Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12 Page 13 Page 14 Page 15 Page 16 Page 17 Page 18 Page 19 Page 20 Page 21 Page 22 Page 23 Page 24 Page 25 Page 26 Page 27 Page 28 Page 29 Page 30 Page 31 Page 32 Page 33 Page 34 Page 35 Page 36 Page 37 Page 38 Page 39 Page 40 Page 41 Page 42 Page 43 Page 44 Page 45 Page 46 Page 47 Page 48 Page 49 Page 50 Page 51 Page 52 Page 53 Page 54 Page 55 Page 56 Page 57 Page 58 Page 59 Page 60 Page 61 Page 62 Page 63 Page 64 Page 65 Page 66 Page 67 Page 68 Page 69 Page 70 Page 71 Page 72 Page 73 Page 74 Page 75 Page 7611 IREC Farmers' Newsletter No. 195 ­ – Rice R&D 2016 Traditional is best One of our key findings is that bitterns prefer rice crops with more traditional sowing methods that involve early permanent water. We hypothesised that it was related to prey and during the 2015– 2016 season we verified this. Direct drilled and other delayed permanent water crops had substantially less prey leading into the peak breeding period for bitterns. A wide range of prey was found in crops favoured by bitterns, such as dragonfly larvae, water beetles, mosquitofish (Gambusia holbrooki) and common carp (Cyprinus carpio). By far the most abundant prey was tadpoles. There were four species, the spotted marsh frog (Limnodynastes tasmaniensis), barking marsh frog (L. fletcheri), plains froglet (Crinia parinsignifera) and southern bell frog (Litoria raniformis), the latter a threatened species itself, with strongholds in the Coleambally Irrigation Area and the western Murray Valley. There is a range of actions that rice growers can take to benefit bitterns, such as controlling foxes and cats, maintaining grassy banks and supplementing rice fields with adjacent habitat areas, but central to bittern friendly rice farming is fostering management that creates abundant prey and a season with sufficient time for the chicks to fledge before harvest. We have observed fully-fledged young at harvest time and the prospect of ramping up the bittern yield is a key focus for the future. Southern winter home But what about the rest of the year when there is no rice? Where does the world’s largest known Australasian bittern breeding population go for winter? Thanks to a successful crowdfunding effort that united irrigators and conservationists for a common goal, the answers are emerging. The first bittern to be satellite tracked was Robbie, named by the Coleambally Irrigation Cooperative after Mark Robb, as a fitting tribute to his efforts on the project. Robbie’s journey became legendary, as thousands of people followed him for 323 days while he stitched together seemingly disparate wetlands across south-eastern Australia. At harvest time, only nine days after we met him, he flew 557 km from Coleambally to Pick Swamp, a restored wetland on the South Australian coast. He moved 20 km back into Victoria to another recently restored wetland, Long Swamp, and stayed for four months before returning to the Riverina. He landed at Lake Wyangan near Griffith, just a stone’s throw from one of the most important bittern wetlands in the Riverina, Campbell’s Swamp. He was too early for the next rice season though, and slowly made his way back south. Robbie provided us with our first insights into the network of wetlands that these bitterns rely on outside of the rice season. His fame grew and when we lost contact there was an outpouring of despair and intense media interest, culminating in a live television interview on BBC World News. Robbie was officially the most famous bittern in history. He had highlighted the important role of both restored swamps and agricultural wetlands. Fortunately, we had added new bitterns to the tracking crew. There was Vin, named by the Murray–Darling Wetlands Working Group as a tribute to a long-standing member, Vin Byrnes, who’d recently passed away. At harvest Vin flew 191 km towards Sydney before we lost contact near Temora. Coly-Lion came courtesy of the Coleambally Lions Club. Like Vin, he was an adult male that we’d lured into a cage trap with the help of a mirror and a speaker playing the booming call. He stayed tight within his territory until harvest time. But then the transmitter failed and we lost contact. Amazingly, some eagle-eyed observers at Tootgarook Swamp, south of Melbourne on the Mornington Peninsula, spotted a bittern with a little lump on its back. It was Coly-Lion, 395 km from his Coleambally rice crop breeding territory. Then there was Neil from Murrami near Leeton. The Ricegrowers’ Association of Australia named him after one of its own, Neil Bull. Neil didn’t disappoint either. He took a 450 km U-turn of sorts via the Wakool River floodplain near Swan Hill all the way to Moodie Swamp, north of Benalla. Another bittern named COG, representing the Canberra Ornithologists Group, stayed put in Murrami channels. Four of our first five bitterns made big movements at harvest time, with three heading south into Victoria. Next season we’ll be trying harder than ever to catch the elusive females and see what they do. Benefits of irrigation In February 2016, we hosted the Threatened Species Commissioner, Gregory Andrews. With the announcement that the Australasian bittern had been added to national priority list of threatened bird species, the visit was about seeing what the Bitterns in Rice Project was all about. We were able to take Gregory to an active bittern nest and he was delighted. The opportunity to marry farming and threatened species conservation couldn’t be clearer. He kept thanking individual rice growers for being custodians of one of the world’s rarest birds. The sentiment was well received and taken as an acknowledgement from Canberra that there can be environmental benefits to irrigation. Along the way, we have uncovered the value of rice fields to a wide range of other wildlife. In our first season we documented 87 endangered Australian painted snipe, six migratory shorebirds from the northern hemisphere, breeding by brolgas and roosting eastern grass owls. Large populations (probably exceeding 10,000) of Baillon’s crake, glossy ibis and whiskered tern have also been documented, and the list goes on. Our work has highlighted the overlooked conservation role of irrigation areas and constructed habitats, especially agricultural wetlands like rice fields and farm dams. We are challenging the dominant paradigm that land and water should only be managed for the environment or for agriculture, rather than having a dual purpose. RIRDC Project PRJ-007956 Bitterns in Rice Research Project Acknowledgment The Bitterns in Rice Project is funded primarily by Riverina Local Land Services through the Australian Government’s National Landcare Programme. For regular updates, including the movements of the tracked bitterns, visit www.bitternsinrice.com.au or follow the Bitterns in Rice Project on Facebook. Further information Matt Herring E: [email protected] M: 0428 236 563 W: www.bitternsinrice.com.au l Threatened Species Commissioner, Gregory Andrews, with a bittern chick near Coleambally.