Another two rice seasons have ticked by since the first year of formal bittern-friendly rice incentives. They are offered by Riverina Local land Services and supported through funding from the Australian Government’s National Landcare Program. We’ve gone from record-breaking drought to record-breaking floods.
With thanks to about 15 key rice-growing families, the program has now included over 3000 hectares of bittern-friendly rice, and a bumper rice season is just around the corner. Some of the highlights of the 2020-21 and 2021-22 bittern-friendly rice seasons are highlighted below via Twitter posts.
In sum, from our standardised monitoring, we’ve found between two and six times as many bitterns at the incentive sites compared to the control sites. No nesting has been recorded at the controls while 13 nests have been found at incentive sites, with 85% (11/13) of them having sufficient time to potentially fledge before harvest.
For ten years I’ve waited for the day that an endangered Australasian Bittern would be out in the open and boom in front of me. Finally, that day came this week. #worldwetlandsday #bitternfriendlyrice #wildoz 👀🔊 pic.twitter.com/9yzEi7tNor
— Matt Herring (@Matt_HerringOz) February 1, 2022
"Almost 2,000 hectares of rice crop is now signed up to the Riverina Local Land Services program, which is more than double the size of the past two summers." #bitternfriendlyrice https://t.co/bxKVvoDrk1
— Victoria Taylor (@VLTaylor) February 2, 2022
Is life getting you down? Me too. Let us take a moment to consider this marvellous bird | First Dog on the Moon https://t.co/74tKtTvEhe
— Guardian Australia (@GuardianAus) August 18, 2021
We’re humming now, with three more nests this morning. I’ve only ever dreamed of this sort of productivity and efficiency. Also thrilled to see some chicks already about ten days old, with loads of time to fledge before the rice season ends. #bitternfriendlyrice #thermaldrone pic.twitter.com/rerGDCWmmt
— Matt Herring (@Matt_HerringOz) January 30, 2022
The 2021-22 #bitternfriendlyrice season is on. Getting the water on early is key for a sufficient ponding period for successful breeding. Grassy banks, fox/cat control, adjacent refuges & nesting patches also ✔️
Here’s one of the legends @frogfarmer1 with Anna Wilson @LLSRiverina pic.twitter.com/6uuQUFolLf— Matt Herring (@Matt_HerringOz) October 21, 2021
“I like the idea of the public voting with their spending. If we want to see conservation efforts in farming, we need to pay for it. People do it with coffee and tuna so why not the bittern?” @Matt_HerringOz doing his bit for bitterns. By Kat Vella https://t.co/ZpYqDzyc4Z
— Gabrielle Chan (@gabriellechan) February 19, 2022
More baby bittern joy today, with another nest. There’s plenty of time for successful breeding before the rice season ends. It’s such a great reward for @cbrill01. This farm also has excellent grassy banks and reedy channels for post-harvest cover and prey. #bitternfriendlyrice pic.twitter.com/fxSP4IvKde
— Matt Herring (@Matt_HerringOz) February 13, 2022
Look at the little cutie we found this morning, dubbed ‘Frankie’ after the owner. It’s nest #6 for this season’s #bitternfriendlyrice, incl. three nesting females confirmed in this 24 ha block. The estimated fledging date is challenging but the grower is keen to extend his help. pic.twitter.com/IO5OGWsDNt
— Matt Herring (@Matt_HerringOz) February 25, 2021
We recently got a few of the #bitternfriendlyrice growers together. It was awesome. They're such champions. Among other things, we discussed how to best create nesting patches designed to give females a head start. And everyone got to see an active bittern nest. #WorldWetlandsDay pic.twitter.com/nyj9MMACLg
— Matt Herring (@Matt_HerringOz) February 1, 2021
Very strong baby dinosaur vibes today.#bitternfriendlyrice pic.twitter.com/mLahRF0bIx
— Matt Herring (@Matt_HerringOz) February 1, 2022
Good morning @frogfarmer1
Three boomers so far 👍 #bitternfriendlyrice pic.twitter.com/YCQLOdglWT— Matt Herring (@Matt_HerringOz) January 4, 2022
Just now, the first baby bittern for our #bitternfriendlyrice incentive program this season. It’s already about ten days old, due to fledge March 8th, eight days prior to the contracted ponding period. Great result, just what we’re after. It was a bare, dry paddock 87 days ago. pic.twitter.com/uWzO9FzEjm
— Matt Herring (@Matt_HerringOz) January 22, 2021
It's nice to see the bitterns have read our incentive criteria for grassy banks @LLSRiverina @AusLandcare #bitternfriendlyrice pic.twitter.com/38KxxLueAD
— Matt Herring (@Matt_HerringOz) December 29, 2020