Ord Irrigation Area Important Bird Area
Encyclopedia
The Ord Irrigation Area Important Bird Area is an area of land used for irrigated agriculture along the Ord River
in the vicinity of the town of Kununurra
in the Kimberley region of north-western Australia
. It has been identified by BirdLife International
as a 220 km2 Important Bird Area
(IBA) for its significance for birds, especially estrildid finch
es.
extending upstream from the town. The establishment of irrigated farmland has formed perennially moist areas of cumbungi
and native wetland grass
es, which support larger numbers of several bird species than does the surrounding non-irrigated bushland
and dry pasture
. The cumbungi and grasses occur along waterways and the edges of Lake Kununurra, as well as in in agricultural fallows. The average annual rainfall is 790 mm, falling mainly from October to April.
was constructed in the early 1960s, with commercial farming taking place from 1963 when Kununurra's Ord Diversion Dam was completed. Using water first from Lake Kununurra, and later from Lake Argyle
, a reservoir formed by the completion of the main Ord Dam in 1972, some 140 km2 of cattle grazing land
became productive farmland. Farm blocks are typically 260-360 ha in size, on heavy, black cracking clay soils
. The main crops include sugarcane
, sandalwood
, fruit, vegetables and cotton
.
es and Yellow-rumped Munia
s, as well as smaller number of Australian Bustard
s, Bush Stone-curlew
s, White-gaped
and Yellow-tinted Honeyeater
s, White-browed Robin
s, Masked
and Long-tailed Finch
es, and sometimes over 1% of the population of Australian Pratincole
s. Other birds found in the IBA include Brolga
s, Little Curlew
s and Black-backed Bitterns. Letter-winged Kite
s, White-quilled Rock-Pigeon
s, Varied Lorikeet
s, Northern Rosella
s, Bar-breasted
and Banded Honeyeater
s are occasionally recorded.
Ord River
The Ord River is a 320-kilometre-long river in the Kimberley region of Western Australia. It was named in honour of Harry Ord, Governor of Western Australia from 1877 to 1880....
in the vicinity of the town of Kununurra
Kununurra, Western Australia
Kununurra is a town in far northern Western Australia located at the eastern extremity of the Kimberley Region approximately from the border with the Northern Territory. Kununurra was initiated to service the Ord River Irrigation scheme....
in the Kimberley region of north-western Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
. It has been identified by BirdLife International
BirdLife International
BirdLife International is a global Partnership of conservation organisations that strives to conserve birds, their habitats and global biodiversity, working with people towards sustainability in the use of natural resources...
as a 220 km2 Important Bird Area
Important Bird Area
An Important Bird Area is an area recognized as being globally important habitat for the conservation of bird populations. Currently there are about 10,000 IBAs worldwide. The program was developed and sites are identified by BirdLife International...
(IBA) for its significance for birds, especially estrildid finch
Estrildid finch
The estrildid finches are small passerine birds of the Old World tropics and Australasia. They can be classified as the family Estrildidae , or as a sub-group within the family Passeridae, which also includes the true sparrows....
es.
Description
The IBA comprises the entire irrigated area of the Ord River Irrigation Scheme around and downstream of Kununurra, with the adjacent Lake KununurraLake Kununurra
Lake Kununurra is a long linear lake in the Ord River valley formed in 1963 by the construction of the Ord Diversion Dam in Kununurra, northern Western Australia, which was built to supply water to the Ord River Irrigation Area. The lake stretches for upstream from the Diversion Dam at towards...
extending upstream from the town. The establishment of irrigated farmland has formed perennially moist areas of cumbungi
Typha
Typha is a genus of about eleven species of monocotyledonous flowering plants in the family Typhaceae. The genus has a largely Northern Hemisphere distribution, but is essentially cosmopolitan, being found in a variety of wetland habitats...
and native wetland grass
Grass
Grasses, or more technically graminoids, are monocotyledonous, usually herbaceous plants with narrow leaves growing from the base. They include the "true grasses", of the Poaceae family, as well as the sedges and the rushes . The true grasses include cereals, bamboo and the grasses of lawns ...
es, which support larger numbers of several bird species than does the surrounding non-irrigated bushland
Bushland
Bushland is any area in Australia that is predominantly indigenous flora and fauna.Bushland is the term commonly used by conservation protection groups and other environmental groups as a blanket term for natural vegetation, which may cover any kind of habitat from open shrubby country with few...
and dry pasture
Pasture
Pasture is land used for grazing. Pasture lands in the narrow sense are enclosed tracts of farmland, grazed by domesticated livestock, such as horses, cattle, sheep or swine. The vegetation of tended pasture, forage, consists mainly of grasses, with an interspersion of legumes and other forbs...
. The cumbungi and grasses occur along waterways and the edges of Lake Kununurra, as well as in in agricultural fallows. The average annual rainfall is 790 mm, falling mainly from October to April.
History
The irrigation and drainage infrastructureInfrastructure
Infrastructure is basic physical and organizational structures needed for the operation of a society or enterprise, or the services and facilities necessary for an economy to function...
was constructed in the early 1960s, with commercial farming taking place from 1963 when Kununurra's Ord Diversion Dam was completed. Using water first from Lake Kununurra, and later from Lake Argyle
Lake Argyle
Lake Argyle is Australia's second largest artificial lake by volume. It is part of the Ord River Irrigation Scheme and is located near the East Kimberley town of Kununurra...
, a reservoir formed by the completion of the main Ord Dam in 1972, some 140 km2 of cattle grazing land
Cattle station
Cattle station is an Australian term for a large farm , whose main activity is the rearing of cattle. In Australia, the owner of a cattle station is called a grazier...
became productive farmland. Farm blocks are typically 260-360 ha in size, on heavy, black cracking clay soils
Vertisol
In both the FAO and USA soil taxonomy, a vertisol is a soil in which there is a high content of expansive clay known as montmorillonite that forms deep cracks in drier seasons or years. Alternate shrinking and swelling causes self-mulching, where the soil material consistently mixes itself, causing...
. The main crops include sugarcane
Sugarcane
Sugarcane refers to any of six to 37 species of tall perennial grasses of the genus Saccharum . Native to the warm temperate to tropical regions of South Asia, they have stout, jointed, fibrous stalks that are rich in sugar, and measure two to six metres tall...
, sandalwood
Sandalwood
Sandalwood is the name of a class of fragrant woods from trees in the genus Santalum. The woods are heavy, yellow, and fine-grained, and unlike many other aromatic woods they retain their fragrance for decades. As well as using the harvested and cut wood in-situ, essential oils are also extracted...
, fruit, vegetables and cotton
Cotton
Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective capsule, around the seeds of cotton plants of the genus Gossypium. The fiber is almost pure cellulose. The botanical purpose of cotton fiber is to aid in seed dispersal....
.
Birds
The IBA supports the largest recorded numbers of Star FinchStar Finch
The Star Finch is a species of estrildid finch found in Australia. It inhabits dry grassland and dry savanna habitats.-Subspecies:It has three subspecies:...
es and Yellow-rumped Munia
Yellow-rumped Munia
The Yellow-rumped Munia , also known as the Yellow-rumped Mannikin, is a species of estrildid finch found in eastern Kimberley region and north-west Northern Territory, Australia. It has an estimated global extent of occurrence of 20,000 to 50,000 km². It is found in subtropical/ tropical mangrove,...
s, as well as smaller number of Australian Bustard
Australian Bustard
The Australian Bustard, Ardeotis australis, is a large ground bird of grassland, woodland and open agricultural country across northern Australia and southern New Guinea. It is also commonly referred to in Central Australia as the Bush Turkey, particularly by Aboriginal people.The male is up to ...
s, Bush Stone-curlew
Bush Stone-curlew
The Bush Stone-curlew or Bush Thick-knee is a large, ground-dwelling bird endemic to Australia...
s, White-gaped
White-gaped Honeyeater
The White-gaped Honeyeater is a species of bird in the Meliphagidae family.It is endemic to Australia.Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests and subtropical or tropical mangrove forests....
and Yellow-tinted Honeyeater
Yellow-tinted Honeyeater
The Yellow-tinted Honeyeater is a species of bird in the Meliphagidae family.It is found in Australia and Papua New Guinea....
s, White-browed Robin
White-browed Robin
The White-browed Robin is a species of bird in the family Petroicidae. It is endemic to north-eastern Australia. Its natural habitats are forest, woodland and scrub, often near water...
s, Masked
Masked Finch
The Masked Finch is a small passerine bird in the estrildid finch family, Estrildidae. It is a common resident of dry savanna across northern Australia, from the Kimberley, across the Top End, the Gulf country and the southern part of Cape York Peninsula, as far east as Chillagoe, but always near...
and Long-tailed Finch
Long-tailed Finch
The Long-tailed Finch is a common species of estrildid finch found in Australia; also known as the Blackheart Finch, Shaft-tail Finch, Heck's Grassfinch, Heck's Grass Finch, and Heck's Finch. It is a predominantly fawn-coloured bird with a pale grey head and prominent black bib and eyes...
es, and sometimes over 1% of the population of Australian Pratincole
Australian Pratincole
The Australian Pratincole is a species of bird in the Glareolidae family, found in Australia, Christmas Island, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Papua New Guinea....
s. Other birds found in the IBA include Brolga
Brolga
The Brolga , formerly known as the "Native Companion", is a bird in the crane family. The bird has also been given the name "Australian Crane", a term coined in 1865 by well-known ornithological artist John Gould in his Birds of Australia.The Brolga is a common gregarious wetland bird species in...
s, Little Curlew
Little Curlew
The Little Curlew, Numenius minutus, is a wader in the large bird family Scolopacidae. It is a very small curlew, which breeds in the far north of Siberia. It is closely related to the North American Eskimo Curlew....
s and Black-backed Bitterns. Letter-winged Kite
Letter-winged Kite
The Letter-winged Kite is a small, rare and irruptive Australian raptor with a core range in central Australia. The adult is a small and graceful, predominantly pale grey and white, raptor with black shoulders and red eyes...
s, White-quilled Rock-Pigeon
White-quilled Rock-Pigeon
The White-quilled Rock Pigeon is a species of bird in the Columbidae family. It is endemic to Australia.-References:* BirdLife International 2004. . Downloaded on 24 July 2007....
s, Varied Lorikeet
Varied Lorikeet
The Varied Lorikeet is a species of parrot in the Psittacidae family.It is endemic to northern Australia.-Description:...
s, Northern Rosella
Northern Rosella
The Northern Rosella , also known as Brown's Parakeet or Smutty Rosella, is found in Australia's Top End. It is unusually coloured for a rosella, with a dark crown and white cheeks similar to its relatives the Pale-headed Rosella and the Eastern Rosella.At 28 cm long it is smaller than all bar...
s, Bar-breasted
Bar-breasted Honeyeater
The Bar-breasted Honeyeater is a species of bird in the Meliphagidae family.It is endemic to Australia.-References:* BirdLife International 2004. . Downloaded on 27 July 2007....
and Banded Honeyeater
Banded Honeyeater
The Banded Honeyeater is a species of bird in the Meliphagidae family.It is endemic to Australia.Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical dry forests, subtropical or tropical mangrove forests, and Mediterranean-type shrubby vegetation.-References:* BirdLife International 2004. . ...
s are occasionally recorded.