The Werribee and Avalon Important Bird Area comprises some 37 km² of coastal land along the north-western shore of Port Phillip

Port Phillip

Port Phillip Port Phillip Port Phillip (also commonly referred to as Port Phillip Bay or (locally) just The Bay, is a large bay in southern Victoria, Australia; it is the location of Melbourne. Geographically, the bay covers and the shore stretches roughly . Although it is extremely shallow for...

 in the state of Victoria

Victoria (Australia)

Victoria is the second most populous state in Australia. Geographically the smallest mainland state, Victoria is bordered by New South Wales, South Australia, and Tasmania on Boundary Islet to the north, west and south respectively....

, south-eastern Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

. The area is important for a wide variety of waterbirds.

Description

The site consists of wetlands stretching from the mouth of the Werribee River

Werribee River

The Werribee River is located on the plain west of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The headwaters of a tributary, the Lerderderg River, are north of Ballan near Daylesford and it flows across the basalt plain, through the suburb of Werribee to enter Port Phillip. A linear park follows the Werribee...

 in the north-east to the city of Geelong in the south-west. It encompasses the sewage treatment

Sewage treatment

Sewage treatment, or domestic wastewater treatment, is the process of removing contaminants from wastewater and household sewage, both runoff and domestic. It includes physical, chemical, and biological processes to remove physical, chemical and biological contaminants...

 ponds of the Western Treatment Plant

Werribee Sewage Farm

Werribee Sewage Farm or, more formally, the Western Treatment Plant of Melbourne Water, is an 110 km² sewage treatment farm adjacent to the town of Werribee, 30 km west of the city of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, on the coast of Port Phillip Bay...

, with the adjoining Spit Nature Conservation Reserve

Spit Nature Conservation Reserve

The Spit Nature Conservation Reserve is a 300 ha nature reserve on the north-western shore of Port Phillip, a large bay in Victoria, Australia. It consists of public land set aside to conserve and protect species, communities and habitats of indigenous plants and animals...

 and Lake Borrie

Lake Borrie Wetlands

Lake Borrie Wetlands is located in Victoria, Australia within the Western Treatment Plant at Werribee. This plant is administered by Melbourne Water. It forms part of the Port Phillip Bay and Bellarine Peninsula Ramsar Site as a wetland of international importance...

, the intertidal

Intertidal zone

The intertidal zone is the area that is above water at low tide and under water at high tide . This area can include many different types of habitats, with many types of animals like starfish, sea urchins, and some species of coral...

 mudflat

Mudflat

Mudflats or mud flats, also known as tidal flats, are coastal wetlands that form when mud is deposited by tides or rivers. They are found in sheltered areas such as bays, bayous, lagoons, and estuaries. Mudflats may be viewed geologically as exposed layers of bay mud, resulting from deposition of...

s around Point Wilson

Point Wilson, Victoria

Point Wilson is a locality located on the northern shores of Corio Bay, Victoria. it is approximately 60 kilometres by road from Melbourne, and 25 kilometres by road from Geelong....

, the Avalon

Avalon, Victoria

Avalon is a locality situated north east of Geelong, Victoria. Its Local Government Area is the City of Greater Geelong and its Ward is Windermere...

 saltworks

Salt evaporation pond

Salt evaporation ponds, also called salterns or salt pans, are shallow artificial ponds designed to produce salts from sea water or other brines. The seawater or brine is fed into large ponds and water is drawn out through natural evaporation which allows the salt to be subsequently harvested...

 and Limeburners Bay. As well as the treatment ponds and mudflats, the coastal habitats include saltmarshes

Salt marsh

A salt marsh is an environment in the upper coastal intertidal zone between land and salt water or brackish water, it is dominated by dense stands of halophytic plants such as herbs, grasses, or low shrubs. These plants are terrestrial in origin and are essential to the stability of the salt marsh...

, and mangrove

Mangrove

Mangroves are various kinds of trees up to medium height and shrubs that grow in saline coastal sediment habitats in the tropics and subtropics – mainly between latitudes N and S...

s. The site is flat and low-lying; it experiences temperatures ranging from a mean minimum of 7°C in July to a mean maximum of 24°C in January and February, with an annual rainfall of 750 mm. Apart from the saltworks, the area also forms part of the Port Phillip Bay (Western Shoreline) and Bellarine Peninsula Ramsar Site

Port Phillip Bay (Western Shoreline) and Bellarine Peninsula Ramsar Site

The Port Phillip Bay and Bellarine Peninsula Ramsar Site is one of the Australian sites listed under the Ramsar Convention as a wetland of international importance. It was designated on 15 December 1982, and is listed as Ramsar Site No.266...

.

Birds

The site has been identified as an Important Bird Area

Important Bird Area

An Important Bird Area is an area recognized as being globally important habitat for the conservation of bird populations. Currently there are about 10,000 IBAs worldwide. The program was developed and sites are identified by BirdLife International...

 (IBA) by BirdLife International

BirdLife International

BirdLife International is a global Partnership of conservation organisations that strives to conserve birds, their habitats and global biodiversity, working with people towards sustainability in the use of natural resources...

 because it supports regular numbers of Orange-bellied Parrot

Orange-bellied Parrot

The Orange-bellied Parrot is a small broad-tailed parrot endemic to southern Australia, and one of only two species of parrot which migrate. The adult male is distinguished by its bright grass-green upperparts, yellow underparts and orange belly patch. The adult female and juvenile are duller...

s, and over 1% of the world populations of Blue-billed

Blue-billed Duck

The Blue-billed Duck is a small Australian stiff-tailed duck, with both the male and female growing to a length of 40 cm . The male has a slate-blue bill which changes to bright-blue during the breeding season, hence the duck’s common name . The male has deep chestnut plumage during breeding...

, Musk

Musk Duck

The Musk Duck is a highly aquatic, stiff-tailed duck native to southern Australia. It is the only living member of the genus Biziura. An extinct relative, the New Zealand Musk Duck or de Lautour's Duck , once occurred on New Zealand, but is only known from prehistoric subfossil bones...

, Freckled

Freckled Duck

The Freckled Duck is a moderately large, broad-bodied duck native to southern Australia. The duck is protected by law...

 and Pink-eared Duck

Pink-eared Duck

The Pink-eared Duck is a species of duck found in Australia.It has a large spatulate bill like the Australasian Shoveler, but is smaller at 38–40 cm length. Its brown back and crown, black and white barred sides and black eye patches on its otherwise white face make this bird unmistakable...

s, Australian Shelduck

Australian Shelduck

The Australian Shelduck, Tadorna tadornoides, is a shelduck, a group of large goose-like birds which are part of the bird family Anatidae, which also includes the swans, geese and ducks. The Anatidae article should be referred to for an overview of this group of birds.This is a bird which breeds...

s, Chestnut Teal

Chestnut Teal

The Chestnut Teal is a dabbling duck found in southern Australia. It is protected under the National Parks and Wildlife Act 1974.-Description:The Chestnut Teal is darker and a slightly bigger bird than the Grey Teal....

s, Australasian Shoveler

Australasian Shoveler

The Australasian Shoveler is a species of dabbling duck in the genus Anas. It ranges from 46–53 cm. It lives in heavily vegetated swamps. In Australia it is protected under the National Parks and Wildlife Act, 1974...

s, Hoary-headed Grebe

Hoary-headed Grebe

The Hoary-headed Grebe, Poliocephalus poliocephalus, is a member of the grebe family found in Australia and, since 1975, New Zealand, where it is scarce....

s, Red-necked Stint

Red-necked Stint

The Red-necked Stint is a small migratory wader.- Description :These birds are among the smallest of waders, very similar to the Little Stint, Calidris minuta, with which they were once considered conspecific...

s and Sharp-tailed Sandpiper

Sharp-tailed Sandpiper

The Sharp-tailed Sandpiper, Calidris acuminata is a small wader.- Taxonomy :More recently, a review of new data has indicated that this bird should perhaps better be placed into the genus Philomachus- as P...

s. Other waterbirds which use the site in relatively substantial numbers include Banded Stilt

Banded Stilt

The Banded Stilt is a nomadic stilt from Australia. It belongs to the monotypical genus Cladorhynchus. It gets its name from the red-brown breast band found on breeding adults, but this is mottled or entirely absent in non-breeding adults and juveniles. Its remaining plumage is pied and the eyes...

s, Curlew Sandpiper

Curlew Sandpiper

The Curlew Sandpiper is a small wader that breeds on the tundra of Arctic Siberia. It is strongly migratory, wintering mainly in Africa, but also in south and southeast Asia and in Australasia...

s, Red-capped

Red-capped Plover

The Red-capped Plover , also known as the Red-capped Dotterel, is a small plover. It breeds in Australia. The species is closely related to the Kentish Plover, Javan Plover and White-fronted Plover.-Description:Red-capped Plovers have white underparts and forehead...

 and Double-banded Plover

Double-banded Plover

The Double-banded Plover , known as the Banded Dotterel in New Zealand, is a small wader in the plover family of birds. It lives in beaches, mud flats, grasslands and on bare ground...

s, Black-fronted Dotterel

Black-fronted Dotterel

The Black-fronted Dotterel is a small, slender plover, widespread throughout most of Australia, to which it is native and New Zealand, where it self introduced in the 1950s. It is common in freshwater wetlands, around the edges of lakes and billabongs, and in shallow, temporary claypan pools...

s, Pied Oystercatcher

Pied Oystercatcher

The Pied Oystercatcher, Haematopus longirostris, is a species of oystercatcher. It is a wading bird native to Australia and commonly found on its coastline. The similar South Island Pied Oystercatcher The Pied Oystercatcher, Haematopus longirostris, is a species of oystercatcher. It is a wading...

s, Red-necked Avocet

Red-necked Avocet

The Red-necked Avocet is a water bird found throughout Australia, except for the northern parts of the Northern Territory....

s, Black Swan

Black Swan

The Black Swan is a large waterbird, a species of swan, which breeds mainly in the southeast and southwest regions of Australia. The species was hunted to extinction in New Zealand, but later reintroduced. Within Australia they are nomadic, with erratic migration patterns dependent upon climatic...

s, Hardhead

Hardhead

The Hardhead, Aythya australis, is the only true diving duck found in Australia. Hardheads are common in the south-east of Australia, particularly in the Murray-Darling Basin, but also in the wetter country near the coasts. They are moderately nomadic in normal years, but disperse widely in times...

s, Pacific Black Duck

Pacific Black Duck

The Pacific Black Duck is a dabbling duck found in much of Indonesia, New Guinea, Australia, New Zealand, and many islands in the southwestern Pacific, reaching to the Caroline Islands in the north and French Polynesia in the east. It is usually called the Grey Duck in New Zealand...

s and Great Crested Grebe

Great Crested Grebe

The Great Crested Grebe is a member of the grebe family of water birds.- Description :The Great Crested Grebe is long with a wingspan. It is an excellent swimmer and diver, and pursues its fish prey underwater. The adults are unmistakable in summer with head and neck decorations...

s.