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Australian bird habitats:
Large irrigation dam

Description of habitat

Irrigation dams are different from small dams on farms, because they usually have larger capacities and steeper walls. What type of birds they can attract will depend on the water level at any particular point in time. Most aquatic birds (ducks and waders) will want shallow water to feed in, while cormorants will want deeper water for hunting. Most irrigation dams have no fringe vegetation and provide little shelter for birds to hide in.

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.

Photos

Flock of Pink-eared Ducks resting on the edge of an irrigation dam with little water in it (photo courtesy of C. Hayne)

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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