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Red Goshawk
The red goshawk (''Erythrotriorchis radiatus'') is a bird of prey found in Australia. It is found mainly in the savanna woodlands of northern Australia, particularly near watercourses. It takes a broad range of live prey, mostly birds. Taxonomy The red goshawk was first described by the English ornithologist John Latham in 1801 under the binomial name ''Falco radiatus''. The species used to be regarded as a very large member of the goshawk subfamily, Accipitrinae, but it is now believed that the resemblance to these other birds is convergent. Experts now group the red goshawk with the superficially dissimilar black-breasted buzzard ''Hamirostra melanosternon'' and square-tailed kite ''Lophoictinia isura'' as one of the Australasian old endemic raptors. It is believed that the ancestors of these birds, possibly together with a handful of species from South-east Asia and Africa, occupied Gondwana and over millions of years have diverged into their current forms. Gene sequenc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cape York Peninsula
The Cape York Peninsula is a peninsula located in Far North Queensland, Australia. It is the largest wilderness in northern Australia.Mittermeier, R.E. et al. (2002). Wilderness: Earth's last wild places. Mexico City: Agrupación Sierra Madre, S.C. The land is mostly flat and about half of the area is used for grazing cattle. The relatively undisturbed eucalyptus-wooded savannahs, tropical rainforests and other types of habitat are now recognised and preserved for their global environmental significance. Although much of the peninsula remains pristine, with a diverse repertoire of endemic flora and fauna, some of its wildlife may be threatened by industry and overgrazing as well as introduced species and weeds.Mackey, B. G., Nix, H., & Hitchcock, P. (2001). The natural heritage significance of Cape York Peninsula. Retrieved 15 January 2008, froepa.qld.gov.au. The northernmost point of the peninsula is Cape York (Queensland), Cape York. The land has been occupied by a number of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Whistling Kite
The whistling kite (''Haliastur sphenurus'') is a medium-sized Diurnal animal, diurnal Bird of prey, raptor found throughout Australia (including coastal islands), New Caledonia and much of New Guinea (excluding the central mountains and the northwest). Also called the whistling eagle or whistling hawk, it is named for its loud whistling call, which it often gives in bird flight, flight. Some authorities put this species in the genus ''Milvus'', despite marked differences in behaviour, bird song, voice and plumage between this species and other members of that genus. Description The whistling kite ranges in size from , with a wingspan between . Weights range from an average of for males and for females. As with most raptors, females are larger and heavier than males; though there is considerable overlap between the sexes, females can be up to 21% larger and 42% heavier. Southern birds are also larger than those found in the tropics. Male and female plumages are th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
EPBC
The ''Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999'' (Cth) is an Act of the Parliament of Australia that provides a framework for protection of the Australian environment, including its biodiversity and its natural and culturally significant places. Enacted on 16 July 2000, it established a range of processes to help protect and promote the recovery of threatened species and ecological communities, and preserve significant places from decline. The Act is administered by the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water. Lists of threatened species are drawn up under the Act, and these lists, the primary reference to threatened species in Australia, are available online through the Species Profile and Threats Database (SPRAT). As an Act of the Australian Parliament, it relies for its constitutional validity upon the legislative powers of the Parliament granted by the Australian Constitution, and key provisions of the Act are largely based o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rainforest
Rainforests are forests characterized by a closed and continuous tree Canopy (biology), canopy, moisture-dependent vegetation, the presence of epiphytes and lianas and the absence of wildfire. Rainforests can be generally classified as tropical rainforests or temperate rainforests, but other types have been described. Estimates vary from 40% to 75% of all biotic community, biotic species being Indigenous (ecology), indigenous to the rainforests. There may be many millions of species of plants, insects and microorganisms still undiscovered in tropical rainforests. Tropical rainforests have been called the "jewels of the Earth" and the "medicine chest (idiom), world's largest pharmacy", because over one quarter of natural medicines have been discovered there. Rainforests as well as endemic rainforest species are rapidly disappearing due to #Deforestation, deforestation, the resulting habitat loss and air pollution, pollution of the atmosphere. Definition Rainforests are cha ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Western Australia
Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Australia is Australia's largest state, with a land area of , and is also the List of country subdivisions by area, second-largest subdivision of any country on Earth. Western Australia has a diverse range of climates, including tropical conditions in the Kimberley (Western Australia), Kimberley, deserts in the interior (including the Great Sandy Desert, Little Sandy Desert, Gibson Desert, and Great Victoria Desert) and a Mediterranean climate on the south-west and southern coastal areas. the state has 2.965 million inhabitants—10.9 percent of the national total. Over 90 percent of the state's population live in the South-West Land Division, south-west corner and around 80 percent live in the state capital Perth, leaving the remainder ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kimberley (Western Australia)
The Kimberley is the northernmost of the nine regions of Western Australia. It is bordered on the west by the Indian Ocean, on the north by the Timor Sea, on the south by the Great Sandy Desert, Great Sandy and Tanami Desert, Tanami deserts in the region of the Pilbara, and on the east by the Northern Territory. The region was named in 1879 by government surveyor Alexander Forrest after Secretary of State for the Colonies John Wodehouse, 1st Earl of Kimberley. History The Kimberley was one of the earliest settled parts of Australia, with the first humans landing about 65,000 years ago. They created a complex culture that developed over thousands of years. Yam (vegetable), Yam (''Dioscorea hastifolia'') agriculture was developed, and rock art suggests that this was where some of the earliest boomerangs were invented. The worship of Wandjina deities was most common in this region, and a complex theology dealing with the transmigration of souls was part of the local people's religi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mornington Sanctuary
Mornington Sanctuary, formerly Mornington Station, is a nature reserve in the Kimberley region of Western Australia. It contains the Mornington Wilderness Camp and is owned and managed by the Australian Wildlife Conservancy (AWC). It lies in the Pentecost subregion of the Central Kimberley Bioregion. History Mornington is a pastoral lease that was run mainly as a beef cattle station for most of the 20th century. It was named after Victoria's Mornington Peninsula by Bob Maxted. It was acquired by AWC in 2001 for biodiversity conservation. Landscape and climate Much of the landscape of the reserve is rugged; it contains a section of the Wunaamin-Miliwundi Ranges and the upper catchment of the Fitzroy River, as well as the mesas of the Baulk Face Range and Fitzroy Bluff. Tributaries of the Fitzroy River flow through vertically walled gorges, such as Dimond Gorge. Lake Gladstone, the largest wetland in the Kimberley, lies in the north-west part of the reserve. Vegeta ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Northern Territory
The Northern Territory (abbreviated as NT; known formally as the Northern Territory of Australia and informally as the Territory) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian internal territory in the central and central-northern regions of Australia. The Northern Territory shares its borders with Western Australia to the west (129th meridian east), South Australia to the south (26th parallel south), and Queensland to the east (138th meridian east). To the north, the Northern Territory looks out to the Timor Sea, the Arafura Sea, and the Gulf of Carpentaria, including Western New Guinea and various other islands of the Indonesian archipelago. The NT covers , making it the third-largest Australian federal division, and List of country subdivisions by area, the 11th-largest country subdivision in the world. It is sparsely populated, with a population of only 249,000 – fewer than half the population of Tasmania. The largest population centre is the capital city of Darw ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tiwi Islands
The Tiwi Islands ( meaning "two islands") are part of the Northern Territory, Australia, to the north of Darwin, Northern Territory, Darwin adjoining the Timor Sea. They comprise Melville Island, Northern Territory, Melville Island, Bathurst Island, Northern Territory, Bathurst Island, and nine smaller uninhabited islands, with a combined area of . Inhabited before European settlement by the Tiwi people, Tiwi, an Aboriginal Australian people, the islands' population was 2,348 at the . The Tiwi Land Council is one of four land councils in the Northern Territory. It is a representative body with statutory authority under the ''Aboriginal Land Rights Act, Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act 1976'', and has responsibilities under the ''Native Title Act 1993'' and the ''Pastoral Land Act 1992''. Geography and population The Tiwi Islands were created by sea level rise at the end of the Last Glacial Period, last ice age, which finished about 11,700 years ago, with the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kakadu National Park
Kakadu National Park is a protected area in the Northern Territory of Australia, southeast of Darwin. It is a World Heritage Site. Kakadu is also gazetted as a locality, covering the same area as the national park, with 313 people recorded living there in the 2016 Australian census. Kakadu National Park is located within the Alligator Rivers Region of the Northern Territory, covering an area of , extending nearly from north to south and over from east to west. It is roughly the size of Wales or one-third the size of Tasmania, and is the second-largest national park in Australia, after the Munga-Thirri–Simpson Desert National Park. Most of the region is owned by the Aboriginal traditional owners, who have occupied the land for around 60,000 years and, today, manage the park jointly with Parks Australia. It is highly ecologically and biologically diverse, hosting a wide range of habitats and flora and fauna. It also includes a rich heritage of Aboriginal rock art, incl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Far North Queensland
Far North Queensland (FNQ) is the northernmost part of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland. Its largest city is Cairns, Queensland, Cairns and it is dominated geographically by Cape York Peninsula, which stretches north to the Torres Strait, and west to the Gulf Country. The waters of Torres Strait include the only international border in the area contiguous with the Australian mainland, between Australia and Papua New Guinea. The region is home to three World Heritage Sites, the Great Barrier Reef, the Wet Tropics of Queensland and Australian Fossil Mammal Sites (Riversleigh), Riversleigh, Australia's largest fossil mammal site. Far North Queensland lays claim to over 70 national parks, including Mount Bartle Frere; with a peak of it is the highest peak in both Northern Australia and Queensland. The Far North region is the only region of Australia that is the indigenous country of both Aboriginal Australians and Torres Strait Islanders. Far ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lilyvale Important Bird Area
Lilyvale Important Bird Area is a 35 km2 tract of land on the south-eastern Cape York Peninsula in Far North Queensland, Australia, that is important for bird conservation, and especially for red goshawks. Description The IBA consists of tall eucalypt woodland on Colluvium, colluvial sandy soils that provide good habitat for the Vulnerable species, vulnerable red goshawk. It comprises all such habitat on a former pastoral lease, Lilyvale Station, which is now managed by the Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service. The IBA has a tropics, tropical monsoonal climate, with most rainfall occurring in the summer wet season from December to April, succeeded by a long dry season when wildfire, fires are frequent. Birds Lilyvale has been identified by BirdLife International as an Important Bird Area (IBA) because it supports an unusually high population density of red goshawks, as well as four of the 17 species confined to the Tropical and subtropical grasslands, savannas, and shrub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
