Western District Lakes

The Western District Lakes of Victoria, in the Western District of Victoria, south-eastern Australia, were recognised on 15 December 1982 as wetlands of international importance by listing under the Ramsar Convention, as Ramsar site no.268.

The site comprises nine lakes with a combined area of 329 square kilometres (127 sq mi), varying in depth and salinity from fresh water to hypersaline.

The lakes lie in a basaltic grassland landscape at an altitude of 40–90 metres (130–300 ft) above sea level.

[3] Lakes included in the site are:[4] The Ramsar-listed lakes, along with other nearby lakes have been identified by BirdLife International as a 384 square kilometres (148 sq mi) Important Bird Area (IBA) because they support over 1% of the world populations of Australian shelducks, chestnut teals and banded stilts and irregularly support over 1% of the world populations of freckled ducks, musk ducks, blue-billed ducks, black swans, Australasian shovellers, pink-eared ducks, hoary-headed grebes, straw-necked ibises, sharp-tailed sandpipers and white-headed stilts.

[4][5] The additional lakes in the IBA are:[4] Other birds for which the lakes occasionally support high numbers include double-banded plovers, red-necked avocets, Eurasian coots, great crested grebes, Australian pelicans, great cormorants, little pied cormorants, grey teals, whiskered terns, hardheads and red-necked stints.