The IBA comprises the entire irrigated area of the Ord River Irrigation Scheme around and downstream of Kununurra, with the adjacent Lake Kununurra extending upstream from the town. The establishment of irrigated farmland has formed perennially moist areas of cumbungi and native wetland grasses, which support larger numbers of several bird species than does the surrounding non-irrigated bushland and dry pasture. The cumbungi and grasses occur along waterways and the edges of Lake Kununurra, as well as in agricultural fallows. The average annual rainfall is 790 mm, falling mainly from October to April.[1]
HistoryEdit
The irrigation and drainage infrastructure was constructed in the early 1960s, with commercial farming taking place from 1963 when Kununurra's Ord Diversion Dam was completed. Using water first from Lake Kununurra, and later from Lake Argyle, a reservoir formed by the completion of the main Ord Dam in 1972, some 140 km2 of cattle grazing land became productive farmland. Farm blocks are typically 260-360 ha in size, on heavy, black cracking clay soils. The main crops include sugarcane, sandalwood, fruit, vegetables and cotton.[1]
irrigation, area, important, bird, area, area, land, used, irrigated, agriculture, along, river, vicinity, town, kununurra, kimberley, region, north, western, australia, been, identified, birdlife, international, important, bird, area, significance, birds, esp. The Ord Irrigation Area Important Bird Area is an area of land used for irrigated agriculture along the Ord River in the vicinity of the town of Kununurra in the Kimberley region of north western Australia It has been identified by BirdLife International as a 220 km2 Important Bird Area IBA for its significance for birds especially estrildid finches The IBA is an important area for star finches Contents 1 Description 1 1 History 2 Birds 3 ReferencesDescription EditThe IBA comprises the entire irrigated area of the Ord River Irrigation Scheme around and downstream of Kununurra with the adjacent Lake Kununurra extending upstream from the town The establishment of irrigated farmland has formed perennially moist areas of cumbungi and native wetland grasses which support larger numbers of several bird species than does the surrounding non irrigated bushland and dry pasture The cumbungi and grasses occur along waterways and the edges of Lake Kununurra as well as in agricultural fallows The average annual rainfall is 790 mm falling mainly from October to April 1 History Edit The irrigation and drainage infrastructure was constructed in the early 1960s with commercial farming taking place from 1963 when Kununurra s Ord Diversion Dam was completed Using water first from Lake Kununurra and later from Lake Argyle a reservoir formed by the completion of the main Ord Dam in 1972 some 140 km2 of cattle grazing land became productive farmland Farm blocks are typically 260 360 ha in size on heavy black cracking clay soils The main crops include sugarcane sandalwood fruit vegetables and cotton 1 Birds EditThe IBA supports the largest recorded numbers of star finches and yellow rumped munias as well as smaller number of Australian bustards Bush stone curlews white gaped and yellow tinted honeyeaters white browed robins masked and long tailed finches and sometimes over 1 of the population of Australian pratincoles 2 Other birds found in the IBA include brolgas little curlews and black backed bitterns Letter winged kites white quilled rock pigeons varied lorikeets northern rosellas bar breasted and banded honeyeaters are occasionally recorded 1 References Edit a b c BirdLife International 2011 Important Bird Areas factsheet Ord Irrigation Area Downloaded from http www birdlife org on 12 09 2011 IBA Ord Irrigation Area Birdata Birds Australia Archived from the original on 6 July 2011 Retrieved 11 September 2011 15 41 43 S 128 44 01 E 15 69528 S 128 73361 E 15 69528 128 73361 nbsp This article about a location in Western Australia is a stub You can help Wikipedia by expanding it vte Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Ord Irrigation Area Important Bird Area amp oldid 919503562, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
