Badger Island

Not to be confused with Little Badger Island.
This article is about the island in Australia. For the island in Maine, see Badger's Island.

Badger Island
Badger Island is located in Tasmania
Badger Island
Badger Island
Location of the Badger Island in Bass Strait
Geography
LocationBass Strait
Coordinates40°18′36″S 147°52′12″E / 40.31000°S 147.87000°E / -40.31000; 147.87000
ArchipelagoBadger Group, part of the Furneaux Group
Area1,242 ha (3,070 acres)
Administration
Australia
StateTasmania

Badger Island, part of the Badger Group within the Furneaux Group, is a 1,242-hectare (3,070-acre) unpopulated low-lying granite and limestone island, located in Bass Strait, lying west of the Flinders and Cape Barren islands, Tasmania, south of Victoria, in south-eastern Australia.[1][2]

The island is private property and is extensively grazed by livestock and macropods. It contains a homestead, jetty and airstrip.[3] It is also part of the Chalky, Big Green and Badger Island Groups Important Bird Area.[4]

Besides Badger Island, other islands that comprise the Badger Group include the Goose, Inner Little Goose, Little Badger, Little Goose, Mount Chappell, and Beagle islands, and the North West Mount Chappell Islet.

Flora and fauna

Introduced plants, grazing and burning have had a heavy impact on the original vegetation, of which there are remnant communities of Poa and Stipa species at the western end of the island, as well as patches of Melaleuca and Casuarina scrub.[3]

Recorded breeding seabird, wader and waterbird species include sooty oystercatcher, pied oystercatcher and Cape Barren goose, for which it is a major breeding site. White-bellied sea eagles have also nested on the island. Reptiles present include the metallic skink, spotted skink, White's skink, eastern blue-tongued lizard, mountain dragon, tiger snake and white-lipped snake. Native mammals found there are the red-necked wallaby and Tasmanian pademelon. Tasmanian devils were released on the island in 1998–99. Exotic mammals, apart from cattle and sheep, are the house mouse and feral cats.[3]

See also

References

  1. ^ "Badger Island (TAS)". Gazetteer of Australia online. Geoscience Australia, Australian Government.
  2. ^ "Small Bass Strait Island Reserves. Draft Management Plan". Department of Primary Industries,Water and Environment, Tasmanian Government. October 2000. Archived from the original on 30 March 2011. Retrieved 4 February 2012.
  3. ^ a b c 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
  4. ^ "IBA: Chalky, Big Green and Badger Island Groups". Birdata. Birds Australia. Archived from the original on 6 July 2011. Retrieved 14 June 2011.