Billy Goat Reefs
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Billy Goat Reefs
The Billy Goat Reefs, part of the Great Dog Group within the Furneaux Group, are a close group of four small islands, joined at low tide, with a combined area of , located in the Bass Strait between the Flinders and Cape Barren islands, in Tasmania, in south-eastern Australia. Fauna Recorded breeding seabird and wader species are little penguin, white-faced storm-petrel, sooty oystercatcher and Caspian tern. Reptiles present include the metallic skink, White's skink and white-lipped snake.Brothers, Nigel; Pemberton, David; Pryor, Helen; & Halley, Vanessa. (2001). ''Tasmania’s Offshore Islands: seabirds and other natural features''. Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery: Hobart. See also * List of islands of Tasmania Tasmania is the smallest and southernmost state of Australia. The Tasmanian mainland itself is an island, with an area of - 94.1% of the total land area of the state. The other islands have a combined area of , for a cumulative total of 99.75% o ... Ref ...
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Little Green Island
Little Green Island is a granite island, with an area of , in south-eastern Australia. It is part of Tasmania’s Great Dog Island Group, lying in eastern Bass Strait between Flinders and Cape Barren Islands in the Furneaux Group. It is partly a conservation area, and partly private property, used for grazing livestock. The island has been degraded by repeated burning and grazing. Commercial muttonbirding took place until 1957, and recreational muttonbirding since then. The island is part of the Franklin Sound Islands Important Bird Area, identified as such by BirdLife International because it holds over 1% of the world populations of six bird species. Flora and fauna The island's vegetation is dominated by tussock grass communities. Recorded breeding seabird and wader species are little penguin, short-tailed shearwater (600,000 pairs) and sooty oystercatcher. Reptiles present include the metallic skink and tiger snake.Brothers, Nigel; Pemberton, David; Pryor, Helen; & ...
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Little Penguin
The little penguin (''Eudyptula minor'') is a species of penguin from New Zealand. They are commonly known as little blue penguins or blue penguins owing to their slate-blue plumage and are also known by their Māori name . The Australian little penguin (''Eudyptula novaehollandiae'') from Australia and the Otago region of New Zealand is considered a separate species by a 2016 study and a 2019 study. Taxonomy The little penguin was first described by German naturalist Johann Reinhold Forster in 1781. Several subspecies are known, but a precise classification of these is still a matter of dispute. The holotypes of the subspecies ''E. m. variabilis'' and ''Eudyptula minor chathamensis'' are in the collection of the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa. The white-flippered penguin (''E. m. albosignata'' or ''E. m. minor morpha albosignata'') is currently considered by most taxonomists to be a colour morph or subspecies of ''Eudyptula minor.'' In 2008, Shirihai treated ...
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List Of Islands Of Tasmania
Tasmania is the smallest and southernmost state of Australia. The Tasmanian mainland itself is an island, with an area of - 94.1% of the total land area of the state. The other islands have a combined area of , for a cumulative total of 99.75% of the state. About 1000 smaller islands make up the remaining of total land area. Classification structure A considerable number of Tasmanian islands are identified as being in island groups, including the Breaksea, Furneaux, Hogan, Hunter, Kent, Maatsuyker, Mutton Bird, New Year, Swainson, Trumpeter, and Waterhouse groups. Regions Similar to Regions of Tasmania the islands are generally distinguished by the coast that they are adjacent to, as well as Bass Strait - the main separation from the mainland state of Victoria. Five regions are aligned to the north coast and Bass Strait - ''North West Islands'' (including King Island), ''North Coast Islands'', ''North Bass Strait Islands'', ''Furneaux Islands'', and ''North East Islands ...
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White-lipped Snake
The white-lipped snake (''Drysdalia coronoides'') is a small species of venomous snake in the family Elapidae. The species is endemic to south-eastern mainland Australia and Tasmania. Description It is the smallest of three species of snake found in Tasmania and is Australia's most cold-tolerant snake, even inhabiting areas on Mount Kosciuszko above the snow line. Growing to only about in total length (including tail), this snake feeds almost exclusively on skinks. It belongs to the genus ''Drysdalia'', and is often referred to as the whip snake in Tasmania (true whip snakes from Australia are from the genus ''Demansia'' and are only found on the mainland). This species gets its common name from a thin, white line bordered above by a narrow black line that runs along the upper lip. ''D. coronoides'' is viviparous Among animals, viviparity is development of the embryo inside the body of the parent. This is opposed to oviparity which is a reproductive mode in which femal ...
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White's Skink
White's skink (''Liopholis whitii)'', also known commonly as White's rock skink, is a species of lizard in the family Scincidae. The species is endemic to Australia. Etymology The specific name, ''whitii'', is in honour of Irish surgeon and naturalist John White. Geographic range ''L. whitii'' is widespread in south-eastern Australia, including Tasmania and many Bass Strait islands. Habitat The preferred natural habitats of ''L. whitii'' are forest, shrubland, and rocky areas, at altitudes from sea level to . White's skinks prefer a habitat with rocks, shrubby heathland and minimal human environmental disturbance. They also dig tunnels underground and have two entrances to the tunnel if needing an escape route. They also have well covered and hidden entrances to avoid predators. Description The White's skink is a stocky slow-growing medium-sized species, growing to a maximum snout-to-vent length (SVL) of about . That matures at ~ (SVL) in both sexes, this size is typi ...
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Metallic Skink
:''"Metallic skink" may also refer to the garden skink ( Lampropholis delicata)''. ''Carinascincus metallicus'', the metallic cool-skink or metallic skink is a species of skink in the family Scincidae. It is endemic to Australia, found in southern Victoria, as well as in Tasmania where it is the most widespread and common lizard, occurring on many offshore islands in Bass Strait Bass Strait () is a strait separating the island states and territories of Australia, state of Tasmania from the Australian mainland (more specifically the coast of Victoria (Australia), Victoria, with the exception of the land border across Bo ... as well as the mainland. It gives birth to live young. It is highly variable in colour and pattern, and may be a complex of closely related species.Cogger, H.G. (1979). ''Reptiles and Amphibians of Australia''. Reed: Sydney. References Carinascincus Skinks of Australia Endemic fauna of Australia Reptiles described in 1874 Taxa named by Arth ...
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Reptile
Reptiles, as most commonly defined are the animals in the class Reptilia ( ), a paraphyletic grouping comprising all sauropsids except birds. Living reptiles comprise turtles, crocodilians, squamates ( lizards and snakes) and rhynchocephalians ( tuatara). As of March 2022, the Reptile Database includes about 11,700 species. In the traditional Linnaean classification system, birds are considered a separate class to reptiles. However, crocodilians are more closely related to birds than they are to other living reptiles, and so modern cladistic classification systems include birds within Reptilia, redefining the term as a clade. Other cladistic definitions abandon the term reptile altogether in favor of the clade Sauropsida, which refers to all amniotes more closely related to modern reptiles than to mammals. The study of the traditional reptile orders, historically combined with that of modern amphibians, is called herpetology. The earliest known proto-reptiles originated ...
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Caspian Tern
The Caspian tern (''Hydroprogne caspia'') is a species of tern, with a subcosmopolitan but scattered distribution. Despite its extensive range, it is monotypic of its genus, and has no accepted subspecies. The genus name is from Ancient Greek ''hudros'', "water", and Latin ''progne'', "swallow". The specific ''caspia'' is from Latin and, like the English name, refers to the Caspian Sea. Description It is the world's largest tern with a length of , a wingspan of and a weight of . Adult birds have black legs, and a long thick red-orange bill with a small black tip. They have a white head with a black cap and white neck, belly, and tail. The upper wings and back are pale grey; the underwings are pale with dark primary feathers. In-flight, the tail is less forked than other terns, and wingtips are black on the underside. In winter, the black cap is still present (unlike many other terns), but with some white streaking on the forehead. The call is a loud heron-like croak. Distribu ...
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Sooty Oystercatcher
The sooty oystercatcher (''Haematopus fuliginosus'') is a species of oystercatcher. It is a wading bird endemic to Australia and commonly found on its coastline. It prefers rocky coastlines, but will occasionally live in estuaries. All of its feathers are black. It has a red eye, eye ring and bill, and pink legs. Taxonomy John Gould described the sooty oystercatcher in 1845. Its species name is the Latin adjective ''fuliginosus'', "sooty". Two subspecies are recognised, the nominate from the coastline of southern Australia and subspecies ''ophthalmicus'' from northern Australia. The southern subspecies is larger and heavier than the northern. The northern one, with a more yellowish eye ring, is found from the Kimberleys across the top of the country to Mackay in central Queensland. There is considerable overlap, as the southern subspecies has been found up to Cape York. Subspecies ''ophthalmicus'' has been thought distinctive enough to warrant species status and needs further inv ...
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White-faced Storm-petrel
The white-faced storm petrel (''Pelagodroma marina''), also known as white-faced petrel is a small seabird of the austral storm petrel family Oceanitidae. It is the only member of the monotypic genus ''Pelagodroma''. Description The white-faced storm petrel is in length with a wingspan. It has a pale brown to grey back, rump and wings with black flight feathers. It is white below, unlike other north Atlantic petrels, and has a white face with a black eye mask like a phalarope. Its plumage makes it one of the easier petrels to identify at sea. Behaviour The white-faced storm petrel is strictly pelagic outside the breeding season, and this, together with its often-remote breeding sites, makes this petrel a difficult bird to see from land. Only in severe storms might this species be pushed into headlands. There have been a handful of western Europe records from France, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands. It has a direct gliding flight and will patter on the water surface as i ...
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Wader
245px, A flock of Dunlins and Red knots">Red_knot.html" ;"title="Dunlins and Red knot">Dunlins and Red knots Waders or shorebirds are birds of the order Charadriiformes commonly found wikt:wade#Etymology 1, wading along shorelines and mudflats in order to foraging, forage for food crawling or burrowing in the mud and sand, usually small arthropods such as aquatic insects or crustaceans. The term "wader" is used in Europe, while "shorebird" is used in North America, where "wader" may be used instead to refer to long-legged wading birds such as storks and herons. There are about 210 species of wader, most of which live in wetland or coastal environments. Many species of Arctic and temperate regions are strongly migratory, but tropical birds are often resident, or move only in response to rainfall patterns. Some of the Arctic species, such as the little stint, are amongst the longest distance migrants, spending the non-breeding season in the southern hemisphere. Many of the ...
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Bass Strait
Bass Strait () is a strait separating the island states and territories of Australia, state of Tasmania from the Australian mainland (more specifically the coast of Victoria (Australia), Victoria, with the exception of the land border across Boundary Islet). The strait provides the most direct waterway between the Great Australian Bight and the Tasman Sea, and is also the only maritime route into the economically prominent Port Phillip Bay. Formed 8,000 years ago by rising sea levels at the end of the last glacial period, the strait was named after English explorer and physician George Bass (1771-1803) by History of Australia (1788–1850), European colonists. Extent The International Hydrographic Organization defines the limits of Bass Strait as follows: :''On the west.'' The eastern limit of the Great Australian Bight [being a line from Cape Otway, Australia, to King Island (Tasmania), King Island and thence to Cape Grim, the northwest extreme of Tasmania]. :''On the east.' ...
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