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Henderson Islets
The Henderson Islets are a group of two adjacent small rocky islands, with a combined area of , in south-eastern Australia. They are part of Tasmania’s Trefoil Island Group, lying close to Cape Grim, Tasmania's most north-westerly point, in Bass Strait. Fauna The islet form part of the Hunter Island Group Important Bird Area.BirdLife International. (2011). Important Bird Areas factsheet: Hunter Island Group. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 2011-07-09. Recorded breeding seabird and shorebird species include little penguin, fairy prion, sooty oystercatcher, black-faced cormorant and 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 '' ....Brothers, Nigel; Pemberton, David; Pryor, Helen; & Halley, Vanessa. (2001). ''Tasmania’s Offshore Islands: seabirds and oth ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hydroprogne Caspia In Flight
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 ''hudro-'', "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 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller islands. It has a total area of , making it the list of countries and dependencies by area, sixth-largest country in the world and the largest in Oceania. Australia is the world's flattest and driest inhabited continent. It is a megadiverse countries, megadiverse country, and its size gives it a wide variety of landscapes and Climate of Australia, climates including deserts of Australia, deserts in the Outback, interior and forests of Australia, tropical rainforests along the Eastern states of Australia, coast. The ancestors of Aboriginal Australians began arriving from south-east Asia 50,000 to 65,000 years ago, during the Last Glacial Period, last glacial period. By the time of British settlement, Aboriginal Australians spoke 250 distinct l ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tasmania
Tasmania (; palawa kani: ''Lutruwita'') is an island States and territories of Australia, state of Australia. It is located to the south of the Mainland Australia, Australian mainland, and is separated from it by the Bass Strait. The state encompasses the main island of Tasmania, the List of islands by area#Islands, 26th-largest island in the world, and the List of islands of Tasmania, surrounding 1000 islands. It is Australia's smallest and least populous state, with 573,479 residents . The List of Australian capital cities, state capital and largest city is Hobart, with around 40% of the population living in the Greater Hobart area. Estimated resident population, 30 June 2017. Tasmania is the most decentralised state in Australia, with the lowest proportion of its residents living within its capital city. Tasmania's main island was first inhabited by Aboriginal Australians, Aboriginal peoples, who today generally identify as Palawa or Pakana. It is believed that Abori ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cape Grim
Cape Grim, officially Kennaook / Cape Grim, is the northwestern point of Tasmania, Australia. The Peerapper name for the cape is recorded as ''Kennaook''. It is the location of the Cape Grim Baseline Air Pollution Station and of the Cape Grim Air Archive which is operated by the Australian Bureau of Meteorology in a joint programme with the CSIRO. The station was established in 1976 and has been operating ever since. The data from Cape Grim have been used extensively in assessments of climate change and ozone depletion. Geography Cape Grim's isolated geographic location makes it unique. The next land mass directly west of Cape Grim is not Africa, but the southern tip of Argentina. Winds that make their way to Cape Grim from Antarctica and the Indian Ocean hit no significant land mass. Air pollution values collected at Cape Grim are the closest attainable representation of a global average. History The headland was first charted and named Cape Grim by Matthew Flinders on 7 D ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bass Strait
Bass Strait () is a strait separating the island state of Tasmania from the Mainland Australia, 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.'' The western li ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hunter Island Group Important Bird Area
The Hunter Island Group Important Bird Area comprises several islands in the Hunter Island Group and Trefoil Island Group lying off the north-western coast of Tasmania, Australia. Collectively, they have an area of 152 km2. They have been identified by BirdLife International as an Important Bird Area (IBA) because they support over 1% of the world populations of Cape Barren goose, Cape Barren geese, short-tailed shearwaters, black-faced cormorants, sooty oystercatchers and Pacific gulls. The IBA also supports the critically endangered orange-bellied parrot on its bird migration, migration route between Tasmania and mainland south-eastern Australia. Most of Tasmania's endemism, endemic bird species breed in the IBA. Hunter Island Group * Albatross Island (Tasmania), Albatross Island, part of the Albatross Island and Black Pyramid Rock Important Bird Area * Bears Island (Tasmania), Bears Island * Bird Island (Tasmania), Bird Island * Black Pyramid Rock, part of the Albatro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Seabird
Seabirds (also known as marine birds) are birds that are adaptation, adapted to life within the marine ecosystem, marine environment. While seabirds vary greatly in lifestyle, behaviour and physiology, they often exhibit striking convergent evolution, as the same environmental problems and feeding ecological niche, niches have resulted in similar adaptations. The first seabirds evolved in the Cretaceous geological period, period, while modern seabird families emerged in the Paleogene. Seabirds generally live longer, Reproduction, breed later and have fewer young than other birds, but they invest a great deal of time in their young. Most species nest in Bird colony, colonies, varying in size from a few dozen birds to millions. Many species are famous for undertaking long annual bird migration, migrations, crossing the equator or circumnavigating the Earth in some cases. They feed both at the ocean's surface and below it, and even on each other. Seabirds can be highly pelagic, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shorebird
245px, A flock of 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 smaller species found in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Little Penguin
The little penguin (''Eudyptula minor'') is the smallest species of penguin. It originates from New Zealand. It is commonly known as the fairy penguin, little blue penguin, or blue penguin, owing to its slate-blue plumage and is also known by its Māori language, Māori name . It is a Neritic zone, marine neritic species that dives for food throughout the day and returns to burrows on the shore at dusk, making it the only Nocturnality, nocturnal penguin species on land. The Eudyptula novaehollandiae, Australian little penguin (''Eudyptula novaehollandiae''), from Australia and the Otago region of New Zealand, is considered a separate species. ''Eudyptula minor'' feathers are dense in Melanosome, melanosomes, which increase water resistance and give them their unique blue colour. 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. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fairy Prion
The fairy prion (''Pachyptila turtur'') is a small seabird with the standard prion plumage of blue-grey upperparts with a prominent dark "M" marking and white underneath. The sexes are alike. It is a small prion which frequents the low subantarctic and subtropic seas. Taxonomy The fairy prion was formally described in 1820 by the German naturalist Heinrich Kuhl under the binomial name ''Procellaria turtur''. It is now placed with the other prions in the genus ''Pachyptila'', introduced in 1811 by Johann Karl Wilhelm Illiger. The genus name combines the Ancient Greek ''pakhus '', meaning "dense" or "thick", with ''ptilon'', meaning "feather" or "plumage". The specific epithet ''turtur'' is Latin for " turtle dove". The word comes from the Ancient Greek word , meaning "a saw", which refers to the serrated edges of its bill. The fairy prion is a member of the genus ''Pachyptila'' and of the subgenus ''Pseudoprion'' Coues, 1866. Along with the blue petrel, they make up the prions. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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 Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ... 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 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Black-faced Cormorant
The black-faced cormorant (''Phalacrocorax fuscescens''), also known as the black-faced shag, is a medium-sized member of the cormorant family. Upperparts, including facial skin and bill, are black, with white underparts. It is Endemism, endemic to coastal regions of southern Australia. Description Like other cormorant species, the black-faced cormorant is a large aquatic bird, with a long hooked bill, webbed feet, and monochromatic plumage. This is one of the largest cormorants found in south-western Australia and has pied plumage with the upper half of its body black and the undersides white. Its face is naked and black, hence the "black-faced" name, and the tail, feet, and thighs are also black. The back feathers are glossy, and its bill is dark grey with a prominent hook at the tip. It has blue-green eyes. When flying, it holds its head level or lower than its body and holds its wings in a cross-shape like most cormorants. Species that are similar in appearance include ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
