Re: Are all our eggs in one basket?

Our eggs aren't all in the one basket but I suspect that a particular basket does contain the lions share.  (We're really starting to mix metaphors now!)

I heard recently of 600 Blue-billed Duck at a wetland on the New England Tableland in northern NSW.  There were also supposed to be a lot at Gum Swamp recently but it appears they disappeared before Carol got there (if they were there Carol would have found them).  

Blue-billed Ducks tend to favour the deeper more permanent wetlands around the periphery of the Murray-Darling Basin, some spreading a lot further inland during periods of inland flooding.  The movement towards more southern wetlands is a part of a regular migration.  This appears to have been accentuated by the current drought resulting in this incredible number of birds at Werribee (despite the NSW and now the Qld coast having torrential rain my May rainfall total for here in Dubbo has been 1/2 mm).

In short, the current estimation of the eastern Aust population of Blue-billed Duck is certainly an under-estimation but by how far?  I'm currently writing the NSW Recovery Plan for this species (and the Freckled Duck) - it's amazing just how little information there is on these species.

Cheers

David Geering
Threatened Species Unit
NSW National Parks & Wildlife Service
P.O. Box 2111
Dubbo  NSW  2830
Ph: 02 6883 5335 or Freecall 1800 621 056
Fax: 02 6884 9382



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