Western District Lakes
| Designations | |
|---|---|
| Official name | Western District Lakes |
| Designated | 15 December 1982 |
| Reference no. | 268[1] |
The Western District Lakes of Victoria, in the Western District of Victoria, south-eastern Australia, were recognised on 15 December 1982 as wetlands of international importance by listing under the Ramsar Convention, as Ramsar site no.268.
Description[]
The site comprises nine lakes with a combined area of 329 square kilometres (127 sq mi), varying in depth and salinity from fresh water to hypersaline.[2] They include State Wildlife Reserves and Lake Reserves and serve as drought refuges for tens of thousands of waterbirds. Several threatened plants occur within the site, including the endangered . The lakes are used for various purposes, including recreational fishing and duck hunting as well as grazing, commercial fishing, and wastewater disposal. The lakes lie in a basaltic grassland landscape at an altitude of 40–90 metres (130–300 ft) above sea level. Average annual rainfall (recorded at Beeac) is 617 millimetres (24.3 in).[3] Lakes included in the site are:[4]
- Lake Beeac; hypersaline; 662 hectares (1,640 acres)
- Lake Bookar; 500 hectares (1,200 acres)
- Lake Colongulac; saline; 1,460 hectares (3,600 acres)
- Lake Corangamite; hypersaline; 23,300 hectares (58,000 acres)
- Lake Cundare; hypersaline; 395 hectares (980 acres)
- Lake Gnarpurt; saline; 2,350 hectares (5,800 acres)
- Lake Milangil; saline; 125 hectares (310 acres)
- Lake Murdeduke; saline; 1,550 hectares (3,800 acres)
- Lake Terangpom; fresh; 208 hectares (510 acres)
Birds[]
The Ramsar-listed lakes, along with other nearby lakes have been identified by BirdLife International as a 384 square kilometres (148 sq mi) Important Bird Area (IBA) because they support over 1% of the world populations of Australian shelducks, chestnut teals and banded stilts and irregularly support over 1% of the world populations of freckled ducks, musk ducks, blue-billed ducks, black swans, Australasian shovellers, pink-eared ducks, hoary-headed grebes, straw-necked ibises, sharp-tailed sandpipers and white-headed stilts.[4][5]
The additional lakes in the IBA are:[4]
- Cundare Pool / Lake Martin; 3,730 hectares (9,200 acres); saline
- Lough Calvert (including Upper, Middle and Lower Lough Calvert)
- Lake Thurrumbong
Other birds for which the lakes occasionally support high numbers include double-banded plovers, red-necked avocets, Eurasian coots, great crested grebes, Australian pelicans, great cormorants, little pied cormorants, grey teals, whiskered terns, hardheads and red-necked stints.[4]
See also[]
- List of lakes of Victoria
References[]
- ^ "Western District Lakes". Ramsar Sites Information Service. Retrieved 25 April 2018.
- ^ Hale, J. and Butcher, R. “Western District Lakes Ramsar site Ecological Character Description”, Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities, 2011. Retrieved 26 August 2017.
- ^ "The Annotated Ramsar List: Australia". The Ramsar Convention on Wetlands. 4 January 2000. Retrieved 19 July 2011.
- ^ a b c d BirdLife International. (2011). Important Bird Areas factsheet: Lake Corangamite Complex. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 2011-07-19.
- ^ "IBA: Lake Corangamite complex". Birdata. Birds Australia. Retrieved 19 July 2011.
| |||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||
Coordinates: 38°10′S 143°31′E / 38.167°S 143.517°E
 | This article about a location in Barwon South West (region) is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by . |
- Lakes of Victoria (Australia)
- Ramsar sites in Australia
- Important Bird Areas of Victoria (Australia)
- Western District (Victoria)
- Barwon South West geography stubs