Albatross Island (Tasmania)

Albatross Island is an 18 ha island nature reserve in Bass Strait, part of Tasmania’s Hunter Island Group and lies between north-west Tasmania and King Island.

It is part of the Albatross Island and Black Pyramid Rock Important Bird Area. It is notable for its breeding colony of 5,000 pairs of shy albatross, some 40% of the world population of the species.[1][2]

Fauna

Apart from shy albatross, breeding seabirds and shorebirds include little penguin, short-tailed shearwater, fairy prion, Pacific gull, silver gull and sooty oystercatcher. A pair of white-bellied sea eagles usually nests there annually. The island is visited regularly by Australian fur seals and New Zealand fur seals. Reptiles include the metallic skink and Tasmanian tree skink.[3]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "IBA: Albatross Island & Black Pyramid Rock". Birdata. Birds Australia. Retrieved 2011-05-19.
  2. ↑ Small Bass Strait Island Reserves. Draft Management Plan, Department of Primary Industries,Water and Environment. Tasmania, October 2000, retrieved 2012-02-04
  3. ↑ Brothers, Nigel; Pemberton, David; Pryor, Helen; & Halley, Vanessa. (2001). Tasmania’s Offshore Islands: seabirds and other natural features. Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery: Hobart. ISBN 0-7246-4816-X

Coordinates: 40°23′S 144°39′E / 40.383°S 144.650°E / -40.383; 144.650

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Tuesday, February 16, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.