List of birds of Heard and McDonald Islands

Map of the islands

This is a list of the birds of Heard Island and the adjacent McDonald Islands in the southern Indian Ocean. For other animals there, see List of non-avian fauna of Heard Island and McDonald Islands.

The birds of Heard Island and McDonald Islands, a subantarctic Australian territory between Australia, Africa and Antarctica, are, whether breeders or visitors, almost all seabirds which find their food at sea in the waters of the surrounding Southern Ocean. An exception is the black-faced sheathbill, an opportunistic scavenger around seal and penguin colonies and the only solely terrestrial breeding bird species present on the islands. The southern giant-petrel and Subantarctic skua are also scavengers as well as predators at seabird colonies.

Heard Island is an important breeding site for macaroni, eastern rockhopper, gentoo and king penguins. Endemic species or subspecies are the Heard shag and the black-faced sheathbill. The surrounding waters are home to numerous species of albatross and petrel, some of which breed on the islands, including the endangered southern giant-petrel and the wandering albatross, both threatened by long-line fishing.

Birds

Spheniscidae

Mating king penguins

Procellariidae

Cape petrel
Southern giant petrel with chick

Diomedeidae

Light-mantled albatross on nest

Hydrobatidae

Wilson's storm petrel

Phalacrocoracidae

Chionididae

Scolopacidae

Laridae

Antarctic tern

See also

References

    This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Wednesday, March 30, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.