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<\/p>\nAfter the rain, come the birds.<\/p>\n
From pelicans to herons, winged explorers of all colours, shapes and sizes have flocked to the desert’s edge on the promise of bustling wetlands.<\/p>\n
It’s an age-old story for the often-dry inland river systems of one of Australia’s biggest breeding basins \u2014 the Channel Country.<\/p>\n
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Cuttaburra Crossing is a popular bird breeding meeting spot. (ABC Western Qld: Hannah Walsh)<\/p>\n
Significant rainfall this year means locals are making rare sightings of birds, such as the golden-headed cisticola.<\/p>\n
Bush Heritage ecologist Helene Aubault said it was “very unusual” to see the cisticola so far inland, captured in photos by volunteers, but said the insects and water had attracted the bird to the desert’s edge.<\/p>\n
Dr Aubault said the Simpson Desert and nearby channels were not usually suitable habitat for the golden bird.<\/p>\n
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Helene Aubault and her family live at a remote reserve on the Queensland\u2013Northern Territory border. (ABC Western Qld: Grace Nakamura)<\/p>\n
But that changed after more than half a metre of rain, or two-and-a-half times the area’s annual average rainfall, fell since January.<\/p>\n
“It’s often only one or two birds that are bit more adventurous than their other friends and have come to take a look,” she said.An ‘unbelievable’ season<\/p>\n
In addition to birds, the “boom and bust” cycle of the Channel Country has also led to a sharp rise in small mammals, lizards and insects.<\/p>\n
Anne Britton, a photographer and birdwatcher, has lived near Boulia for four decades and said this year’s wet season had attracted “hundreds and hundreds” of birds.<\/p>\n
“We do get the pelicans even when it’s dry, [but] the new ones we’ve had in the past couple of years are massive flocks of ibis [and] massive flocks of hawks,” she said.<\/p>\n
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Pelicans have flocked to the Channel Country. (ABC News: Che Chorley)<\/p>\n
Ms Britton said this year’s rainfall had been “unbelievable” with 365 millimetres so far, an “absolutely amazing” outcome for the region’s agriculture and tourism industries.<\/p>\n
University of Southern Queensland’s Jarrod Kath, who researches migration patterns, said waterbirds arrived inland from along the east coast and Western Australia.<\/p>\n
Dr Kath said rain was the trigger for many of the birds making the thousand-kilometre journey inland, but he said it was still a mystery how they knew where to go.<\/a><\/p>\n Jarrod Kath says birds breed inland because there are fewer predators, but flood plains “as far as the eye can see”. (ABC Western Qld: Hannah Walsh)<\/p>\n “When there’s good events, these birds somehow know that something is going on and they’ll get up and take flight and head to some of these arid regions,” he said.<\/p>\n “They may have a good memory \u2014 when this is drying out, they [know] the wetland down the road about a thousand kilometres is in good shape, so I’ll have a sticky-beak there.”<\/p>\n He said researchers were also considering whether birds could “hear storms” or “smell productive flood plains”.\u00a0<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/f5f71727f9969c7aa4314b37cd617451.jpeg\")
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