Current view: Text account
Site description (2008 baseline):
Site location and context
This IBA consists of the Riverland (previously Bookmark) Biosphere Reserve on the South Australia/New South Wales border, with extensions to include contiguous uncleared mallee in New South Wales and a corridor along the Murray River downstream to Morgan. This includes the mallee on the following properties: Taylorville, Lunn, Gluepot, Parcoola, Teonga, Calperum, Pooginook Conservation Park, Danggali Conservation Park, Chowilla Regional Reserve and Chowchilla Game Reserve in South Australia; Scotia, Tarawi and Nanya in New South Wales. Also included are areas of native vegetation mapped as Deep Sand Mallee, East West Dune Mallee, Chenopod Mallee and Mallee Mosaic by Val et al. (2001). The IBA also captures the following wetlands: Lake Merreti, Hart Lagoon and Stockyard Plains within the 1956 floodline along the Murray River; and a stretch of the Murray River which has high densities of breeding Regent Parrots and a series of important seasonally flooded wetlands. The Murray River around Renmark and from Loxton down to Morgan supports large numbers of breeding Regent Parrots; these are dependent on mallee and woodland fragments within 10 km of nest sites for use as foraging grounds; includes a 10 km 'buffer' along this stretch of river (smaller numbers downstream of Morgan are excluded from the IBA). This large IBA includes many protected areas managed by various bodies and private stations inside and outside the Biosphere Reserve, many of which are lightly grazed. The corridor along the river includes large areas of intensively farmed and settled land but the whole area is traversed by foraging Regent Parrots and many small fragments of native habitat are important for this species.
The IBA is important for several other mallee bird species which are listed as threatened in New South Wales: Grey Falcon (few records), Major Mitchell’s Cockatoo, Purple-crowned Lorikeet (few records), Striated Grasswren (100s estimated in Gluepot; P. Waanders in litt. 2007), Shy Heathwren, Southern Scrub-robin, Hooded Robin, Chestnut Quail-thrush and Gilbert’s Whistler. Other notable species recorded in the IBA include Australasian Bittern, Australian Painted Snipe, Scarlet-chested Parrot, Banded Whiteface, Chirruping Wedgebill, Diamond Firetail, Black Honeyeater and Painted Honeyeater. There have been two significant counts of Red-necked Avocet, 1500 in 1999 and 1220 in 2003 (Atlas of Australian Birds database). A series of ephemeral wetlands between the IBA and the Murray River support hundreds of Sharp-tailed Sandpipers and up to 150 Freckled Ducks every few years when water levels are suitable (P. Waanders pers. comm. 2007).
Pressure/threats to key biodiversity
Establish an effective fire regime across the whole mallee block. Extend fox baiting. Prevent any further degradation and re-vegetate mallee between river and main mallee block. Reduce grazing by domestic and feral herbivores.
Conservation responses/actions for key biodiversity
The reserves are all managed for biodiversity conservation.
See separate section for details of gazetted reserves and parks. The protected areas of the IBA include a number of significant non-government reserves: Gluepot Reserve = Birds Australia (protected in perpetuity as a Heritage Agreement under the Native Vegetation Act 1991); Scotia = Australian Wildlife Conservancy; Taylorville and Calperum = managed by the Australian Landscape Trust for Director of National Parks, Canberra; Nanya = University of Ballarat.
The IBA also contains or overlaps with the following Heritage Agreements: 89, 266, 280, 314, 383, 423, 448, 476, 545, 862, 1028, 1060, 1081, 1120, 1123, 1126, 1128, 1151, 1165, 1177, 1198, 1271, 1322, 1337, 1340, 1386.
State governments, conservation foundations and private owners.
Site access / Land-owner requests
Many stations are under private ownership. Gluepot Reserve is open to visitors and provides an opportunity to view all mallee bird species.
Peter Waanders wrote the nomination. John Wild of Parcoola; Australian Landscape Trust (managers of Calperum); Birds Australia (managers of Gluepot) and Gluepot Management Committee; Australian Wildlife Conservancy (managers of Scotia); Martin Westbrooke and University of Ballarat; Peter Ewin mapped and commented on the NSW mallee. Thanks also to Grant Whiteman (Australian Landscape Trust), Gluepot Management Committee, Mike Harper (Department for Environment and Heritage) and Emma Ginman (Department for Environment and Heritage).
Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Important Bird Area factsheet: Riverland Mallee (Australia). Downloaded from
https://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/riverland-mallee-iba-australia on 22/11/2024.
