Birdwatching in Victoria

Victoria offers birdwatchers many opportunities to see a diverse range of species in varied landscapes and habitats.

Explore the Kerang Wetlands near Echuca to spot the local ibis population, and look out for the mallee fowl in the Murray region. The forests of the Grampians are home to a variety of parrots, such as gang-gang cockatoos and long-billed corellas.

Head to the coast to see shorebirds and seabirds, including albatrosses and petrels. In spring, large numbers of short-tailed shearwaters (mutton-birds) return to breed on islands in Bass Strait. Oystercatchers, terns and the rare hooded plover can be seen on the beaches.

Closer to Melbourne
Closer to Melbourne, orange-bellied parrots migrate from breeding grounds in south-western Tasmania to the coast of Victoria (around Port Phillip in particular) for the winter, with a few birds continuing onto South Australia. Victoria’s bird emblem is the helmeted honeyeater, now restricted to a small area to the east of Melbourne. Owls can sometimes be seen in the city in places as the Royal Botanic Gardens. The sewage treatment plant at Werribee, near the city, is world famous for its waterbirds, sometimes including vagrant migratory waders from the Northern Hemisphere. Superb lyrebirds can be seen and heard in the Dandenong Ranges in the eastern suburbs of Melbourne.