Bird Island (Tasmania) Explained

Bird Island is an island game reserve, with an area of 43.92 ha, in Bass Strait, south-eastern Australia. It is part of Tasmania’s Hunter Island Group which lies between north-west Tasmania and King Island. It is home to about 5,000 pairs of short-tailed shearwaters, the young of which are harvested annually, and about 3,000 pairs of little penguins.

Fauna

The island forms part of the Hunter Island Group Important Bird Area.[1] As well as the shearwaters and penguins, other breeding seabirds and shorebirds include white-faced storm-petrel, Pacific gull, silver gull and sooty oystercatcher. Reptiles include the metallic skink and abundant tiger snakes.[2]

References

-40.6°N 187°W

Notes and References

  1. BirdLife International. (2011). Important Bird Areas factsheet: Hunter Island Group. Downloaded from Web site: BirdLife International - conserving the world's birds . 2012-09-29 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20070710124603/http://www.birdlife.org/ . 10 July 2007 . dmy . on 2011-07-09.
  2. Brothers, Nigel; Pemberton, David; Pryor, Helen; & Halley, Vanessa. (2001). Tasmania’s Offshore Islands: seabirds and other natural features. Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery: Hobart.