The Wyperfeld, Big Desert and Ngarkat Important Bird Area comprises a 9743 km² tract of

semiarid A semi-arid climate, semi-desert climate, or steppe climate is a dry climate sub-type. It is located on regions that receive precipitation below potential evapotranspiration, but not as low as a desert climate. There are different kinds of semi- ...

mallee woodlands and shrublands in south-eastern Australia, straddling the border between the states of

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

and

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

Description

The site incorporates a large area of contiguous mallee habitat. It overlaps the following protected areas, the

Ngarkat Conservation Park Ngarkat Conservation Park is a protected area located in South Australia's south-eastern corner about south east of the Adelaide city centre. The conservation park was proclaimed in 1979 "to conserve the mallee heath habitat of the 90 Mile ...

in south-east South Australia and the

Wyperfeld National Park The Wyperfeld National Park is the third largest national park in Victoria, Australia, located in the Mallee district, approximately northwest of Melbourne, The national park was declared in 1921 and expanded significantly to protect of mal ...

and the Big Desert Wilderness Park in north-west Victoria, as well as several adjacent smaller reserves and

state forest A state forest or national forest is a forest that is administered or protected by some agency of a sovereign or federated state, or territory. Background The precise application of the terms vary by jurisdiction. For example: * In Australia, a ...

s. The Victorian part of the site contains a chain of

ephemeral Ephemerality (from the Greek word , meaning 'lasting only one day') is the concept of things being transitory, existing only briefly. Academically, the term ephemeral constitutionally describes a diverse assortment of things and experiences, fr ...

lake A lake is an area filled with water, localized in a basin, surrounded by land, and distinct from any river or other outlet that serves to feed or drain the lake. Lakes lie on land and are not part of the ocean, although, like the much large ...

s connected by Outlet Creek, the northern section of the

Wimmera River The Wimmera River, an inland intermittent river of the Wimmera catchment, is located in the Grampians and Wimmera regions of the Australian state of Victoria. Rising in the Pyrenees, on the northern slopes of the Great Dividing Range, the Wimme ...

. The lakes only fill when the river over-fills

Lake Hindmarsh Lake Hindmarsh, an ephemeral lake located in the Wimmera region of western Victoria, Australia, is the state's largest natural freshwater lake. The nearest towns are Jeparit to the south and Rainbow to the north. After more than a decade of dro ...

, to the south of

Lake Albacutya Lake Albacutya (Wergaia: ''Ngelbakutya'') is an ephemeral lake located in Albacutya within the Wimmera region of Victoria, Australia. It is one of a series of terminal lakes on the Wimmera River, which form the largest land-locked drainage syst ...

which adjoins the site.

Criteria for nomination as an IBA

The site has been identified as an Important Bird Area (IBA) by BirdLife International because it supports populations of

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 ...

black-eared miner The black-eared miner (''Manorina melanotis'') is an endangered honeyeater endemic to mallee woodland in south-eastern Australia. Taxonomy ''Manorina melanotis'' was identified by Francis Erasmus Wilson in 1911. It is closely related to the mu ...

mallee emu-wren The mallee emu-wren (''Stipiturus mallee'') is a species of bird in the Australasian wren family, Maluridae. It is endemic to Australia. Its natural habitat is temperate grassland. It is threatened because of habitat loss. Taxonomy and systema ...

s, red-lored whistlers,

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 ...

s and

purple-gaped honeyeater The purple-gaped honeyeater (''Lichenostomus cratitius'') is a species of bird in the family Meliphagidae. It is endemic to semi-arid southern Australia, where it inhabits Mallee, tall heath and associated low eucalypt woodland.Menkhorst, P., ...

s. The IBA is also thought to support up to ten pairs of

Australian bustard The Australian bustard (''Ardeotis australis'') is a large ground dwelling bird which is common in grassland, woodland and open agricultural country across northern Australia and southern New Guinea. It stands at about high, and its wingspan is ...

s and

western whipbird Western whipbird may refer to the following bird species and subspecies: * ''Psophodes nigrogularis'', the black-throated whipbird ** subspecies: ''Psophodes nigrogularis nigrogularis'', 'western heath' ** subspecies: ''Psophodes nigrogularis obero ...

s, the latter being one of very few remaining inland populations of the eastern mallee subspecies ''P. n. leucogaster''.

References

Important Bird Areas of Victoria (Australia) Mallee Woodlands and Shrublands Important Bird Areas of South Australia {{VictoriaAU-geo-stub

Description

Criteria for nomination as an IBA

See also

References