An internationally recognised IBA in our midst
Posted on 26 November, 2014 by Connecting Country
Important Bird and Biodiversity Areas (IBAs) are sites of global bird importance, and are considered to be critical for bird conservation. A few years ago, BirdLife Australia identified approximately 300 IBAs across the Australian territories, each of which had to meet at least one of four strict criteria.
In Connecting Country’s area of interest, four local patches of habitat were included in 2009 as part of the Bendigo Box Ironbark IBA. These are the Muckleford forest; forest within mostly privately owned land in Strangways (but also encompassing the Rise and Shine Bushland Reserve); the Sandon Forest; and the Pilchers Bridge Nature Conservation Reserve. These locations also encompass 4 of the 11 local priority areas within Connecting Country’s Woodland Bird Action Plan.
This Bendigo Box Ironbark area was considered to be an IBA on the basis of it being an internationally important site for the Flame Robin, Diamond Firetail and Swift Parrot. The Diamond Firetail is one of Connecting Country’s ‘feathered five’ bird species.
Click on the map to see the location of all Australia IBAs.
At the same time as the G20 meeting in Brisbane was recently being held, Sydney was hosting the World Parks Conference. At this meeting, Samantha Vine from BirdLife Australia gave a presentation which identified five Australian IBAs that were ‘in danger’ and another 14 with ‘very high’ threat levels (click here and here for more information). Thankfully, the Bendigo Box-Ironbark IBA was not one of these considered at imminent risk of major bird losses.
But, this doesn’t mean we should be complacent about our local bird habitat areas. Over the coming months and years, Connecting Country will continue to support landholders and Landcare groups to undertake on-ground habitat improvement works and biodiversity monitoring within these and other locations across the greater Mount Alexander region.
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