Covering more than 60 ha, the Tukituki Estuary includes Grange Creek and all the wetlands and associated riparian margins between the lower Tukituki stopbanks for a distance of 800m upstream from the mouth.
A range of bird species can be found here including oyster catchers, banded dotterels, white heron, royal spoonbill, black fronted dotterel and godwits, the black fronted, white fronted and Caspian terns, shags and ducks. Other migrants and occasional visitors also turn up from time to time. A restoration project by Hawke’s Bay Regional Council aimed to improved nesting areas.
The estuary can be experienced via a section of the Hawke's Bay Trails Landscapes Ride. Visitors are asked to keep to marked tracks within the estuary and when off the tracks take care where walking because of nesting birds.