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Australian bird habitats:
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Description of habitat |
Significant rain events in the mostly flat interior of the Australian continent lead to flows of large amounts of water in watercourses many of which will at some point fall dry again. Remnant water surfaces will remain for some time in many shallow depressions - these are called ephemeral wetlands (see also ephemeral lakes). Some species of aquatic birds never fail to find these wet areas as a place to stay for as long as possible.
There is a separate page describing permanently water-logged areas, i.e. swamps.
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Bird species found in this type of habitat or plant |
This is not necessarily a complete list. We display here some examples of bird species found by us in this kind of habitat or plant. Hover your cursor on thumbnails to see names of species; click on thumbnail to go to the page describing the species.
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Photos |
Temporarily water-logged
grassland
in a shallow depression in outback NSW
One can still see that this shallow depression has been used in the
past as a wheat field,
but the reeds lining the waterhole indicate that it is wet most of
the time
Wide-angle view of a shallow, usually dry,
creek
crossing a road
in inland NSW after a major rainfall event; water can stand there
for months, giving aquatic birds enough time to breed
Another shallow
creek
crossing a road
in north-western NSW; water can sit there long enough for aquatic
species to successfully breed
Overview of the abundance of birdlife in an ephemeral wetland,
in this case a temporarily submerged commercial
cropping field,
in inland NSW months after a major flood event
These pages are largely based on our own observations and those of our contributors. The structure of these bird pages is explained HERE. For more salient facts on any bird species please refer to a field guide.
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Comments are always welcome. We give no guarantee
that the information presented on these pages is always correct or
up-to-date. External links are marked as such and we take no
responsibility for the contents of external pages.
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We hereby acknowledge the original custodians of the land which is
described on these pages, including the Gomeroi/Gamilaraay people
of the North-west Slopes and Plains of NSW, and the traditional
owners of other lands and nations within this country. We acknowledge
elders past, present and emerging. Sovereignty was never ceded.
Last updated:
Tue, 17 February 2026, 9:49 +00:00