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Edwards Point (Victoria)
Edwards Point is a 4 km long sand spit extending southwards between Swan Bay and Port Phillip Bay, at the eastern end of the Bellarine Peninsula, Victoria, Australia. It is about 115 km by road south-west of Melbourne and 40 km east of Geelong. The township of St Leonards lies at its northern end. With Duck Island and Swan Island it forms the part-barrier that separates Swan Bay from Port Phillip. Edwards Point Wildlife Reserve The spit is entirely included within the Edwards Point Wildlife Reserve, established in March 1971 to protect the vegetation communities and fauna of the area. These communities include the last remaining stand of coastal woodland on the Bellarine Peninsula, saltmarsh and beach. The adjacent Swan Bay contains extensive areas of intertidal mudflats that are important for waterbirds and migratory waders. The end of the spit is a high tide roost for waders. [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Swan Bay Map
Swans are birds of the family Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ... Anatidae within the genus ''Cygnus''. The swans' closest relatives include the goose, geese and ducks. Swans are grouped with the closely related geese in the subfamily Anserinae where they form the tribe (biology), tribe Cygnini. Sometimes, they are considered a distinct subfamily, Cygninae. There are six living and many extinct species of swan; in addition, there is a species known as the coscoroba swan which is no longer considered one of the true swans. Swans usually mate for life, although "divorce" sometimes occurs, particularly following nesting failure, and if a mate dies, the remaining swan will take up with another. The number of bird egg, eggs in each :wikt:clutch, clutch ranges from three ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Swan Bay And Port Phillip Bay Islands Important Bird Area
The Swan Bay and Port Phillip Bay Islands Important Bird Area comprises a cluster of disparate sites centred at the eastern end of the Bellarine Peninsula, and the southern end of Port Phillip, in Victoria, south-eastern Australia. As well as providing core wintering habitat for orange-bellied parrots, it is important for waders, or shorebirds, and seabirds. Description Sites included in the Important Bird Area (IBA) are:BirdLife International. (2011). Important Bird Areas factsheet: Swan Bay and Port Phillip Bay Islands. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 2011-10-27. ;Swan Bay area wetlands and barrier islands * Portarlington sewage treatment works * Swan Bay - 30 km2 marine embayment with intertidal flats fringed by saltmarsh * Edwards Point - 4 km sandspit with coastal woodland, heathland and saltmarsh * Duck Island - small sand and saltmarsh island * Swan Island - 140 ha sand island, with coastal scrub and saltmarsh * Rabbit Island - small sa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Headlands Of Victoria (Australia)
A headland, also known as a head, is a coastal landform, a point of land usually high and often with a sheer drop, that extends into a body of water. It is a type of promontory. A headland of considerable size often is called a cape.Whittow, John (1984). ''Dictionary of Physical Geography''. London: Penguin, 1984, pp. 80, 246. . Headlands are characterised by high, breaking waves, rocky shores, intense erosion, and steep sea cliff. Headlands and bays are often found on the same coastline. A bay is flanked by land on three sides, whereas a headland is flanked by water on three sides. Headlands and bays form on discordant coastlines, where bands of rock of alternating resistance run perpendicular to the coast. Bays form when weak (less resistant) rocks (such as sands and clays) are eroded, leaving bands of stronger (more resistant) rocks (such as chalk, limestone, and granite) forming a headland, or peninsula. Through the deposition of sediment within the bay and the erosion of the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nature Reserves In Victoria (Australia)
Nature, in the broadest sense, is the physical world or universe. "Nature" can refer to the phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general. The study of nature is a large, if not the only, part of science. Although humans are part of nature, human activity is often understood as a separate category from other natural phenomena. The word ''nature'' is borrowed from the Old French ''nature'' and is derived from the Latin word ''natura'', or "essential qualities, innate disposition", and in ancient times, literally meant "birth". In ancient philosophy, ''natura'' is mostly used as the Latin translation of the Greek word ''physis'' (φύσις), which originally related to the intrinsic characteristics of plants, animals, and other features of the world to develop of their own accord. The concept of nature as a whole, the physical universe, is one of several expansions of the original notion; it began with certain core applications of the word φύσις by pre-Socr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Double-banded Plover
The double-banded plover (''Charadrius bicinctus''), known as the banded dotterel or pohowera in New Zealand, is a species of bird in the plover family. Two subspecies are recognised: the nominate ''Charadrius bicinctus bicinctus'', which breeds throughout New Zealand, including the Chatham Islands, and ''Charadrius bicinctus exilis'', which breeds in New Zealand's subantarctic Auckland Islands. Taxonomy A 2015 study found its closest relatives to be two other plovers found in New Zealand, the New Zealand dotterel (''Charadrius obscurus'', also called the New Zealand plover) and the wrybill (''Anarhynchus frontalis'', which the study found to be in the ''Charadrius'' clade). Description The double-banded plover is distinguished by a dark, grey-brown back with a distinctive white chest and a thin band of black situated just below the neck running across the chest along with a larger brown band underneath. During breeding season, these bands are more dominantly shown on the mal ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Grey Plover
The grey plover or black-bellied plover (''Pluvialis squatarola'') is a large plover breeding in Arctic regions. It is a long-distance migrant, with a nearly worldwide coastal distribution when not breeding. Taxonomy The grey plover was formally described by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in 1758 in the tenth edition of his ''Systema Naturae'' under the binomial name ''Tringa squatarola''. It is now placed with three other plovers in the genus '' Pluvialis'' that was introduced by the French onithologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson in 1760. The genus name is Latin and means relating to rain, from ''pluvia'', "rain". It was believed that they flocked when rain was imminent. The species name ''squatarola'' is a Latinised version of ''Sgatarola'', a Venetian name for some kind of plover. The English common name used for this species differs in different parts of the world. It is generally known as "grey plover" in the Old World and "black-bellied plover" in the New World. T ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
White-bellied Sea-eagle
The white-bellied sea eagle (''Haliaeetus leucogaster''), also known as the white-breasted sea eagle, is a large diurnal bird of prey in the family Accipitridae. Originally described by Johann Friedrich Gmelin in 1788, it is closely related to Sanford's sea eagle of the Solomon Islands, and the two are considered a superspecies. A distinctive bird, the adult white-bellied sea eagle has a white head, breast, under-wing coverts and tail. The upper parts are grey and the black under-wing flight feathers contrast with the white coverts. The tail is short and wedge-shaped as in all ''Haliaeetus'' species. Like many raptors, the female is slightly larger than the male, and can measure up to long with a wingspan of up to , and weigh . Immature birds have brown plumage, which is gradually replaced by white until the age of five or six years. The call is a loud goose-like honking. Resident from India and Sri Lanka through Southeast Asia to Australia on coasts and major waterways ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lewin's Rail
Lewin's rail (''Lewinia pectoralis'') is a species of bird in the family Rallidae. It is also known as the water rail, Lewin's water rail, Lewin's grind rail, slate-breasted rail, slate-breasted water rail, pectoral rail, pectoral water rail, short-toed rail and short-toed water rail. Its common name and Latin binomial commemorate English naturalist and illustrator William Lewin. It is found in Australia, Wallacea, and New Guinea. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests. Subspecies Eight subspecies have been described: *''L. p. exsul'' (Hartert, 1898) – Flores, Wallacea ;New Guinea *''L. p. mayri'' (Hartert, 1930) – Arfak Mountains *''L. p. captus'' (Mayr & Gilliard, 1951) - central New Guinea *''L. p. insulsus'' (Greenway, 1935) - Herzog Mountains *''L. p. alberti'' (Rothschild & Hartert, 1907) - mountains of south-eastern New Guinea ;Australia *'' L. p. clelandi'' (Mathews, 1911) – south-western Australia (extinct) *''L. p. pectoralis'' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eastern Curlew
The Far Eastern curlew (''Numenius madagascariensis'') is a large shorebird most similar in appearance to the long-billed curlew, but slightly larger. It is mostly brown in color, differentiated from other curlews by its plain, unpatterned brown underwing. It is not only the largest curlew but probably the world's largest sandpiper, at in length and across the wings. The body is reportedly , which may be equaled by the Eurasian curlew.''CRC Handbook of Avian Body Masses'' by John B. Dunning Jr. (Editor). CRC Press (1992), . The extremely long bill, at in length, rivals the bill size of the closely related long-billed curlew as the longest bill for a sandpiper. Distribution and habitat The Far Eastern curlew spends its breeding season in northeastern Asia, including Siberia to Kamchatka, and Mongolia. Its breeding habitat is composed of marshy and swampy wetlands and lakeshores. Most individuals winter in coastal Australia, with a few heading to South Korea, Thailand, Phil ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fairy Tern
The fairy tern (''Sternula nereis'') is a small tern which is native to the southwestern Pacific. It is listed as "Vulnerable" by the IUCN and the New Zealand subspecies is " Critically Endangered". There are three subspecies: * Australian fairy tern, ''Sternula nereis nereis'' ( Gould, 1843) – breeds in Australia * New Caledonian fairy tern, ''Sternula nereis exsul'' ( Mathews, 1912) – breeds in New Caledonia * New Zealand fairy tern, ''Sternula nereis davisae'' ( Mathews & Iredale, 1913) – breeds in northern New Zealand Description The fairy tern is a small tern with a white body and light bluish-grey wings.A small black patch extends no further than the eye and not as far as the bill. In the breeding plumage both the beak and the legs are yellowish-orange. During the rest of the year the black crown is lost, being mostly replaced by white feathers, and the beak becomes black at the tip and the base. The sexes look alike and the plumage of immature birds is similar t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Little Tern
The little tern (''Sternula albifrons'') is a seabird of the family Laridae. It was formerly placed into the genus ''Sterna'', which now is restricted to the large white terns. The genus name is a diminutive of '' Sterna'', "tern". The specific ''albifrons'' is from Latin ''albus'', "white", and "frons", ''forehead''. The former North American (''S. a. antillarum'') and Red Sea ''S. a. saundersi'' subspecies are now considered to be separate species, the least tern (''Sternula antillarum'') and Saunders's tern (''Sternula saundersi''). This bird breeds on the coasts and inland waterways of temperate and tropical Europe and Asia. It is strongly migratory, wintering in the subtropical and tropical oceans as far south as South Africa and Australia. There are three subspecies, the nominate ''albifrons'' occurring in Europe to North Africa and western Asia; ''guineae'' of western and central Africa; and ''sinensis'' of East Asia (SE Russia to Japan, SE Asia, Philippines) and t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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