Manowar and Rocky Islands Important Bird Area

Lesser Frigatebird perched in a bush
The islands are an important breeding site for Lesser Frigatebirds.

The Manowar and Rocky Islands Important Bird Area comprises two small islands in the Wellesley Islands group. It lies in the southeastern region of the Gulf of Carpentaria and is part of the state of Queensland, Australia. The two islands are important habitats for breeding seabirds.

Description

The islands have a collective area of 51  hectares and lie about 40 km northwest of Mornington Island, which is the largest island in the Wellesley Group. The climate is monsoonal, with a hot wet season from December to April and an extended dry season from May to November. The islands are Aboriginal lands, owned by the Lardil people. The traditional name of Manowar Island is Delmerriya or Wudma; that of Rocky Island is Kalamburriya.[1]

Birds

The islands have been identified by BirdLife International as an Important Bird Area (IBA) because they support over 1% of the world populations of brown boobies (up to 12,000 breeding pairs) and lesser frigatebirds (up to 7700 breeding pairs).[2] Large numbers of Australian pelicans, as well as smaller numbers of eastern reef egrets, ospreys and white-bellied sea-eagles also breed on the islands.[1]

References

  1. ^ a b BirdLife International. (2011). Important Bird Areas factsheet: Manowar and Rocky Islands. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 11/08/2011.
  2. ^ "IBA: Manowar and Rocky Islands". Birdata. Birds Australia. Archived from the original on 6 July 2011. Retrieved 11 August 2011.

16°16′05″S 139°16′22″E / 16.26806°S 139.27278°E / -16.26806; 139.27278


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