This large area of public land at Winton, Victoria is managed by the Victorian Government for conservation purposes. The original Winton Swamp system made up of some 13 small wetland areas totalling about 7000Hectares was taken over by the state government in 1971 and flooded to create Lake Mokoan for a irrigation storage. This resulted in a considerable number of small farms being flooded and the farmers displaced. Eventually the storage became unviable due to large evaporation losses and algae problems. The Victorian government made the difficult decision many years later to decommission the storage and restore it as a wetland. Thus now we have a beautiful wetland system which is a slowly being restored. Kangaroos are in significant numbers (>7000+/-) they often cause problems for the adjoining landholders. If you want to know more about the site check out this link https://wintonwetlands.org.au/ . I visited the site on Wednesday with friends from our local Birdlife Australia group for the quarterly bird survey, which we have been doing for the last 10years. The data from those surveys can be found on eBird search for Winton Wetlands. The locations are repeated 20minute surveys across 12 locations. On this occasion I was part of a team allocated to Ashmeads Swamp, Greens Hill and Boggy Bridge.
Here are some of my photos.
Two Little Corellas shown here are now a common site here along with huge flocks of Sulphur crested Cockatoos. They use hollows in the extensive standing dead trees across the sites for nesting.
This delightful Pied Butcherbird is relatively uncommon across the wetland. It has a beautiful call.
Whistling Kites are a common across the wetlands often heard before seeing it with a true whistle like call.
Male & female Australian Shelduck sharing the eerie trees with a cockatoo. I had not seen this species recently, possibly the colder weather brought them to the site. We saw 6 birds at Ashmeads Swamp.
Kookaburras sharing a tree limb.
This beautiful Brown Falcon is common across the wetlands. I found this one as I was leaving the site. It just sat there very content.
At the end of our survey in the afternoon we sighted 20-30 Swift Parrots high in the red gums at 11Mile Creek Woodland. They are a very rare species for this area. Nest in Tasmania and fly across Bass Strait to Victoria & NSW for winter. Their habitat is under threat from logging in southern Tasmania.
The whole Winton Wetlands site is rich in waterbirds and other species. The whole wetland is drying out at present.
Worth a visit and enjoy the wildlife.
Walking Glenrowan and Beyond 
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