The Best Wildlife & Nature Spots in the Barossa
Where to find the valley's other locals - kangaroos, emus, echidnas and a finch worth driving for.
Between the vineyards, the Barossa keeps a healthy population of wilder residents. Western grey kangaroos graze the park clearings in mobs, emus patrol the southern gorges, echidnas bulldoze the leaf litter, and the birdlife - from wedge-tailed eagles down to finches - rewards anyone carrying binoculars. The golden rules: dawn and dusk beat midday, the conservation parks beat the roadside, and patience beats everything. Here are nine of the most reliable places to start, several of which also feature among the valley's best walks.
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1
WilliamstownPara Wirra Conservation Park
The Barossa's wildlife banker: big mobs of western grey kangaroos, strutting emus and abundant birdlife across gorges, ridges and lakeside lawns.
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2
Lyndoch
Sandy Creek Conservation Park
The valley's birdwatching jewel - over 130 recorded species in remnant lowland woodland, starring the diamond firetail in flocks of up to thirty.
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3
AngastonKaiserstuhl Conservation Park
Kangaroos graze the clearings below stringybark ridges, and spring carpets the slopes with orchids and wattle. Best in the first hour of light.
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4
WilliamstownHale Conservation Park
Steep, rocky and quiet - listen for echidnas in the leaf litter and watch the skies over the South Para valley for raptors riding the ridge lift.
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5
WilliamstownMount Crawford Forest Reserve
Yellow-tailed black cockatoos creak over the pines, and kangaroos line the forest edges at dusk. Camp overnight and you'll hear the rest.
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6
NuriootpaBarossa Bushgardens
A living field guide on Nuriootpa's edge: regional native plants, labelled, alive with honeyeaters, butterflies and blue-tongue lizards in summer.
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7
WilliamstownWarren Reservoir
Glassy water, drowned timber and waterbirds in numbers - herons, cormorants and ducks work the margins while you walk the shoreline.
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8
Williamstown
Barossa Goldfields
The bush has thoroughly reclaimed the 1868 diggings, and the regrowth shelters kangaroos, echidnas and busy thornbill flocks among the relics.
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9
NuriootpaNuriootpa Linear Park
Urban wildlife done well: river red gums full of rosellas, lorikeets and kookaburras along the North Para, minutes from the main street.
Keep dogs out of the conservation parks (they're prohibited in most), drive slowly at dusk, and never feed the wildlife - a kangaroo that associates people with food is a problem for everyone.
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Image credits
- Para Wirra Park - Lake and Island.JPG by Peripitus , CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons