The Patho Plains Important Bird Area comprises a 794 km² tract of mainly pastoral farmland near the town of Gunbower in north-central

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Queen Victoria (1819–1901), Queen of the United Kingdom and Empress of India * Victoria (state), a state of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, a provincial capital * Victoria, Seychelles, the capi ...

, south-eastern

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 contains several relatively small nature conservation reserves as well as the 38 km² Terrick Terrick National Park.

Description

The site encompasses remnants of native

grassland A grassland is an area where the vegetation is dominance (ecology), dominated by grasses (Poaceae). However, sedge (Cyperaceae) and rush (Juncaceae) can also be found along with variable proportions of legumes such as clover, and other Herbaceo ...

inhabited by an

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 ...

grassland bird in a monotypic family – the

plains-wanderer The plains-wanderer (''Pedionomus torquatus'') is an atypical species of wading bird, the only representative of family Pedionomidae and genus ''Pedionomus''. It is endemic to Australia. Its historic range included much of eastern Australia, i ...

– with the intervening farmland. The area has a

Mediterranean climate A Mediterranean climate ( ), also called a dry summer climate, described by Köppen and Trewartha as ''Cs'', is a temperate climate type that occurs in the lower mid-latitudes (normally 30 to 44 north and south latitude). Such climates typic ...

with cool, damp winters and hot dry summers, supporting native

tussock grassland Tussock may refer to: * Tussock grass, a group of species in the family Poaceae *Floating island * Lymantriinae, called tussock moths or tussocks See also * Hassock (disambiguation) * Hummock (disambiguation) * Hillock A hillock or knoll ...

dominated by ''

Austrostipa ''Austrostipa'' is a primarily Australian genus of plants in the grass family, commonly called speargrass. The genus includes species formerly included in the genus ''Stipa ''Stipa'' is a genus of 141 species of large Perennial plant, per ...

'' and '' Austrodanthonia'' species. Other vegetation types are

temperate In geography, the temperate climates of Earth occur in the middle latitudes (approximately 23.5° to 66.5° N/S of the Equator), which span between the tropics and the polar regions of Earth. These zones generally have wider temperature ran ...

grass Poaceae ( ), also called Gramineae ( ), is a large and nearly ubiquitous family (biology), family of monocotyledonous flowering plants commonly known as grasses. It includes the cereal grasses, bamboos, the grasses of natural grassland and spe ...

woodland A woodland () is, in the broad sense, land covered with woody plants (trees and shrubs), or in a narrow sense, synonymous with wood (or in the U.S., the '' plurale tantum'' woods), a low-density forest forming open habitats with plenty of sunli ...

s dominated by white cypress-pine, grey box and yellow box. There are also small areas of

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 ...

riparian A riparian zone or riparian area is the interface between land and a river or stream. In some regions, the terms riparian woodland, riparian forest, riparian buffer zone, riparian corridor, and riparian strip are used to characterize a ripar ...

woodland and

granite Granite ( ) is a coarse-grained (phanerite, phaneritic) intrusive rock, intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly coo ...

outcrop

shrubland Shrubland, scrubland, scrub, brush, or bush is a plant community characterized by vegetation dominance (ecology), dominated by shrubs, often also including grasses, herbaceous plant, herbs, and geophytes. Shrubland may either occur naturally o ...

.BirdLife International. (2011). Important Bird Areas factsheet: Patho Plains. Downloaded from on 15/09/2011.

Birds

The site has 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 an

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 it supports most of Victoria's population of plains-wanderers. As well as the land used by the species, the IBA includes extensive areas of unsuitable farmland which has the potential for restoration to habitat suitable for plains-wanderers. It includes an area of

which supports the largest regional population of

diamond firetail The diamond firetail (''Stagonopleura guttata'') is a species of estrildid finch that is endemic to Australia. It has a patchy distribution and generally occupies drier forests and grassy woodlands west of the Great Dividing Range from South Ea ...

Birds of prey Birds of prey or predatory birds, also known as (although not the same as) raptors, are hypercarnivorous bird species that actively predation, hunt and feed on other vertebrates (mainly mammals, reptiles and smaller birds). In addition to speed ...

that breed in the area include spotted harriers and

black falcon The black falcon (''Falco subniger'') is a medium-large falcon that is endemic to Australia. It can be found in all mainland states and territories and yet is regarded as Australia's most under-studied falcon.Debus, S.J.S. & Olsen, J. (2011). Som ...

Bush stone-curlew The bush stone-curlew or bush thick-knee (''Burhinus grallarius'', obsolete name ''Burhinus magnirostris'') is a large, ground-dwelling bird Endemism, endemic to Australia. Its favoured habitat is open plains and woodlands, where it stalks slowly ...

s and

painted honeyeater The painted honeyeater (''Grantiella picta'') is a species of honeyeater in a monotypic taxon, monotypic genus. Taxonomy A member of the family Meliphagidae, ''Grantiella picta'' is the sole species under this genus. The painted honeyeater was ...

s have been recorded. The woodland area is important for

brown treecreeper The brown treecreeper (''Climacteris picumnus'') is the largest Australasian treecreeper. The bird, endemic to eastern Australia, has a broad distribution, occupying areas from Cape York, Queensland, throughout New South Wales and Victoria to P ...

black-chinned honeyeater The black-chinned honeyeater (''Melithreptus gularis'') is a species of passerine bird in the family Meliphagidae. It is endemic to Australia. Two subspecies are recognised. Its natural habitats are temperate forests and subtropical or tropical ...

grey-crowned babbler The grey-crowned babbler (''Pomatostomus temporalis'') is a species of bird in the family Pomatostomidae. They are found in Australia and New Guinea (Indonesia and Papua New Guinea). Its habitats include Tropical and subtropical dry broadleaf fo ...

s and

hooded robin The hooded robin (''Melanodryas cucullata'') is a small passerine bird native to Australia. Like many brightly coloured robins of the Petroicidae, it is sexually dimorphic; the male bears a distinctive black-and-white plumage, while the female i ...

s. Inland species near the south-eastern limit of their range include

Australian ringneck The Australian ringneck (''Barnardius zonarius'') is a parrot native to Australia. Except for extreme tropical and highland areas, the species has adapted to all conditions. Treatments of genus ''Barnardius'' have previously recognised two sp ...

chestnut-crowned babbler The chestnut-crowned babbler (''Pomatostomus ruficeps'') is a medium-sized bird that is endemic to arid and semi-arid areas of south-eastern Australia.Higgins, P. J. and Peter, J. M. (2002). Handbook of Australian, New Zealand and Antarctic Birds ...

s and white-winged fairy-wrens.

References

Important Bird Areas of Victoria (state) Murray-Darling basin {{VictoriaAU-geo-stub