At around 880 hectares, Ferries McDonald Conservation Park is one of the larger Conservation Parks in the area.
The dense, predominantly mallee habitat provides a refuge for over 300 species of plants, and more than 80 species of birds. If you are lucky you may spy western grey kangaroos grazing in a neighbouring pasture, or catch a glimpse of several species of raptors floating in the sky above as they search for prey.
In spring, you can see the park alive with native orchids, flowering blossoms and all of the beautiful birds this season attracts. Encounter superb fairy-wrens, golden whistlers, rufous whistlers, yellow-rumped thornbills, mallee ringneck parrots, as well as several kinds of robin and white-browed babblers. This park is also home for the elusive and nationally endangered species, the malleefowl, which has been the subject of long-term research and monitoring in the park.
Another interesting natural feature of the park is the many sandy ridges forming part of the Murray Plains and providing evidence of its geological past, as this area was once part of the ocean bed.
