The influx includes a newly
discovered breeding colony of the nomadic and somewhat mysterious banded stilt
Helen Davidson
Monday 3 April 2017
06.57 BST Last modified on Monday 3 April 2017 08.26 BST
Tens of thousands of coastal birds
have flocked to the outback after record-breaking rains filled inland lakes to
their highest levels in three decades.
The influx includes a newly
discovered breeding colony of the nomadic and somewhat mysterious banded
stilts, on one of the lakes’ islands in the remote eastern Pilbara region of Western
Australia.
Following torrential January
rains, Parks and Wildlife in
conjunction with the Indigenous Desert Alliance, arranged an aerial survey of
the region’s wetlands, flooded rivers and lakes.
Gareth Catt, spokesman for the
Alliance, said the flyover and the data collected about the lakes “filled
holes” in the knowledge of the desert region’s ecology and showed the remote
lakes were more valuable than previously thought.
“These ephemeral events don’t
really get picked up in general surveys when they occur,” he said.
“Knowing these things are out
there provides a tangible value to this environment that people don’t even know
exist.
“In satellite imagery we saw they
were absolutely brimming with water and that swung us into action pretty
quickly,” said Catt.
“Our main hope was that we would
find banded stilts, which was the main bird we did find in very large numbers,
but it was a mainly a general survey which hadn’t been done before in any
systematic way.”
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