Current view: Text account
Site description (2008 baseline):
Site location and context
The IBA is the maximum extent of the recent (1990) flood of the Macquarie Marshes, which lie on the Macquarie River in northern New South Wales. This over-estimates the area flooded in most recent years but could be achieved with adequate water allocations. The IBA includes the main channel of the Macquarie River and the anastomosing channels of Bora Channel, Buckiinguy Creek, Bulgeraga Creek, Gum Cowal, Marra Creek, Marthaguy Creek, Monkey Creek, Monkeygar Creek, Terrigal Creek. Daily temperatures in the region vary from about 4°C in July to about 36°C in January, and average annual rainfall is 300-400 mm. The area of the marshes varies depending on the degree of inundation, with a recent maximum of about 131,000 ha in 1990, much lower than the historical maximum of 478,000 ha over the same area in the mid-1950s. In recent years, flooding has been much less frequent and less extensive, with just one major flooding event in 2000/1. The marshes are a freshwater system of channels and streams, some of which have been rendered permanent following construction of water regulation devices, and semi-permanent and ephemeral swamps and floodplains. The marshes support a variety of vegetation types, but the more prominent communities include River Red Gum forest and woodland, extensive beds of Common Reed, and meadows of Water Couch.
A minimum 206 species of bird have been recorded in the Macquarie Marshes (NSW NPWS 2007). This figure includes more than 60 species of waterbird, at least 43 of which breed in the marshes (Brooker 1992; Brock 1997; Brookhouse 1999). The marshes are predicted to support over 190,000 waterbirds during major floods (Kingsford et al. 1997), including large numbers of breeding birds. For example, in 2000, there were breeding colonies of Glossy Ibis (3900 nests), Straw-necked Ibis (31,225 nests), Intermediate Egret (20,200 nests), Nankeen Night-Heron (15,500 nests), Great Egret (1300 pairs), Australian White Ibis (2940 nests), Little Egret (100 nests) and Royal Spoonbill (76 nests) (Kingsford & Auld 2002). There have not been any prolific waterbird nesting events in the IBA since 2000-2001. The marshes have supported large numbers of waterfowl, e.g. 60,000 waterfowl were counted on the northern quarter of the marshes by Kingsford (1996), 3500 Pacific Black Duck were counted on the marshes in 1997 (Kingsford et al. 1997) and 5652 Caspian Tern in 1983 (Kingsford and Porter (2006)). Other notable species which have been recorded in the IBA include Australian Little Bittern, Australian Painted Snipe, Superb Parrot, Painted Honeyeater, Pied Honeyeater and Diamond Firetail (Atlas of Australian Birds database).
Non-bird biodiversity: At least eight native and six introduced species of mammal in the Macquarie Marshes, together with 56 species of reptile, 15 species of frog and 16 species of freshwater fish (Brock 1997).
Pressure/threats to key biodiversity
Ensure adequate environmental water flows are allocated to sustain breeding waterbirds.
Conservation responses/actions for key biodiversity
The Macquarie Marshes Nature Reserve and Wilgara wetland are listed together as a single wetland of international importance under the Ramsar Convention. A land and water management plan are in place for the Macquarie Marshes system. A management plan, and separate plan for fire management, are in place for Macquarie Marshes Nature Reserve. Control programs for feral animals and introduced plants and works to mitigate erosion and maintain water quality have been implemented in the marshes.
The IBA includes the Macquarie Marshes Nature Reserve.
Private and state government (New South Wales National Parks and Wildlife Service).
Richard Kingsford commented on the nomination.
Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Important Bird Area factsheet: Macquarie Marshes (Australia). Downloaded from
https://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/macquarie-marshes-iba-australia on 22/11/2024.
