Sudbury Reef is a small

coral reef A coral reef is an underwater ecosystem characterized by reef-building corals. Reefs are formed of colonies of coral polyps held together by calcium carbonate. Most coral reefs are built from stony corals, whose polyps cluster in groups. C ...

, with a few unnamed

cay A cay ( ), also spelled caye or key, is a small, low-elevation, sandy island on the surface of a coral reef. Cays occur in tropical environments throughout the Pacific, Atlantic, and Indian Oceans, including in the Caribbean and on the Great ...

s but no substantial islands, lying about 20 km off the east coast of Far North Queensland, Australia. It is part of the

Great Barrier Reef Marine Park The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park protects a large part of Australia's Great Barrier Reef from damaging activities. It is a vast multiple-use Marine Park which supports a wide range of uses, including commercial marine tourism, fishing, ports an ...

at about the same latitude as Cairns.

Birds

The reef has been identified as an Important Bird Area (IBA) by BirdLife International because its cays, with a collective land area of about a hectare, have supported over 1% of the world population of

lesser crested tern The lesser crested tern (''Thalasseus bengalensis'')Bridge, E. S.; Jones, A. W. & Baker, A. J. (2005)A phylogenetic framework for the terns (Sternini) inferred from mtDNA sequences: implications for taxonomy and plumage evolution. ''Molecular Ph ...

s (with up to 5000 nests recorded).

References

Important Bird Areas of Queensland Islands on the Great Barrier Reef Landforms of Far North Queensland Great Barrier Reef Marine Park {{FarNorthQueensland-geo-stub