Where do the bitterns go after rice harvest? Part 1
By Matt Herring, Murray Wildlife
Never mind the possibility of life beyond Earth, this is the real burning question! With such significant numbers of the globally endangered Australasian Bittern (Botaurus poiciloptilus) using Riverina rice fields, and now that we know there’s widespread breeding as well, it’s crucial that we work out which wetlands they depend on during the colder months of the year. Thanks to funding from the Riverina Local Land Services, The Bitterns in Rice Project has begun to solve this curious mystery.
This year, the rice harvest was late, delayed by wet weather, but by the end of May most of these temporary agricultural wetlands that bitterns had called home over summer had been drained or dried out. The headers had been and gone, taking with them the typical ten tonne per hectare harvest. So last week we began targeted surveys of key wetland areas in the Riverina with the aim of finding some of their non-breeding, post-harvest haunts.
