Community & Business
11 January, 2024
Rare waterbird spotted at Inland Rail site
Australia’s rarest breeding waterbird, the Australian Painted Snipe, has been sighted at Inland Rail’s biodiversity offset site near Yelarbon.
The Australian Government estimates that the total population size of the Australian Painted Snipe has declined substantially, with the reported sighting rate of the bird in eastern Australia decreasing by more than 90 per cent since the 1950s.
The Australian Painted Snipe generally inhabits shallow terrestrial fresh-water wetlands, including temporary and permanent lakes, swamps and claypans, while they also use inundated or waterlogged grassland or saltmarsh, dams, rice crops, sewage farms and bore drains.
As part of a research partnership with Inland Rail, researchers from the University of Southern Queensland (UniSQ) first identified the Australian Painted Snipe while undertaking monitoring on the property.
Inland Rail’s biodiversity offset advisors, Ausecology, identified and photographed a total of 78 bird species at the site, including the vulnerable Painted Honeyeater, the Brown Treecreeper, and the Glossy Ibis.
Inland Rail purchased the property in Queensland in April 2022, buying 800 hectares near Yelarbon.
Inland Rail also owns a 2,800 hectare biodiversity offset property at Canning Creek, between Millmerran and Inglewood.
Daniel Millar, Inland Rail Environmental Manager – Offsets, said over recent months, Inland Rail has undertaken further surveys on ecological communities, including flora and fauna habitat, across the Border to Gowrie section.
