|
Australian bird habitats:
|
 |
Description of habitat |
Large water storage dams are usually created by building a high retaining wall across a narrow valley, subsequently raising the water level of the river/creek that is being dammed. This usually leads to a waterline that is not where sedimentation has taken place for a long time, i.e. in areas where there is little or no natural vegetative fringe along the shore of the artificial lake (as opposed to the shore of a natural lake). Storage dams also tend to be a lot deeper, and have steeper banks than, other dams, such as e.g. flat-bottomed irrigation dams, leading to a different underwater habitat (e.g. without aquatic plants just under the surface for various duck species to feed on).
These factors can lead to a less diverse and in general less suitable habitat than usual not only for aquatic birds, but also non-aquatic species. Only where there are shallow bays and where fringe vegetation has been able to establish itself large water storage dams can replace natural aquatic habitats.
 |
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 |
Example of a water storage dam with near-natural vegetation on its
fringes: Storm King Dam near Stanthorpe, QLD
Example of a water storage dam with little natural vegetation on its
fringe: Aroona Dam near Leigh Creek, SA
