Laratinga Wetlands Mt Barker South Australia

Laratinga Wetlands Mt Barker South Australia

Just over a half hour drive from home is a place I like to visit but don’t get to as often as I would like. The Laratinga Wetlands in Mt Barker in the Adelaide Hills section of the Mt Lofty Ranges is a mecca for local and interstate birders. The wetlands consist of about a dozen ponds which make up the sewage works of the nearby town.

By the time the water reaches the final ponds it is purified enough to be used on nearby farms as irrigation water. In the meantime, the various ponds play host to a wide range of water-birds including ducks, ibis, herons, egrets, grebes, cormorants, dotterels, plovers, swamphens, coots and moorhens.

Purple Swamphen

The area around the ponds and the entrance paths have been wonderfully landscaped, with lawns, shelter sheds – it rains frequently in Mt Barker – barbecues and public toilets. Around the ponds and picnic area many trees, bushes and smaller plants which add the great environment which attracts many bush birds, including parrots, cockatoos, lorikeets, honeyeaters, finches, pigeons, doves and swallows.

You can see more photos of the birds seen here on my other site Trevor’s Birding.

Further reading:

• Laratinga Wetlands

Galah

Grey Teal

Laratinga Wetlands on a cold misty winter’s morning