Patho Plains Important Bird Area
Encyclopedia
Pastoral farming
Pastoral farming is farming aimed at producing livestock, rather than growing crops. Examples include dairy farming, raising beef cattle, and raising sheep for wool. In contrast, mixed farming is growing of both crops and livestock on the same farm. Pastoral farmers are also known as graziers...
near the town of Gunbower
Gunbower, Victoria
Gunbower is a town in northern Victoria, Australia. The town is located in the Shire of Campaspe, north of the state capital, Melbourne on the banks of Gunbower Creek...
in north-central Victoria
Victoria (Australia)
Victoria is the second most populous state in Australia. Geographically the smallest mainland state, Victoria is bordered by New South Wales, South Australia, and Tasmania on Boundary Islet to the north, west and south respectively....
, south-eastern 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 contains several relatively small nature conservation reserves
Nature reserve
A nature reserve is a protected area of importance for wildlife, flora, fauna or features of geological or other special interest, which is reserved and managed for conservation and to provide special opportunities for study or research...
as well as the 38 km2 Terrick Terrick National Park
Terrick Terrick National Park
Terrick Terrick National Park is a national park in Victoria, Australia, northwest of Melbourne, north of the town of Mitiamo and north of the City of Bendigo. It is an important remnant of Box-Ironbark forests and northern grass plains and is close to Kow Swamp, the site of a major...
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Description
The site encompasses remnants of native grasslandGrassland
Grasslands are areas where the vegetation is dominated by grasses and other herbaceous plants . However, sedge and rush families can also be found. Grasslands occur naturally on all continents except Antarctica...
inhabited by an endangered grassland bird in a monotypic family – the Plains-wanderer – with the intervening farmland. The area has a Mediterranean climate
Mediterranean climate
A Mediterranean climate is the climate typical of most of the lands in the Mediterranean Basin, and is a particular variety of subtropical climate...
with cool, damp winters and hot dry summers, supporting native tussock grassland
Tussock grassland
Tussock grassland is a form of open grassland common in many temperate southern hemisphere regions, notably in New Zealand, but also in Australia, Argentina, some subantarctic islands, and parts of southern and eastern Africa....
dominated by Austrostipa
Austrostipa
Austrostipa is a genus of grass, with about 70 species.The genus includes Australasian species formerly included in the genus Stipa.Species include:*Austrostipa crinita...
and Austrodanthonia
Austrodanthonia
Austrodanthonia is a genus of 28 grass species found in Australia, New Guinea and New Zealand.Species include:*Austrodanthonia acerosa H.P.Linder*Austrodanthonia alpicola H.P.Linder – Crag Wallaby-grass...
species. Other vegetation types are temperate 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 ...
y woodland
Woodland
Ecologically, a woodland is a low-density forest forming open habitats with plenty of sunlight and limited shade. Woodlands may support an understory of shrubs and herbaceous plants including grasses. Woodland may form a transition to shrubland under drier conditions or during early stages of...
s dominated by White Cypress-pine, Grey Box
Eucalyptus macrocarpa
Eucalyptus macocarpa, or Mottlecah, is a mallee Eucalyptus that is native to the south-west of Western Australia and noted for its large, spectacular flowers.-Description:...
and Yellow Box
Eucalyptus melliodora
Eucalyptus melliodora, commonly known as Yellow Box, is a medium sized to occasionally tall eucalypt. The bark is variable ranging from smooth with an irregular, short stocking, to covering most of the trunk, fibrous, dense or loosely held, grey, yellow or red-brown, occasionally very coarse,...
. There are also small areas of Black Box
Eucalyptus largiflorens
Eucalyptus largiflorens, or Black Box, is a species of Eucalyptus which is endemic to Australia. It is a tree grows up to 20 metres in height...
riparian
Riparian zone
A riparian zone or riparian area is the interface between land and a river or stream. Riparian is also the proper nomenclature for one of the fifteen terrestrial biomes of the earth. Plant habitats and communities along the river margins and banks are called riparian vegetation, characterized by...
woodland and granite
Granite
Granite is a common and widely occurring type of intrusive, felsic, igneous rock. Granite usually has a medium- to coarse-grained texture. Occasionally some individual crystals are larger than the groundmass, in which case the texture is known as porphyritic. A granitic rock with a porphyritic...
outcrop shrubland
Shrubland
Shrubland, scrubland, scrub or brush 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...
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Birds
The site has been identified by BirdLife InternationalBirdLife 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 an 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) because it supports most of Victoria’s population of Plains-wanderers. As well as the land used by the species, the IBA includes extensive areas of unsuitable farmland which has the potential for restoration to habitat suitable for Plains-wanderers. It includes an area of woodland
Woodland
Ecologically, a woodland is a low-density forest forming open habitats with plenty of sunlight and limited shade. Woodlands may support an understory of shrubs and herbaceous plants including grasses. Woodland may form a transition to shrubland under drier conditions or during early stages of...
which supports the largest regional population of Diamond Firetail
Diamond Firetail
The Diamond Firetail Stagonopleura guttata is a species of estrildid finch found in eastern Australia, from Eyre Peninsula, South Australia, to south-eastern Queensland, commonly found on the slopes of the Great Dividing Range. The bird lives in eucalypt forest and woodland, mallee country,...
s. Birds of prey
Bird of prey
Birds of prey are birds that hunt for food primarily on the wing, using their keen senses, especially vision. They are defined as birds that primarily hunt vertebrates, including other birds. Their talons and beaks tend to be relatively large, powerful and adapted for tearing and/or piercing flesh....
that breed in the area include Spotted Harrier
Spotted Harrier
The Spotted Harrier, Circus assimilis, also known as the Smoke Hawk, is a large Australasian bird of prey in the family Accipitridae.-Description:It is similar to the Swamp Harrier, distinguished by grey upperparts, chestnut facial disc and dark rump...
s and Black Falcon
Black Falcon
The Black Falcon is a medium-large falcon that lives only in Australia. It is mainly found in open grasslands and woodlands in the semi arid inland parts of Australia. First year falcons are a dark black in colour fading to browner black in successive years...
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 and Painted Honeyeater
Painted Honeyeater
The Painted Honeyeater is a species of bird in the Meliphagidae family. It is monotypic within the genus Grantiella.It is endemic to Australia. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical dry forests...
s have been recorded. The woodland area is important for Brown Treecreeper
Brown Treecreeper
The Brown Treecreeper is the largest Australasian treecreeper. The bird is endemic to eastern Australia, found in eucalypt forests and woodlands of the Great Dividing Range. The Brown Treecreeper is pale brown to grey-brown, with black streaking on the underparts and black bars on the undertail....
s, Black-chinned Honeyeater
Black-chinned Honeyeater
The Black-chinned Honeyeater is a species of passerine bird in the Meliphagidae family. It is endemic to Australia. Two subspecies are recognised. Its natural habitats are temperate forests and subtropical or tropical dry forests.The Black-chinned Honeyeater was first described by John Gould in 1837...
s, Grey-crowned Babbler
Grey-crowned Babbler
The Grey-crowned Babbler is a species of bird in the Pomatostomidae family.It is found in Australia, Indonesia, and Papua New Guinea....
s and Hooded Robin
Hooded Robin
The Hooded Robin is a small passerine bird native to Australia. Like many brightly coloured robins of the Petroicidae it is sexually dimorphic; the male bearing distinctive black and white coloured plumage, while the female is a nondescript grey-brown.-Taxonomy:Like all Australian Robins, it is...
s. Inland species near the south-eastern limit of their range include Australian Ringneck
Australian Ringneck
The Australian Ringneck is a parrot native to Australia. Except for extreme tropical and highland areas, the species has adapted to all conditions...
s, Chestnut-crowned Babbler
Chestnut-crowned Babbler
The Chestnut-crowned Babbler is a species of bird in the Pomatostomidae family.It is endemic to Australia.A cooperatively breeding bird living in social groups ranging from three to approximately twenty birds...
s and White-winged Fairy-wren
White-winged Fairy-wren
The White-winged Fairywren is a species of passerine bird in the fairywren family Maluridae. It lives in the drier parts of central Australia; from central Queensland and South Australia across to Western Australia...
s.