Current view: Text account
Site description (2008 baseline):
Site location and context
The IBA is identical to Gum Lagoon Conservation Park, about 20 km inland of the southern end of the Coorong in south-east South Australia. Other nearby remnants of suitable habitat, including some Heritage Agreements, Bunbury CP, Messent CP and Mt Boothby CP (which had three or four active Malleefowl mounds in 2008) are judged to be too small and isolated to qualify as IBAs alone or in combination with Gum Lagoon. The west of the IBA is largely an extensive calcarenite dune complex overlain with sand dunes and supporting mallee woodlands, while the east supports low lying wet heath land. A chain of ephemeral brackish lagoons in the south-west includes the Naen Naen Swamp. Gum Lagoon surrounds Duck Island, a mixture of native vegetation and pasture, which lacks mallee and Malleefowl and is therefore excluded from the IBA. Average annual rainfall is 500 mm.
2000 Freckled Duck were recorded in Naen Naen Swamp in 1980 (DEWHA 2008). The biome-restricted Purple-gaped Honeyeater has been recorded in unknown numbers (DEH 2005).
Non-bird biodiversity: 11 distinct floristic communities have been identified, supporting 375 indigenous plant species, including 4 which are nationally threatened or rare; 12 native mammal species, 19 reptile species, 5 amphibian species and 141 native bird species. An additional 62 exotic plant species, 8 feral mammals species and 5 introduced bird species were recorded (Davies 2000).
Pressure/threats to key biodiversity
Ongoing monitoring of malleefowl mound activity. Implement a suitable fire management regime for key bird species. Investigate possibilities of creating habitat connections to nearby mallee remnants.
The IBA is identical to Gum Lagoon Conservation Park.
SA State government with management the responsibility of SA DEH.
Sharon Gillam provided data on Malleefowl.
Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Important Bird Area factsheet: Gum Lagoon (Australia). Downloaded from
https://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/gum-lagoon-iba-australia on 26/12/2024.
