8 national parks in South Australia where you can see baby animals this spring

What beats watch­ing the cute­ness of duck­lings, joeys and chicks dis­cov­er­ing a whole new world on a warm spring day? That’s right, nothing. 

To hug your soul this spring we’ve gath­ered a list of some pop­u­lar nation­al parks and places in South Aus­tralia to see baby animals. 

But remem­ber – think of the babies and their par­ents – don’t get too close and always adore them from afar. Respect SA’s beau­ti­ful wildlife. 

Here’s 8 parks and places you’ll like­ly see baby native ani­mals this spring: 

1. Belair Nation­al Park

Belair Nation­al Park is the per­fect place to spot duck­lings. You and your kids can mosey lake­side and see dif­fer­ent native species of ducks with their duck­lings fol­low­ing close behind.

Belair is only a 25-minute dri­ve from Adelaide’s city cen­tre. On top of see­ing cute lit­tle duck­lings, kids can try out moun­tain-bike rid­ing, play some ten­nis or spot kan­ga­roos – they might even see a joey.

2. Cle­land Wildlife Park

You’ll see baby ani­mals a‑plenty at Cle­land Wildlife Park this spring, includ­ing kan­ga­roos, wal­la­bies and potoroo joeys, to Cape Bar­ren goslings and plover chicks, as well as ducklings. 

Cle­land is only a 20-minute dri­ve from Adelaide’s city cen­tre and is open sev­en days a week from 9:30 am to 5 pm. 

The wildlife park gives fam­i­lies up-close encoun­ters with Australia’s native ani­mals. Your kids will also learn – with­out know­ing it – the impor­tance of con­ser­va­tion for Australia. 

3. Para Wirra Con­ser­va­tion Park

Para Wirra Con­ser­va­tion Park is a per­fect park for immers­ing your­self in nature – for every­thing from walk­ing and pic­nick­ing to spot­ting native ani­mals. The park is about an hour north-east of Adelaide. 

You’ll like­ly spot emu chicks with their brown stripes and soft, creamy-coloured feath­ers. It’s only after 3 months that their plumage starts look­ing like the feath­ers of an adult emu. 

You might also see rain­bow lori­keet and Ade­laide rosel­la chicks in tree hol­lows and kan­ga­roo joeys and koala joeys across the park, as well as across the broad­er Ade­laide Hills that the park calls home. 

4. Mount Lofty Botan­ic Garden

Mount Lofty Botan­ic Gar­den, just up the free­way near Crafers, is bub­bling with life in spring. 

The Duck Pond and Main Lake are prime spots to enjoy cute wad­dling duck­lings, includ­ing wood ducks, black ducks, coots and grebes. 

You might also see kan­ga­roo joeys snug­gling up in their mum’s pouch and if you’re super lucky, you could sneak a peek of a baby bandi­coot. But shhh, they’re shy! 

Super­charge your nature boost with an ener­gis­ing walk through the gar­den to enjoy vibrant flow­ers like rhodo­den­drons, camel­lias, mag­no­lias, daf­fodils and cher­ry blossoms. 

5. Lit­tle Dip Con­ser­va­tion Park

Lit­tle Dip Con­ser­va­tion Park is locat­ed on SA’s Lime­stone Coast and is well-known for its rugged­ly beau­ti­ful coast­line, includ­ing a large area of coastal sand dunes. 

Head down to Long Gul­ly camp­ground for a wom­bat joey sight­ing. The camp­ground has a healthy com­mon wom­bat pop­u­la­tion and they’ll be snack­ing on the green grass that’s flour­ish­ing dur­ing spring. 

Baby wom­bats hang out and grow in their mum’s pouch for about 6 months and then spend about anoth­er 6 months or more out­side the pouch with their mum before head­ing out on their own. 

6. Cof­fin Bay Nation­al Park

Emus, emus and more emus – you are guar­an­teed to spot them and their chicks fol­low­ing close­ly behind at Cof­fin Bay Nation­al Park.

The park is locat­ed on the Eyre Penin­su­la near Port Lin­coln and is known for its remote coastal scenery. 

At Cof­fin Bay you might even see very large groups of chicks and young juve­nile emus togeth­er – some­times in groups of 70 or more! 

7. Baudin Con­ser­va­tion Park

Baudin Con­ser­va­tion Park is locat­ed on the east­ern end of Kan­ga­roo Island and is cov­ered in she-oak wood­land and rolling hills, with spec­tac­u­lar views across Back­stairs Pas­sage to the Fleurieu Peninsula. 

Rare glossy-black cock­a­toos feed in the she-oak for­est and spring is the per­fect time to catch a glimpse of their chicks. 

Glossies used to only be found on the west­ern end of Kan­ga­roo Island, but thanks to the Glossy Black Cock­a­too Recov­ery Pro­gram there is now a grow­ing flock of almost 40 in Baudin. 

8. Seal Bay Con­ser­va­tion Park

Seal Bay Con­ser­va­tion Park is locat­ed on the south coast of Kan­ga­roo Island, sand­wiched between Cape Gan­thaueme Wilder­ness Pro­tec­tion Zone and Vivonne Bay.

Seal Bay is the only place in the world where vis­i­tors are able to enter a wild colony of about 1000 endan­gered Aus­tralian sea lions – one of the rarest species in the world. 

You’ll be sure to see Aus­tralian sea lion pups frol­ick­ing on the sand and tak­ing a dip in the shal­lows – a nice way to spend an afternoon. 

Love South Australia’s wildlife? Check out our library ofAni­mal Encoun­terssto­ries for your dose of cute, cud­dly, scaly and sur­pris­ing ani­mals you can find in our state.