most famous Little Penguins; the clifftops are home to vast breeding colonies of Short-tailed. Shearwaters (also known a
Key Biodiversity Areas within 100km of
MELBOURNE Visitor Guide Close your eyes and think of the most wonderful places you’ve seen in Australia. A coral cay in the Great Barrier Reef? The raw and rugged beauty of Cradle Mountain? The Ubirr escarpment casting a long shadow over the floodplains of Kakadu at sunrise? The vivid natural palette of Shark Bay? The chances are that wherever it is that you’ve thought of, it’s a Key Biodiversity Area (KBA). KBAs are those wonderful natural places with irreplaceable values that make them special. But they’re not just special to us—they’re also special to a whole host of birds and other wildlife. And they’re not all in such far-flung places. In fact, they’re closer than you think— there are plenty of these unique places right on Melbourne’s doorstep. When it comes to wildlife-watching, a bustling city like Melbourne isn’t necessarily the first place you’d think of, but there are plenty of places within an hour’s drive of the city that are internationally important sites where precious wildlife awaits. Right around Port Phillip Bay there are wetlands where you can witness the marvels of migration. Each spring, thousands of migratory shorebirds make the long flight from the wilds of the Siberian tundra, specifically to spend the
summer on the shores of Port Phillip, sometimes within sight of the city’s skyscrapers, in KBAs such as Altona and Carrum–Edithvale, while the Werribee & Avalon KBA is renowned throughout the world as a wildlife hotspot. If you’re lucky, you might even spot an Orangebellied Parrot. Further afield, the rugged ocean shores of Phillip Island aren’t only home to the world’s most famous Little Penguins; the clifftops are home to vast breeding colonies of Short-tailed Shearwaters (also known as Muttonbirds), which fill the skies every spring evening, while Hooded Plovers can be seen running along the sandy beaches below. They’re not all along the coast, though. The towering forests of the Otway Range KBA is home to the diminutive Pink Robin and the charismatic but elusive Rufous Bristlebird (seldom seen but often heard). Further north, where the forests are much drier, you should keep an eye out for different wildlife. Diamond Firetails hop daintily about on the ground in the Rushworth Box Ironbark KBA, while in the trees above there could be Swift Parrots feeding quietly on the nectar, and the Bendigo Box-Ironbark KBA is one of the few places left near Melbourne where the songs of declining woodland birds such as Crested Bellbird and Gilbert’s Whistler can still be heard. Melbourne’s KBAs offer so many opportunities for everyone to experience the wonders of nature.
Bird Photos: Swift Parrot, Short-tailed Shearwater, Orange-bellied Parrots, Bush-stone Curlew, Fairy Penguin (Andrew Silcocks); Hooded Plover (Glenn Ehmke); Diamond Firetail (Dean Ingwersen); Pink Robin (Stephen Garth)
Photo: Ironbark woodland by Chris Tzaros
Photo: Red-necked Stint by Andrew Silcocks
Photo: Red-necked Stint, Andrew Silcocks
M ON IA
D FIR ET L AI
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T-TAILE OR D
DAYLESFORD
SWIFT P A
GE-BELL IE
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MELBOURNE
RROT PA
GEELONG
LE PENG TT U LI
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LORNE
KEY BIODIVERSITY AREAS WITHIN 100KM OF MELBOURNE Swan Bay & Port Phillip Bay Islands Otway Range
Western Port Phillip Island
WONTHAGGI
Maryborough-Dunolly Box-Ironbrark Region Bendigo BoxIronbark Region
Bellarine Wetlands
Carrum Wetlands
Rushworth BoxIronbark Region
Lake Corangamite Complex
Werribee & Avalon
Puckapunyal
Devilbend Reservoir
Cheetham & Altona
Anderson Inlet
KEY BIODIVERSITY AREAS
CASTLEMAINE
RWATE EA R SH
SH
ROBIN
NATURE’S HOTSPOTS
NK PI
For more information contact BirdLife Australia
[email protected] birdlife.org.au
AUSTRALIA
