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Regent Honeyeater
The regent honeyeater (''Anthochaera phrygia'') is a critically endangered bird endemic to southeastern Australia. It is commonly considered a flagship species within its range, with the efforts going into its conservation having positive effects on many other species that share its habitat. Recent genetic research suggests it is closely related to the wattlebirds. Taxonomy First described by the English naturalist George Shaw (biologist), George Shaw in 1794, the regent honeyeater was moved to ''Anthochaera'' in 1827 by the naturalists Nicholas Aylward Vigors and Thomas Horsfield. It was known as ''Xanthomyza phrygia'' (Zanthomiza by Gregory Mathews)for many years, the genus erected by William Swainson in 1837. DNA analysis shows that its ancestry is in fact nested within the wattlebird genus ''Anthochaera''. The ancestor of the regent honeyeater split from a lineage that gave rise to the red wattlebird, red and yellow wattlebirds. The little and western wattlebirds arose from ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
George Shaw (biologist)
George Kearsley Shaw (10 December 1751 – 22 July 1813) was an English botanist and zoologist. Life Shaw was born at Bierton, Buckinghamshire, and was educated at Magdalen Hall, Oxford, receiving his M.A. in 1772. He took up the profession of medical practitioner. In 1786, he became the assistant lecturer in botany at the University of Oxford. He became a fellow of the Royal Society in 1789. In 1791, Shaw became assistant keeper of the natural history department at the British Museum, succeeding Edward Whitaker Gray as keeper in 1806. He found that most of the items donated to the museum by Hans Sloane were in very bad condition. Medical and anatomical material was sent to the museum at the Royal College of Surgeons of England, Royal College of Surgeons, but many of the stuffed animals and birds had deteriorated and had to be burnt. He was succeeded after his death by his assistant Charles Konig. Shaw's library of natural history books and some of his specimens and equipment ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
South Australia
South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories by area, which includes some of the most arid parts of the continent, and with 1.8 million people. It is the fifth-largest of the states and territories by population. This population is the second-most highly centralised in the nation after Western Australia, with more than 77% of South Australians living in the capital Adelaide or its environs. Other population centres in the state are relatively small; Mount Gambier, the second-largest centre, has a population of 26,878. South Australia shares borders with all the other mainland states. It is bordered to the west by Western Australia, to the north by the Northern Territory, to the north-east by Queensland, to the east by New South Wales, to the south-east by Victoria (state), Victoria, and to the s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hunter Valley Important Bird Area
The Hunter Valley Important Bird Area is a 560 km2 tract of land around Cessnock in central-eastern New South Wales, Australia. Description The site has been identified by BirdLife International as an Important Bird Area (IBA) because it regularly supports significant numbers of the endangered regent honeyeater and swift parrot. The near threatened diamond firetail is also present. The IBA is defined by remnant patches of eucalypt-woodland and forest used by the birds in a largely anthropogenic landscape. It includes Aberdare and Pelton state forests, Broke Common, Singleton Army Base, Pokolbin, Quorrobolong, Abermain and Tomalpin, as well as various patches of bushland, including land owned by mining companies. The IBA contains Werakata National Park and part of Watagans National Park. Extensive areas are used for coal mining, vineyard A vineyard ( , ) is a plantation of grape-bearing vines. Many vineyards exist for winemaking; others for the production of r ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hastings-Macleay Important Bird Area
The Hastings-Macleay Important Bird Area is a 1148 km2 tract of land stretching for 100 km along the Mid North Coast of New South Wales, Australia, from Stuarts Point in the north to the Camden Haven River in the south. It is bounded on the west by the Pacific Highway. It combines ephemeral wetlands with coastal swamp forests. It is mostly cattle-grazed but contains large blocks of state forest, protected areas and tea-tree plantations. Birds The land was identified by BirdLife International as an IBA because it regularly supports significant numbers of the endangered swift parrot, regent honeyeater and Australasian bittern, and probably over 1% of the world population of sharp-tailed sandpiper The sharp-tailed sandpiper (''Calidris acuminata'') is a small-medium migratory wader or shorebird, found mostly in Siberia during the summer breeding period (June to August) and Australia for wintering (September to March). Taxonomy The gen ...s. References ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Greater Blue Mountains Area
The Greater Blue Mountains Area is a World Heritage Site located in the Blue Mountains (New South Wales), Blue Mountains of New South Wales, Australia. The area was placed on the World Heritage List at the List of World Heritage Sites by year of inscription#2000 (24th session), 24th Session of the World Heritage Committee, held in Cairns in 2000. Etymology When the atmospheric temperature of the region rises the essential oil produced from the eucalyptus species evaporates and disperses in the air, causing visible spectra of sunlight to scatter. The scattering causes the shorter wavelength colors (blue) to propagate more than the longer wavelength colors (red). This causes reflections from the mountains to appear bluish to human eyes, giving the mountain region its signature name, "Blue Mountains (New South Wales), Blue Mountains". Description The Greater Blue Mountains Area consists of of mostly forested landscape on a sandstone plateau, inland from the Sydney central bu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Brisbane Water
Brisbane Water is a wave-dominated barrier estuary located in the Central Coast region of New South Wales, Australia. Brisbane Water has its origin at the confluence of the Narara and Coorumbine Creeks, to the south–east of Gosford and travels for approximately in a southerly direction to its mouth at Broken Bay, about from the Tasman Sea, at Barrenjoey Head. A number of towns and suburbs surround the shores of Brisbane Water, including Blackwall, Booker Bay, Davistown, Empire Bay, Erina, Ettalong Beach, Gosford, Green Point, Hardys Bay, Kilcare, Kincumber, Koolewong, Phegans Bay, Point Frederick, Point Clare, Saratoga, Tascott, Wagstaffe, and Woy Woy. Contained within Brisbane Water is St Huberts Island, Rileys Island, Dunmar Island and Pelican Island; and adjoining the estuary is Brisbane Water National Park to the west and Bouddi National Park to the east. Forming part of the same tidal estuary system is a separate but connected basin, the Kincumber ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Traprock Important Bird Area
The Traprock Important Bird Area comprises a 627 km2 tract of land in the Darling Downs region of south-eastern Queensland, Australia. Description The site consists of grassy woodlands, much of which is grazed by sheep, west of the town of Warwick in the Nandewar bioregion. It is defined as an Important Bird Area (IBA) by the recent occurrence of regent honeyeaters, and includes the McIntyre and Durikai state forests and the upper catchment of McIntyre Brook. It lies in the upper Murray-Darling basin not far from the state border with New South Wales. The two state forests contain areas of selectively logged eucalypt forest and woodlands with spotted gum and box–ironbark plant communities. Geologically, the area is mostly rocky, metamorphosed sedimentaries and interbedded volcanics with infertile soils that are not suitable for agriculture. Over 500 km2 of the land in the IBA is owned by a few major private landowners, with the remainder being state forest.Bi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Important Bird Area
An Important Bird and Biodiversity Area (IBA) is an area identified using an internationally agreed set of criteria as being globally important for the conservation of bird populations. IBA was developed and sites are identified by BirdLife International. There are over 13,000 IBAs worldwide. These sites are small enough to be entirely conserved and differ in their character, habitat or ornithological importance from the surrounding habitat. In the United States the program is administered by the National Audubon Society. Often IBAs form part of a country's existing protected area network, and so are protected under national legislation. Legal recognition and protection of IBAs that are not within existing protected areas varies within different countries. Some countries have a National IBA Conservation Strategy, whereas in others protection is completely lacking. History In 1985, following a specific request from the European Economic Community, Birdlife International dr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
BirdLife International
BirdLife International is a global partnership of non-governmental organizations that strives to conserve birds and their habitats. BirdLife International's priorities include preventing extinction of bird species, identifying and safeguarding important sites for birds, maintaining and restoring key bird habitats, and empowering conservationists worldwide. It has a membership of more than 2.5 million people across List of BirdLife International national partner organisations, 116 country partner organizations, including the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, the Wild Bird Society of Japan, the National Audubon Society, and American Bird Conservancy. BirdLife International has identified 13,000 Important Bird Area, Important Bird and Biodiversity Areas and is the official International Union for Conservation of Nature's IUCN Red List, Red List authority for birds. BirdLife International has established that 1,375 bird species (13% of the total) are threatened with extinc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
2019–20 Australian Bushfire Season
The 201920 Australian bushfire season commenced with serious uncontrolled fires in June 2019. , fires this season have burned an estimated , destroyed over 5,900 buildings (including 2,779 homes) and killed at least 34 people. An estimated one billion animals were killed and some endangered species may be driven to extinction. Air quality has dropped to hazardous levels. The cost of dealing with the bushfires is expected to exceed the $4.4 billion of the 2009 Black Saturday fires, and tourism sector revenues have fallen more than $1 billion. By 7 January 2020, the smoke had moved approximately across the South Pacific Ocean to Chile and Argentina. As of 2 January 2020, NASA estimated that of CO had been emitted. From September 2019 fires heavily impacted various regions of the state of New South Wales. In eastern and north-eastern Victoria large areas of forest burnt out of control for four weeks before the fires emerged from the forests in late December. Multiple s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
New South Wales
New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South Australia to the west. Its coast borders the Coral Sea, Coral and Tasman Seas to the east. The Australian Capital Territory and Jervis Bay Territory are Enclave and exclave, enclaves within the state. New South Wales' state capital is Sydney, which is also Australia's most populous city. , the population of New South Wales was over 8.3 million, making it Australia's most populous state. Almost two-thirds of the state's population, 5.3 million, live in the Greater Sydney area. The Colony of New South Wales was founded as a British penal colony in 1788. It originally comprised more than half of the Australian mainland with its Western Australia border, western boundary set at 129th meridian east in 1825. The colony then also includ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Capertee Valley
The Capertee Valley (pronounced Kay-per-tee) is a large canyon in New South Wales, Australia, north-west of Sydney that is noted to be the widest canyon in the world, exceeding the Grand Canyon. It is located kilometres north-west of Sydney, between Lithgow and Mudgee, in the Central Tablelands, just above the Blue Mountains. The only population centre of any kind is the village of Glen Davis, which includes a camp-site and often serves as a starting point for bushwalks around the Capertee River and other parts of the Wollemi National Park. Geology The valley follows the Capertee River as it cuts through the Sydney Basin, a sedimentary basin consisting of Permian and Triassic sedimentary rock west of the Blue Mountains. Sandstone cliffs and limestone formations predominate the escarpment, which descend into a deep chasm sculpted into the environment over millions of years. One of the most prominent features of the valley is Pantony's Crown, a sandstone butte that is n ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
