This dataset represents the combined outputs of two third year Environmental Management research student projects. Both projects had broadly similar aims, that is, characterising the waterbird fauna of lakes and wetlands in the Ballarat region. The first project, entitled The importance of three freshwater lakes to waterbirds of the Ballarat region was undertaken by Jennifer Urias in 2013. The second project, entitled Do Waterbirds Prefer Urban or Non-Urban Wetlands in Western Victoria? was undertaken by Josh Howard in 2015. Surveys methods differed between the two projects: the Urias project approach was simultaneous surveys of three large lakes, using teams of volunteers, repeated three times over the autumn-spring season - May, September and October 2013; the Howard project approach was four replicate surveys (March, May, July and September 2015) conducted by a single observer at 10 small wetlands in one day. Both projects were designed to capture information on relative population sizes across survey wetlands / lakes by surveying all waterbodies on a single day.
