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Gwydir Wetlands
The Gwydir Wetlands comprise a system of irregularly inundated wetlands associated with the Gwydir River in the North West Slopes region of north-eastern New South Wales, Australia. When flooded they form an important site for breeding waterbirds. Description The wetlands lie between the towns of Moree and Mungindi in the Moree Plains Shire near the state border with Queensland. They consist of the inland floodplain of the Gwydir River that splits into the Gingham and Big Leather water courses and creating, when fully flooded, a 1021 km2 wetland some 45 km west of Moree. The extensive wetland area is a good example of an inland terminal delta. The floodwater extends for about 95 km through a series of natural and constructed channels and swamps. Once a closed system, since the building of the 1364 GL Copeton Dam, water flows have been controlled by the State Government water authorities to the detriment of the wetlands. Despite the consequent reducti ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ramsar Convention
The Ramsar Convention on Wetlands of International Importance Especially as Waterfowl Habitat is an international treaty for the conservation and sustainable use of Ramsar sites (wetlands). It is also known as the Convention on Wetlands. It is named after the city of Ramsar in Iran, where the convention was signed in 1971. Every three years, representatives of the contracting parties meet as the Conference of the Contracting Parties (COP), the policy-making organ of the convention which adopts decisions (resolutions and recommendations) to administer the work of the convention and improve the way in which the parties are able to implement its objectives. COP12 was held in Punta del Este, Uruguay, in 2015. COP13 was held in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, in October 2018. List of wetlands of international importance The list of wetlands of international importance included 2,331 Ramsar sites in May 2018 covering over . The countries with most sites are the United Kingdo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
BirdLife International
BirdLife International is a global partnership of non-governmental organizations that strives to conserve birds and their habitats. BirdLife International's priorities include preventing extinction of bird species, identifying and safeguarding important sites for birds, maintaining and restoring key bird habitats, and empowering conservationists worldwide. It has a membership of more than 2.5 million people across 116 country partner organizations, including the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, the Wild Bird Society of Japan, the National Audubon Society and American Bird Conservancy. BirdLife International has identified 13,000 Important Bird and Biodiversity Areas and is the official International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List authority for birds. As of 2015, BirdLife International has established that 1,375 bird species (13% of the total) are threatened with extinction ( critically endangered, endangered or vulnerable). BirdLife International p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Important Bird Areas Of New South Wales
Importance is a property of entities that matter or make a difference. For example, World War II was an important event and Albert Einstein was an important person because of how they affected the world. There are disagreements in the academic literature about what type of difference is required. According to the causal impact view, something is important if it has a big causal impact on the world. This view is rejected by various theorists, who insist that an additional aspect is required: that the impact in question makes a value difference. This is often understood in terms of how the important thing affects the well-being of people. So on this view, World War II was important, not just because it brought about many wide-ranging changes but because these changes had severe negative impacts on the well-being of the people involved. The difference in question is usually understood counterfactually as the contrast between how the world actually is and how the world would have be ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Painted Honeyeater
The painted honeyeater (''Grantiella picta'') is a species of honeyeater in a monotypic genus. Taxonomy A member of the family Meliphagidae, ''Grantiella picta'' is the sole species under this genus. The painted honeyeater was first described in 1838 by Gould and given the name ''Entomophila picta'',Gould, J. (1865). ''Handbook to the birds of Australia''. Retrieved from https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/34074714#page/540/mode/1up but it was renamed ''Grantiella picta'' in 1911 by Mathews. It took another sixty years from its initial description before details of its eggs, habits, and distribution began to be investigated and recorded. Its genus name is in reference to Robert Grant, a Scottish-born taxidermist and collector, while the species name originates from the Latin word for painted, ''pictus'', and refers to the yellow markings on the feathers of its tail and wings. DNA sequencing has helped in organising genera within the family Meliphagidae into four main cla ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Australian Painted Snipe
The Australian painted-snipe (''Rostratula australis'') is a medium-sized, long-billed, distinctively patterned wader. Taxonomy The distinctiveness of the Australian painted-snipe was recognised by John Gould in 1838 when he described and named it ''Rostratula australis''. However, it was subsequently lumped with the greater painted-snipe ''Rostratula benghalensis''. More recently it has been shown that the differences between these taxa warrant recognition at the species level. Compared with the greater painted-snipe, the Australian painted-snipe: * has a longer wing, shorter bill and shorter tarsus * has a chocolate brown, rather than rufous, head and neck in the female * has round, rather than flat and visually barred, spots on the tail (female) and upper wing-coverts (male) Description The head, neck and upper breast is chocolate brown (in the male, dark grey with a buff median stripe on the crown), fading to rufous in the centre of the hindneck and merging to dark, barred ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Australasian Bittern
The Australasian bittern (''Botaurus poiciloptilus''), also known as the brown bittern or matuku hūrepo, and also nicknamed the "bunyip bird", is a large bird in the heron family Ardeidae. A secretive bird with a distinctive booming call, it is more often heard than seen. Australasian bitterns are endangered in both Australia and New Zealand. Taxonomy German zoologist Johann Georg Wagler described the Australasian bittern in 1827. It is one of four similarly-plumaged species in the genus ''Botaurus''. Description The length is from 650 to 750 mm with adults being similar between the sexes while the male is significantly larger. The bird has a deep brown upper surface, mauled with buff on wing coverts; face and eyebrow buff, with dark brown stripe running from bill to erectile plumes at sides of neck. Under surface buff, striped with brown. The face skin is a dull green as are the legs and feet, it possesses a dark brown bill, yellow eyes, and the base of the lower mandible is gr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Glossy Ibis
The glossy ibis (''Plegadis falcinellus'') is a water bird in the order Pelecaniformes and the ibis and spoonbill family Threskiornithidae. The scientific name derives from Ancient Greek ''plegados'' and Latin, ''falcis'', both meaning "sickle" and referring to the distinctive shape of the bill. Distribution This is the most widespread ibis species, breeding in scattered sites in warm regions of Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia, and the Atlantic and Caribbean regions of the Americas. It is thought to have originated in the Old World and spread naturally from Africa to northern South America in the 19th century, from where it spread to North America. The glossy ibis was first found in the New World in 1817 (New Jersey). Audubon saw the species just once in Florida in 1832. It expanded its range substantially northwards in the 1940s and to the west in the 1980s. This species is migratory; most European birds winter in Africa, and in North America birds from north of the Carolinas w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Great Egret
The great egret (''Ardea alba''), also known as the common egret, large egret, or (in the Old World) great white egret or great white heron is a large, widely distributed egret. The four subspecies are found in Asia, Africa, the Americas, and southern Europe. Recently it is also spreading to more northern areas of Europe. Distributed across most of the tropical and warmer temperate regions of the world, it builds tree nests in colonies close to water. Taxonomy and systematics Like all egrets, it is a member of the heron family, Ardeidae. Traditionally classified with the storks in the Ciconiiformes, the Ardeidae are closer relatives of pelicans and belong in the Pelecaniformes, instead. The great egret—unlike the typical egrets—does not belong to the genus ''Egretta'', but together with the great herons is today placed in '' Ardea''. In the past, however, it was sometimes placed in ''Egretta'' or separated in a monotypic genus ''Casmerodius''. The Old World population is ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Yellow-billed Spoonbill
The yellow-billed spoonbill (''Platalea flavipes'') is a gregarious Wader, wading bird of the ibis and spoonbill family, Threskiornithidae. It is native to Australia, and is a vagrant to New Zealand, Lord Howe Island and Norfolk Island. Taxonomy The renowned ornithologist John Gould first described the yellow-billed spoonbill, naming it ''Platalea flavipes'' although noting its distinctness from other members of the genus. Charles Lucien Bonaparte, Bonaparte erected the genus ''Platibis'' in 1856, and Gould followed this classification in his later work. He noted the species appeared in great numbers across New South Wales in 1839, particularly in the north between the Hunter River (New South Wales), Hunter and lower Namoi Rivers. The year had been wet, in contrast to droughts in previous years. A 2010 study of mitochondrial DNA of the spoonbills by Chesser and colleagues found that the yellow-billed and roseate spoonbills were each other's closest relative, and the two were desc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Royal Spoonbill
The royal spoonbill (''Platalea regia'') also known as the black-billed spoonbill, occurs in intertidal flats and shallows of fresh and saltwater wetlands in Australia, New Zealand, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, and the Solomon Islands. (In New Zealand, it is also known by the Māori name .) It has also been recorded as a vagrant in New Caledonia. The royal spoonbill lives in wetlands and feeds on crustaceans, fish and small insects by sweeping its bill from side to side. It always flies with its head extended. Widespread throughout its large range, the royal spoonbill is evaluated as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Taxonomy The renowned ornithologist John Gould first described the royal spoonbill in 1838, naming it ''Platalea regia'' and noting its similarity to the Eurasian spoonbill (''P. leucorodia''). A 2010 study of mitochondrial DNA of the spoonbills by Chesser and colleagues found that the royal and black-faced spoonbills were each other's closes ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Intermediate Egret
The intermediate egret, median egret, smaller egret, or yellow-billed egret (''Ardea intermedia'') is a medium-sized heron. Some taxonomists put the species in the genus ''Egretta'' or ''Mesophoyx''. It is a resident breeder from east Africa across the Indian subcontinent to Southeast Asia and Australia. Taxonomy Some authorities classify the intermediate egret in its own monotypic genus, ''Mesophoyx'', while others place it with the smaller egrets in ''Egretta''. There are three recognised subspecies, and these are sometimes raised in to species: * ''A. i. brachyrhyncha'' Brehm, 1854 "yellow-billed egret" - sub-Saharan Africa * ''A.i. intermedia'' Wagler, 1827 "intermediate egret" - Asia from the Russian Far East to Japan to India and the Greater Sundas * ''A. i. plumifera'' Gould, 1848 "plumed egret" - eastern Indonesia, New Guinea and Australia. ''A.i. intermedia'' differs from ''A.i. brachyrhyncha'' and ''A. i. plumifera'' by having a black bill when in breeding plumag ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
_(cropped).jpg "Click for more on -> Australasian Bittern")
