Populations of waterfowl of three game species, the Pacific black duck Anus superciliosa, grey teal
A. gibberifrons, and maned duck Chenonetta jubata, were assessed by aerial survey in October 1983
within a survey region of 2 697 000 km2 of eastern Australia. The numbers of each species were
assessed on all surface waters of over 1 ha, and on a sample of smaller surface waters within 10 survey
bands each 30 km wide and spaced at intervals of 2� latitude from 20�30' to 38�30'S. The area within
the survey bands was 324 120 km2, which gave a sampling intensity of 12.0% of the land surface area.
The area of features shown as wetlands or water impoundments within the survey bands on 1 : 2 500 000
topographic maps was 19 200 km2 or 11.2% of the total area of these features in the survey region.
The area of surface waters surveyed was assessed at 465 300 ha. Assessments of populations of each species
were tallied for wetlands by grid cells of 6 min of 1� longitude along the survey bands (258-309 km2
depending on latitude). Distributions were then mapped, with log*10 indices of populations in each cell.
Distributions of the black duck and grey teal showed a pattern of intense aggregation in limited numbers
of cells, that of the maned duck was more evenly distributed. The major concentrations of the Pacific black
duck were recorded in northern New South Wales and the south-eastern, western, central eastern and
central coastal regions of Queensland; those of the grey teal were in south-western, western and northern
New South Wales and central-eastern Queensland; the maned duck was broadly distributed over inland
New South Wales with the exception of the far west, inland southern Queensland, and central northern
Victoria.
Narwhal (
Monodon monoceros
) detection by infrared flukeprints from aerial survey imagery
