Wonga Wetlands

Visited: autumn

Recommendation: This is a pleasant place to wander around. Water birds are prevalent here and you can get good views of a range of species.

Wonga Wetlands is a successful example of wastewater treatment and wetland restoration. It serves as a valuable resource for the community, offering walking tracks, picnic areas, and an interpretive center for environmental education. The name "Wonga" itself reflects this connection to the traditional custodians, as it's a Wiradjuri word for the Little Black Cormorant, a bird commonly found in the area.

They are situated just west of Albury and as I can never pass up a visit to the dwindling number of wetlands, I headed there after staying in what has just been voted the best town in Australia. It was a gloomy day and there had been rain but undaunted, I headed onto the walk around the wetlands. It seemed quiet and subdued as I walked through the huge trees and round the waterways.

I first spotted a White-faced Heron sitting out on a log. I love these little herons, they are very elegant and restrained not like the noisy and boisterous White-necked Heron. Although they are shy and timid, they are extremely successful, boasting a vast range encompassing most of Australasia.

They're present throughout mainland Australia, Tasmania, and most coastal islands, with the exception of the very driest areas in the center of the continent. White-faced Heron can also be found in New Guinea, Indonesia, New Zealand and even in some Subantarctic Islands.

White-faced Heron (Egretta novaehollandiae)

Next up were some Welcome Swallow darting along the river. I caught up with a few resting on logs over the water. Legend has it that they are so named because sailors navigating by the stars in the vast oceans relied on birds as indicators of land. Specific birds signaled different things - for example, seeing albatrosses meant being far out at sea, while spotting land birds indicated nearing the coast.

The Welcome Swallow, arriving in Australia from the north for the breeding season, would be one of the first birds sailors returning from long voyages at sea would see. This sighting would be a welcome sign that land was finally near.

Welcome Swallow (Hirundo neoxena)

The denser trees gave way to more open land and a larger body of water that was thick with reeds around the edges. In the middle was a huge dead tree and Great Egrets and Royal Spoonbill were chattering and jostling for position. I find the spoonbill fascinating for their huge bill and the ridges on it. These act like tiny built-in filters, expanding the surface area of the bill. As the spoonbill sweeps its bill through water, these ridges help to filter out water while allowing tiny prey like crustaceans and small fish to get caught.

Royal Spoonbill (Platalea regia)

On my way back to the van, I heard the delicious trill that I recognised as the Yellow-rumped Thornbill. They always sound so happy and I think they are the most attractive and co-operative of all the thornbill species. Often found on the ground or perched on low fences, they are probably the easiest to photograph as well.

Yellow-rumped Thornbill (Acanthiza chrysorrhoa)