Initial data has been retrieved from acoustic recorders as part of the University of New South Wales (UNSW) Centre for Ecosystem Science’s Lower Balonne Flow-MER waterbird studies. Around two weeks of data from the 14 August through to 5 September 2024, was retrieved from three acoustic recorders installed at Narran Lakes’ Back Lake, Long Arm and South Arm.
The team then used Cornell University’s BirdNET artificial intelligence models with coding and R (a programming language used for data analysis) to run the analyses and provide the preliminary findings. A total of 190 species were identified with a >50 per cent confidence in accuracy. Of these, the presence of 138 species is supported by observational records from past surveys and historical records.
The diversity at each site was similar. Numbers at each site where:
Listen to a snippet of data recorded as part of the acoustic monitoring. Some of the bird calls heard during the recording include little grassbirds, black swans, Eurasian coots, pied stilts (a flock flying over) and Australian reed warblers.
The team will now undertake further analysis including listening to call records for those species that were identified as questionable.
Over time, with each additional data retrieval, the researchers will be able to study changes in species composition at each site in relation to the season, weather conditions and water abundance.
The amount of data that will be collected during the project is expected to be so vast that UNSW’s High-Performance Computing system will need to be used for the analysis.
Learn more about the Lower Balonne Flow-MER program below.
The Centre for Ecosystem Science at UNSW is undertaking monitoring, evaluation and research on behalf of the Commonwealth Environmental Water Holder in the Lower Balonne River system including the internationally significant, Ramsar-protected Narran Lakes (Dharriwaa).
The Lower Balonne Area encompasses the Lower Balonne Floodplain. It supports the largest number of wetlands of any catchment in the Murray–Darling Basin and makes up two-thirds of the Condamine–Balonne Valley, one of the largest catchments in the Basin.
New to the Flow-MER program in 2024, the Lower Balonne Area covers two million hectares across Queensland and NSW and is home to the Culgoa, Balonne, Condamine and Narran rivers and adjacent floodplains and wetlands. It includes the internationally significant and Ramsar-listed Narran Lakes (Dharriwaa).
Learn more about the Lower Balonne Area at: Lower Balonne Flow-MER Program.
Narran Lake Nature Reserve is one of 16 Ramsar wetlands in the Murray-Darling Basin, of which 12 are regularly supported by Commonwealth environmental water. Our Basin-scale Ecosystem Diversity Theme helps us better understand the contribution of Commonwealth environmental water to watering a diversity of habitats and wetlands across the Basin, including Ramsar wetlands.
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The Flow-MER program team acknowledge and respect the Traditional Owners as the First Peoples of the lands and waters of the Murray Darling Basin.
We recognise their unique ability to care for Country and their deep spiritual connection to it. We honour Elders past and present whose knowledge and wisdom has ensured the continuation of culture and traditional practices.
We are committed to genuinely partner, and meaningfully engage, with Traditional Owners and Aboriginal communities to support the protection of Country, the maintenance of spiritual and cultural practices and their broader aspirations in the 21st century and beyond. In particular we acknowledge the Traditional Owners of the seven Selected Areas where Flow-MER research is focussed.
Artwork credit: Wiradjuri Artist Rebecca Salcole
Artwork credit: Wiradjuri Artist Rebecca Salcole
The Goulburn River is known by several names as it travels first through Taungurung country in the hilly upper and middle reaches. Here, the river is called Waring.
As the river meanders downstream of Murchison and into the northern flatlands, the river winds through Yorta Yorta country and is called Kaiela, meaning ‘father of waters’. Eventually, the river flows to a confluence with the River Murray near Echuca. This confluence of rivers is known as Koninner.
We acknowledge and respect the Traditional Owners of the country this story has been written about, Taungurung and Yorta Yorta, and all the countries through which the Goulburn river flows. This story was written on Ngunnawal country. Sovereignty was never ceded, and we pay our respects to elders past, present and emerging.