Hunter Estuary Wetlands

[3] The Ramsar site comprises the Kooragang Nature Reserve and the nearby Shortland Wetlands, which are connected by a wildlife corridor that includes the Hunter River and Ironbark Creek.

Its habitats include mangroves, brackish and freshwater swamps, saltmarsh, Casuarina forest, mudflats, beaches, and rock walls.

It contains Melaleuca swamp forest, freshwater reed marsh, and a mangrove-lined creek, surrounded by urban development.

[4] The 85 km2 IBA includes, as well as the Ramsar-listed areas, the Hexham Swamp, Pambalong and Newcastle Wetlands Nature Reserves.

[3] It was identified as an IBA because the swamps and the estuary support the endangered Australasian bittern and over 1% of the world populations of chestnut teal, straw-necked ibis, red-necked avocet, eastern curlew, sharp-tailed sandpiper and sometimes Latham's snipe.