The Griffith Wetlands Important Bird Area is a group of

wetland A wetland is a distinct semi-aquatic ecosystem whose groundcovers are flooded or saturated in water, either permanently, for years or decades, or only seasonally. Flooding results in oxygen-poor ( anoxic) processes taking place, especially ...

s lying close to the

Riverina The Riverina () is an agricultural list of regions in Australia, region of south-western New South Wales, Australia. The Riverina is distinguished from other Australian regions by the combination of flat plains, a climate with significant seaso ...

town of

Griffith Griffith may refer to: People * Griffith (name) * Griffith (surname) * Griffith (given name) Places Antarctica * Mount Griffith, Ross Dependency * Griffith Peak (Antarctica), Marie Byrd Land * Griffith Glacier, Marie Byrd Land * Griffith Ridge, ...

in southern

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. It lies within the

Murrumbidgee Irrigation Area The Murrumbidgee Irrigation Area (MIA) is geographically located within the Riverina area of New South Wales. It was created to control and divert the flow of local river and creek systems for the purpose of food production. The main river s ...

Description

North and South

Lake Wyangan Lake Wyangan is a recreational lake located immediately to the northwest of the town of Griffith in New South Wales, Australia. The lake was formed in 1950 and is surrounded by many orchards. It was formed with the remnants of a gypsum mine. ...

are used for water storage; they contain an area of cumbungi. Nericon Swamp is a shallow swamp usually dry enough to be grazed by cattle, though it sometimes fills from local rains when it supports large numbers of

wader 245px, A flock of Red_knot.html" ;"title="Dunlins and Red knot">Dunlins and Red knots Waders or shorebirds are birds of the order Charadriiformes commonly found wikt:wade#Etymology 1, wading along shorelines and mudflats in order to foraging, ...

s. Barren Box Swamp was originally an ephemeral swamp; it has been divided into three parts, with 60% of it remaining a natural wetland which holds water only in wet years; the other 40% is used for water storage and recycling, with

reed bed A reedbed or reed bed is a natural habitat found in floodplains, waterlogged depressions and estuaries. Reedbeds are part of a succession from young reeds colonising open water or wet ground through a gradation of increasingly dry ground. As ...

s and grazed margins. Campbell's Swamp is a

black box In science, computing, and engineering, a black box is a system which can be viewed in terms of its inputs and outputs (or transfer characteristics), without any knowledge of its internal workings. Its implementation is "opaque" (black). The te ...

lignum Lignum is Latin for wood and may refer to: * ''Gmelina lignum-vitreum'', plant endemic to New Caledonia * Lignum, common name of ''Muehlenbeckia florulenta'', plant native to inland Australia * Lignum Crucis, remnants of the True Cross * Lignum Ltd ...

swamp containing extensive open areas punctuated by stands of

reed Reed or Reeds may refer to: Science, technology, biology, and medicine * Reed bird (disambiguation) * Reed pen, writing implement in use since ancient times * Reed (plant), one of several tall, grass-like wetland plants of the order Poales * Re ...

s and cumbungi; it fills occasionally from local rainfall or with water released from the irrigation system.

Birds

Together, the wetlands have been identified by

BirdLife International BirdLife International is a global partnership of non-governmental organizations that strives to conserve birds and their habitats. BirdLife International's priorities include preventing extinction of bird species, identifying and safeguarding i ...

as a fragmented

Important Bird Area An Important Bird and Biodiversity Area (IBA) is an area identified using an internationally agreed set of criteria as being globally important for the conservation of bird populations. IBA was developed and sites are identified by BirdLife Int ...

(IBA) because they regularly support small numbers of the

endangered An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching, inv ...

Australasian bittern The Australasian bittern (''Botaurus poiciloptilus''), or Matuku-hūrepo in Māori language, Māori, is a stocky, sizeable and elusive heron-like bird native to the Wetland, wetlands of Australia, New Zealand, and New Caledonia.Heather, B. D., & ...

as well as occasionally supporting over 1% of the world populations of

sharp-tailed sandpiper The sharp-tailed sandpiper (''Calidris acuminata'') is a small-medium migratory wader or shorebird, found mostly in Siberia during the summer breeding period (June to August) and Australia for wintering (September to March). Taxonomy The gen ...

s, red-necked avocets and

chestnut teal The chestnut teal (''Anas castanea'') is a dabbling duck found in Australia. It is protected under the National Parks and Wildlife Act 1974. Taxonomy The chestnut teal was described by the English naturalist Thomas Campbell Eyton in 1838 under ...

References

Important Bird Areas of New South Wales Wetlands of New South Wales Griffith, New South Wales Riverina {{Riverina-geo-stub