Australia Ramsar wetland
Lake Alexandrina
76 bird species recorded; the most in October.
RegionVisitor90 · CC BY 4.0
This month here
42 species in January.5 species in February.6 species in March.7 species in April.3 species in May.5 species in June.5 species in July.1 species in August.10 species in September.53 species in October.41 species in November.4 species in December.
The birds you are most likely to see in the month you choose, those that come for the season first. It opens on today's month.

































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- Resident all year
- Summer visitor comes to breed
- Winter visitor comes for the winter
- Passage migrant in spring and autumn
In numbers
76 species, counted.
Our own rating, from the records only: species (50 points), threatened species (20), migrants (20) and protected status — Ramsar, IBA, SPA, observatory (10).
- 76Speciesrecorded more than once
- 27Migrantssummer, winter or passage visitors
- 3ThreatenedVulnerable, Endangered or Critically Endangered (IUCN)
- 559Recordsopen records within 6 km
- 7Raptors
- 10Waders
- 5Gulls & seabirds
- 12Ducks & geese
- 17Herons, ibises & grebes
- 17Songbirds
- 8Other birds
From open records (eBird and others, through GBIF, licensed for any use). More birdwatchers mean more records: a quiet place may have more birds than it shows.
The checklist
All 76 species.
By group, with the year in twelve cells: the darker the cell, the more often the bird is recorded that month.
Raptors7 species
- White-bellied Sea-EagleHaliaeetus leucogaster
- Whistling KiteHaliastur sphenurus
- Peregrine FalconFalco peregrinus
- Swamp HarrierCircus approximans
- Australian hobbyFalco longipennis
- Nankeen KestrelFalco cenchroides
- Grey FalconFalco hypoleucosVU
Waders10 species
- Masked LapwingVanellus miles
- Sharp-tailed SandpiperCalidris acuminataVU
- Common GreenshankTringa nebularia
- Red-necked StintCalidris ruficollisNT
- Australian Red-necked AvocetRecurvirostra novaehollandiae
- Banded StiltCladorhynchus leucocephalus
- Pied StiltHimantopus leucocephalus
- Double-banded PloverCharadrius bicinctusNT
- Red-capped PloverCharadrius ruficapillus
- Black-winged StiltHimantopus himantopus
Gulls & seabirds5 species
- Whiskered TernChlidonias hybrida
- Silver GullChroicocephalus novaehollandiae
- Caspian TernHydroprogne caspia
- Great Crested-TernThalasseus bergii
- Gull-billed TernGelochelidon nilotica
Ducks & geese12 species
- Australian ShelduckTadorna tadornoides
- Pacific Black DuckAnas superciliosa
- Grey TealAnas gracilis
- Black swanCygnus atratus
- Cape Barren GooseCereopsis novaehollandiae
- Chestnut TealAnas castanea
- Freckled DuckStictonetta naevosa
- HardheadAythya australis
- Maned DuckChenonetta jubata
- Australasian ShovelerSpatula rhynchotis
- Musk DuckBiziura lobata
- Pink-eared DuckMalacorhynchus membranaceus
Herons, ibises & grebes17 species
- Australian PelicanPelecanus conspicillatus
- Straw-necked IbisThreskiornis spinicollis
- Australian White IbisThreskiornis molucca
- Glossy IbisPlegadis falcinellus
- Great CormorantPhalacrocorax carbo
- Great White EgretArdea alba
- Pied CormorantPhalacrocorax varius
- Yellow-billed SpoonbillPlatalea flavipes
- White-faced HeronEgretta novaehollandiae
- Little Black CormorantPhalacrocorax sulcirostris
- Little Pied CormorantMicrocarbo melanoleucos
- Royal SpoonbillPlatalea regia
- Australasian DarterAnhinga novaehollandiae
- Nankeen Night HeronNycticorax caledonicus
- Great Crested GrebePodiceps cristatus
- Ardea modestaArdea modesta
- White-necked HeronArdea pacifica
Songbirds17 species
- Common StarlingSturnus vulgaris
- White-fronted ChatEpthianura albifrons
- Striped HoneyeaterPlectorhyncha lanceolata
- Golden-headed CisticolaCisticola exilis
- House SparrowPasser domesticus
- Superb Fairy-wrenMalurus cyaneus
- Australian MagpieGymnorhina tibicen
- Dusky WoodswallowArtamus cyanopterus
- Yellow-rumped ThornbillAcanthiza chrysorrhoa
- Welcome SwallowHirundo neoxena
- Australian Reed-WarblerAcrocephalus australis
- Brown SonglarkMegalurus cruralis
- Magpie larkGrallina cyanoleuca
- Spiny-cheeked HoneyeaterAcanthagenys rufogularis
- White-browed BabblerPomatostomus superciliosus
- European GoldfinchCarduelis carduelis
- Tree MartinPetrochelidon nigricans
Other birds8 species
- Western SwamphenPorphyrio porphyrio
- CootFulica atra
- Orange-bellied ParrotNeophema chrysogasterCR
- Dusky MoorhenGallinula tenebrosa
- Black-tailed NativehenGallinula ventralis
- Spotless CrakePorzana tabuensis
- Australian CrakePorzana fluminea
- Australasian SwamphenPorphyrio melanotus
Monthly presence relative to all bird records that month, so a busy month does not inflate every species.
When to go
The most species in October.
Species recorded in each month, with the usual temperature and rain.
- Jan29°/16°18 mm
- Feb28°/15°16 mm
- Mar26°/14°29 mm
- Apr22°/12°30 mm
- May18°/10°45 mm
- Jun15°/7°48 mm
- Jul14°/7°50 mm
- Aug15°/7°45 mm
- Sep18°/8°42 mm
- Oct22°/10°23 mm
- Nov25°/12°22 mm
- Dec27°/14°25 mm
- Bar: species recorded that month.
- Temperature: average maximum / minimum (NASA, 1991–2020).
- Rain: monthly total.
The place
Lake Alexandrina.
Estuarine lagoon in South Australia, forming part of the Murray River mouth
Lake Alexandrina is a wetland of international importance (Ramsar) in Australia.
76 bird species have been recorded here more than once, in 559 open records.
The most recorded are the Australian Pelican, the Straw-necked Ibis and the Australian White Ibis.
20 species come for the summer, 4 for the winter and 3 only pass through.
3 are threatened worldwide, including Sharp-tailed Sandpiper, Orange-bellied Parrot and Grey Falcon.
The most species are recorded in October.

Get there and watch
- Narrung Jetty Reservecampsite · 7.7 km · 3 within 10 km
- Adelaide International Airport (ADL)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 79 km in a straight lineCar hire at ADL airport (Adelaide)Discover Cars · sponsored link↗
Plan the visit
A guided walk, a bed nearby, a car.
Some links above are affiliate links: if you book through them we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never changes what the data on this page says.
From above
The place and its surroundings.
The satellite image of the 6 × 6 km around the place, with the bird hides, towers and trails that OpenStreetMap shows.

Around, in OpenStreetMap
- 3campsites within 10 kmNarrung Jetty Reserve, Tolderol Game Reserve, Point Sturt Camp Ground
- bird hides within 6 km
- observation towers within 6 km
- marked trails within 4 km
- visitor centres within 6 km
- viewpoints within 5 km
- car parks within 3 km
- restaurants and cafés within 3 km
- places to stay within 10 km
Counted in OpenStreetMap, the map anyone can edit. A low number may just mean nobody has mapped it yet.
In our other atlases
Around Lake Alexandrina.
The lakes, beaches, islands, rivers and mountains around this place, and its night sky, in the family's atlases.
Figures from the sister sites' databases (Wikidata, HydroATLAS, GeoNames, OpenStreetMap). Links open when each site is online.
Photographs
The place, as people saw it.
Where these figures come from
| Name and type | Wikidata (Q1794394) · CC0 |
|---|---|
| Birds | 559 open bird records within 6 km (GBIF, CC0 and CC BY 4.0 only; mostly eBird, Cornell Lab of Ornithology) |
| See these records | gbif.org |
| Species | GBIF Backbone Taxonomy · CC BY 4.0; Wikidata (CC0); Wikimedia Commons |
| Altitude | Copernicus DEM GLO-30 · © DLR e.V., © Airbus Defence and Space GmbH, Copernicus/ESA |
| Temperature and rain | NASA POWER (CERES SYN1deg, 2001–2020; MERRA-2) |
| What is around | © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL |
| Images | EOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons |
| Sister atlases | Peakyas, Lakeyas |
Every figure is an average, an estimate or a count from a public dataset. Licences and methods: data sources.
The family
Do you prefer beaches, lakes, mountains, waterfalls, islands, rivers, canyons, caves, dark skies, viewpoints, birdwatching or forests?
Same idea, other landscapes: field atlases built on open data, in seven languages.






