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 sem ...

mallee woodlands and shrublands Mallee Woodlands and Shrublands is one of 32 List of Major Vegetation Groups in Australia, Major Vegetation Groups defined by the Australian Government Department of the Environment and Energy and one of the 189 habitats in the HOTW habitats of ...

in south-eastern

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

, straddling the border between the states of

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories by area, which in ...

and

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Queen Victoria (1819–1901), Queen of the United Kingdom and Empress of India * Victoria (state), a state of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, a provincial capital * Victoria, Seychelles, the capi ...

Description

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

protected area Protected areas or conservation areas are locations which receive protection because of their recognized natural or cultural values. Protected areas are those areas in which human presence or the exploitation of natural resources (e.g. firewood ...

s, 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 north-west of Melbourne. The national park was declared in 1921 and has been expanded significantly since, to ...

and the

Big Desert Wilderness Park The Big Desert Wilderness Park is a protected area in the Australian state of Victoria, Australia located in the state's west adjoining the border with South Australia. It is the oldest of Victoria's three wilderness parks. The wilderness par ...

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 a sovereign state, sovereign or federated state, or territory (country subdivision), territory. Background State forests are forests that are Administration (gov ...

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 often a naturally occurring, relatively large and fixed body of water on or near the Earth's surface. It is localized in a basin or interconnected basins surrounded by dry land. Lakes lie completely on land and are separate from ...

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 Wimm ...

. 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 dr ...

, 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 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) 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 i ...

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 miners,

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 systemat ...

red-lored whistler The red-lored whistler (''Pachycephala rufogularis'') is one of nine species of whistler occurring in Australia and a member of the family Pachycephalidae which includes whistlers, shrike-thrushes, pitohuis and allies. The limited range of this ...

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 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 that 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 a ...

s and

western whipbird The western whipbird (''Psophodes nigrogularis'') is a passerine bird found in several scattered populations in Southwest Australia. It is predominantly olive green in colour. The western whipbird has sometimes been split into two species: the b ...

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

Description

Criteria for nomination as an IBA

See also

References