Ranger tips: Adelaide International Bird Sanctuary and Adelaide Dolphin Sanctuary

Locat­ed 30 min­utes’ dri­ve north of Adelaide’s CBD, the Ade­laide Inter­na­tion­al Bird Sanc­tu­ary and the Ade­laide Dol­phin Sanc­tu­ary com­bine to make a unique envi­ron­ment made up of 10,000-year-old man­grove forests, salt­marsh­es and tidal flats.

They’re ide­al places to go kayak­ing, or to dust off the binoc­u­lars for some bird-watch­ing or dolphin-spotting.

Every year between Sep­tem­ber and March, up to 27,000 shore­birds gath­er across the bird sanc­tu­ary, with more than 50 dif­fer­ent species of migra­to­ry birds record­ed. So it’s no sur­prise that this area is a mec­ca for bird enthusiasts.

The Ade­laide Dol­phin Sanc­tu­ary is home to about 30 res­i­dent bot­tlenose dol­phins, with anoth­er 400 tran­sient dol­phins known to vis­it the area. These wild dol­phins come here to feed, play, socialise and nurse their calves. It’s a great place to explore by kayak or stand-up pad­dle board.

Want to see it for your­self? We’ve asked our senior rangers Tam­my Leggett (bird sanc­tu­ary) and Ver­i­ty Gibbs (dol­phin sanc­tu­ary) for some tips for your next vis­it. Here’s what they had to say:

Where’s the best spot to see a dol­phin at the Ade­laide Dol­phin Sanctuary?

Ver­i­ty: You may be sur­prised to know that going on a boat or kayak isn’t the only way to see dol­phins. There are many places you can reg­u­lar­ly view them from land from with­in the sanc­tu­ary. One of the best view­ing loca­tions is from the Gar­den Island board­walk or even walk­ing along the wharf in the inner Port. You can also vis­it the dol­phin infor­ma­tion room at the Port Ade­laide Vis­i­tor Infor­ma­tion Cen­tre to pick up a map and take the self-guid­ed dol­phin trail. This trail takes you to six land-based dol­phin view­ing hot-spots along the Port River.

What’s the Ade­laide Inter­na­tion­al Bird Sanctuary’s best kept secret?

Tam­my: If I tell you, it won’t be a secret any­more…! But the North­ern Walk­ing Trail from Thomp­son Beach is superb. The trail pass­es through the many dif­fer­ent habi­tats which make up the sanc­tu­ary, such as the salt pans that come to life with birds, the very impor­tant dune sys­tems that help to pro­tect the coast, the sam­phires that thrive where most plants can’t and act as the final fil­ters return­ing clean water back to the sea, and the riv­er and creek sys­tems that con­nect these places from the ranges to the coasts. 

What’s your favourite activ­i­ty to enjoy at the Ade­laide Dol­phin Sanctuary?

Ver­i­ty: Kayak­ing with­in the man­grove forests and tidal creeks is a unique expe­ri­ence. When you are sur­round­ed by man­groves (and if you’re lucky, dol­phins too!) you can eas­i­ly for­get that South Australia’s busiest port is just around the corner. 

What’s your favourite activ­i­ty to enjoy at the Ade­laide Inter­na­tion­al Bird Sanctuary?

Tam­my: Prac­tic­ing and hope­ful­ly improv­ing my pho­tog­ra­phy skills, while chal­leng­ing myself to learn a new bird each time I go out into the bird sanc­tu­ary. Shore­birds can be very chal­leng­ing to iden­ti­fy so it needs lots of prac­tice and patience.

Where’s the best view at the Ade­laide Dol­phin Sanctuary?

Ver­i­ty: The North Arm in the dol­phin sanc­tu­ary gives you a great view of the Ships Grave­yard – a spot that’s reg­u­lar­ly vis­it­ed by the dol­phins – as well as views of the man­groves with the back­drop of the Ade­laide Hills behind.

Where’s the best view at the Ade­laide Inter­na­tion­al Bird Sanctuary?

Tam­my: There’s noth­ing bet­ter than after a busy day watch­ing an impres­sive sun­set from one of the beach­es with­in the bird sanc­tu­ary and lis­ten­ing to the sound of nature. It’s even bet­ter if you score a great tide and can see the shore­birds mov­ing about feeding. 

What kind of birds can be spot­ted at the Ade­laide Inter­na­tion­al Bird Sanctuary?

Tam­my: Most peo­ple relate migra­to­ry shore­birds with the sanc­tu­ary as it’s one of the best places to see them so close to Ade­laide, but don’t for­get the res­i­dent birds which call the sanc­tu­ary home all year round. Look out for our ​‘bush’ birds, sacred king­fish­ers, white-browed bab­blers, sam­phire thorn­bills and singing hon­eyeaters, and remem­ber to look up in the sky for the majes­tic birds of prey, Nan­keen kestrel, whistling kite or maybe a white-bel­lied sea eagle. 

Where can I launch my kayak with­in the dol­phin sanc­tu­ary and is there any­where I can hire one for a friend?

Ver­i­ty: There are sev­er­al boat ramps includ­ing Snowden’s Beach, Gar­den Island, Out­er Har­bour and North Haven boat ramps. The most pop­u­lar kayak launch is from Gar­den Island as the waters are more pro­tect­ed and you can explore the tidal creeks lined with man­groves. If you don’t have your own kayak, you can hire one from Adven­ture Kayaks based at Gar­den Island.

Through­out Novem­ber, the Ade­laide Inter­na­tion­al Bird Sanc­tu­ary and Ade­laide Dol­phin Sanc­tu­ary come togeth­er as Nation­al Parks and Wildlife Ser­vice South Australia’s Park of the Month. There’s heaps of events and activ­i­ties to get involved in as part of this ​‘Ade­laide Shore­bird and Dol­phin Fes­ti­val’ – check the web­site for all the details.

Pre­fer to explore at your own pace? Check out4 fun things to do at Adelaide’s bird sanc­tu­ary or 5 things you’ll find at Adelaide’s dol­phin sanc­tu­aryfor more insid­er tips to take on board for your next visit.

Main image: Senior Rangers Tam­my Leggett and Ver­i­ty Gibbs 

This sto­ry was orig­i­nal­ly post­ed in Novem­ber 2018