Western Bowerbird at Alice Springs Desert Park

The Karara and Lochada Important Bird Area is a 2404 km² tract of land in the Mid West region of

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

, about 30 km east of the town of Morawa and 320 km north-east of

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...

Description

The

Important Bird Area An Important Bird and Biodiversity Area (IBA) is an area identified using an internationally agreed set of criteria as being globally important for the conservation of bird populations. IBA was developed and sites are identified by BirdLife Int ...

(IBA) incorporates the former pastoral properties of Karara and Lochada, with small areas of adjacent land. It contains large areas of ''

Acacia ''Acacia'', commonly known as the wattles or acacias, is a large genus of shrubs and trees in the subfamily Mimosoideae of the pea family Fabaceae. Initially, it comprised a group of plant species native to Africa and Australasia. The genus na ...

shrubland Shrubland, scrubland, scrub, brush, or bush is a plant community characterized by vegetation dominated by shrubs, often also including grasses, herbs, and geophytes. Shrubland may either occur naturally or be the result of human activity. It m ...

with some open

eucalypt Eucalypt is a descriptive name for woody plants with capsule fruiting bodies belonging to seven closely related genera (of the tribe Eucalypteae) found across Australasia: ''Eucalyptus'', '' Corymbia'', '' Angophora'', ''Stockwellia'', ''Allosyn ...

woodland A woodland () is, in the broad sense, land covered with trees, or in a narrow sense, synonymous with wood (or in the U.S., the ''plurale tantum'' woods), a low-density forest forming open habitats with plenty of sunlight and limited shade (see ...

. It lies at an altitude of 280–400 m above sea level in pastoral country adjacent to the wheatbelt. Its average annual rainfall of about 300 mm is highly variable and falls mainly in winter.

Birds

The site has been identified by

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 ...

as an IBA because it supports populations of the vulnerable

malleefowl The malleefowl (''Leipoa ocellata'') is a stocky ground-dwelling Australian bird about the size of a domestic chicken (to which it is distantly related). It is notable for the large nesting mounds constructed by the males and lack of parental ca ...

and the restricted-range

western corella The western corella (''Cacatua pastinator'') also known as the western long-billed corella, is a species of white cockatoo endemic to south-western Australia. Taxonomy Cacatuidae is one of three families of the large and diverse avian order Psit ...

, as well as of Bourke's and

regent parrot The regent parrot or rock pebbler (''Polytelis anthopeplus'') is a bird found in southern Australia. It has predominantly yellow plumage with a green tail. The bird is found primarily in eucalyptus groves and other wooded areas of subtropical s ...

western bowerbird The western bowerbird (''Chlamydera guttata'') is a species of bird in the family Ptilonorhynchidae. The species is a common endemic of Australia. It has a disjunct distribution, occurring in Central Australia and the Pilbara region of Western ...

rufous treecreeper The rufous treecreeper (''Climacteris rufus'') is a species of bird in the family Climacteridae. It is endemic to Australia. Its natural habitats are temperate forest A forest is an area of land dominated by trees. Hundreds of definiti ...

black honeyeater The black honeyeater (''Sugomel nigrum'') is a species of bird in the honeyeater family Meliphagidae. The black honeyeater exhibits sexual dimorphism, with the male being black and white while the female is a speckled grey-brown; immature birds l ...

slaty-backed thornbill The slaty-backed thornbill (''Acanthiza robustirostris'') is a species of bird in the family Acanthizidae. It is endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, natio ...

chiming wedgebill The chiming wedgebill (''Psophodes occidentalis''), sometimes referred to as chiming whipbird, is a species of bird in the family Psophodidae. It is endemic to Australia. The chiming wedgebill and chirruping wedgebill (''Psophodes occidentalis'') ...

chestnut-breasted quail-thrush The chestnut-breasted quail-thrush (''Cinclosoma castaneothorax'') is a small endemic Australian bird which is predominantly found within the semi-arid deserts of New South Wales and Queensland. Distribution The chestnut-breasted quail-thrus ...

es and

western yellow robin The western yellow robin (''Eopsaltria griseogularis'') is a species of bird in the Australasian robin family, Petroicidae, native to Australia. Described by John Gould in 1838, the western yellow robin and its Australian relatives are not clos ...

References

{{coord, 29, 08, 14, S, 116, 43, 33, E, display=title, region:AU-WA_type:landmark Mid West (Western Australia) Important Bird Areas of Western Australia