated that this bird should perhaps better be placed into the genus Philomachus- as P...
s. The saltmarsh provides foraging habitat for Blue-winged Parrot
Blue-winged Parrot
The Blue-winged Parrot, Neophema chrysostoma, also known as the Blue-banded Parakeet or Blue-banded Grass-parakeet, is a small parrot found in Tasmania and southeast Australia....
s. Red-tailed Black Cockatoo
Red-tailed Black Cockatoo
The Red-tailed Black Cockatoo , also known as Banksian- or Banks' Black Cockatoo, is a large cockatoo native to Australia. This species was known as Calyptorhynchus magnificus for many decades until the current scientific name was officially conserved in 1994. It is more common in the drier parts...
s, Flame Robin
Flame Robin
The Flame Robin is a small passerine bird native to Australia. It is a moderately common resident of the coolest parts of south-eastern Australia, including Tasmania. Like the other two red-breasted Petroica robins—the Scarlet Robin and the Red-capped Robin—it is often simply but...
s and Diamond Firetail
Diamond Firetail
The Diamond Firetail Stagonopleura guttata is a species of estrildid finch found in eastern Australia, from Eyre Peninsula, South Australia, to south-eastern Queensland, commonly found on the slopes of the Great Dividing Range. The bird lives in eucalypt forest and woodland, mallee country,...
s are occasionally seen.