Birdlife
The Ross River Dam/Lake Ross area is a wetland of national significance.
It holds 232,000 mega litres of water and has approximately 221 known species of birds, making it is a bird watcher’s paradise with exciting bird activity on display all year around.
Some of the birds you can expect to see include, but are not limited to:
- Australian Brush Turkey
- Brown Quail
- Magpie Goose
- Plumbed Whistling Duck
- Freckled Duck
- Black Swan
- Pink-eared Duck
- Australian Grebe
- Little Pied, Pied, Great and Little Black Cormorant
- Australian Pelican
- Yellow-billed Spoonbill
- Black-shouldered, Letter-winged, Black, Whistling and Brahminy Kite
- White-belied Sea Eagle and Wedge-tailed Eagle.
- Plus terns, doves, cockatoos, honey-eaters, finches, gerygones and more.
Depending on what you’d like to see, the birds at the dam provide entertainment all year around.
April/May
After the wet season there is plenty of water in the dam and birds start to flock back after their migration south.
June/July/August
It’s breeding time for the Cormorants, Egrets, Black Swans and Magpie Geese, which means – if we are really quiet – the boat can get close to the nests and passengers can get great photos of hatchlings.
We can visit Swan Island which is where the Magpie Geese and Black Swans breed.
September/October/November/December
These are the warmer months and the sunset tours become popular.
In 2009 the Magpie Geese and Black Swans had a second breeding season at this time of the year.
The water is lower so the birds come closer to us, plus a lot of the historical relics are now visible.
