Wildlife and bird watching

The area is renowned for its natural beauty, from the still backwaters to the mighty red gums to the enchanting native wildlife and everything in between.

With such diverse and extensive bushland, forests, floodplains and open countryside, River Country is home to a wide variety of flora and fauna, which can be spotted as you drive, ride, walk, or canoe through the natural environments across the region. Look out for local wildlife such as kangaroos, emus, turtles, possums and plenty of bird species.

Search for birds such as the eastern great egret, a musk duck, yellow rosellas, superb wrens and purple swamphen at the Gulpa Creek Reed Beds Bird Observatory near Mathoura, or find various waterbirds in the Gunbower Island State Forest, a 20,000-hectare flood plain. A bird hide is also situated on the Barham – Moulamein Road, overlooking the 3500 acre salinity ponds, where you may spot a Sharp-tailed Sandpiper, or a White-winged Fairy-wren.

Birds of the river margin habitat include kingfishers (Kookaburra, Azure Kingfisher and Sacred Kingfisher), Black Duck, Wood Duck, Eurasian Coot, Purple Swamphen, and the Buff-banded Land Rail. The tall trees also attract numbers of common birds such as Yellow Rosella, Long-billed Corella (sometimes in deafening flocks), Noisy Miner and Willy Wagtail.