Mount Lidgbird, also Mount Ledgbird and Big Hill, is located in the southern section of

Lord Howe Island Lord Howe Island (; formerly Lord Howe's Island) is an irregularly crescent-shaped volcanic remnant in the Tasman Sea between Australia and New Zealand, part of the Australian state of New South Wales. It lies directly east of mainland ...

, just north of Mount Gower, from which it is separated by the

saddle The saddle is a supportive structure for a rider of an animal, fastened to an animal's back by a girth. The most common type is equestrian. However, specialized saddles have been created for oxen, camels and other animals. It is not kno ...

at the head of Erskine Valley, and has its peak at

above sea level Height above mean sea level is a measure of the vertical distance (height, elevation or altitude) of a location in reference to a historic mean sea level taken as a vertical datum. In geodesy, it is formalized as '' orthometric heights''. The ...

. The trek to the summit is for expert climbers only. Ropes are needed to scale the cliffs and slippery, steep terrain. In comparison, Mount Gower is an easy hike. Halfway up the mountain is Goat House Cave, a former shelter for 19th-century Kentia palm gatherers. From this spot, visitors can see nesting masked boobies and numerous

red-tailed tropicbird The red-tailed tropicbird (''Phaethon rubricauda'') is a seabird native to tropical parts of the Indian and Pacific Oceans. One of three closely related species of tropicbird (Phaethontidae), it was described by Pieter Boddaert in 1783. Supe ...

Etymology

Mount Lidgbird is named by the naval officer Captain Henry Lidgbird Ball in honour of his father, George Lidgbird Ball. Ball junior first sighted Lord Howe Island in 1788 while he was on his way to

Norfolk Island Norfolk Island (, ; Norfuk: ''Norf'k Ailen'') is an external territory of Australia located in the Pacific Ocean between New Zealand and New Caledonia, directly east of Australia's Evans Head and about from Lord Howe Island. Together w ...

in the ship HMS ''Supply''. He also named the nearby rock outcrop

Ball's Pyramid Ball's Pyramid is an erosional remnant of a shield volcano and caldera lying southeast of Lord Howe Island in the Pacific Ocean. It is high, while measuring in length and only across, making it the tallest volcanic stack in the world. Ball ...

Flora

'' Cryptocarya'' forest, one of two types found on the island, the other being palm forest, is found in patches on the slopes of the mountain between elevations of above sea level. Palm species growing on the mountain include '' Hedyscepe'' and ''

Lepidorrhachis ''Lepidorrhachis'' is a monotypic genus of flowering plant in the palm family restricted to Lord Howe Island. The genus name for the single, monoecious species, ''Lepidorrhachis mooreana'', comes from two Greek word meaning "scale" and "rachis" ...

''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lidgbird Tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests Geography of Lord Howe Island Shield volcanoes of Australia Hotspot volcanoes Volcanoes of New South Wales Mountains of New South Wales Volcanoes of the Pacific Ocean Volcanoes of Zealandia Extinct volcanoes Miocene volcanism Polygenetic shield volcanoes

Etymology

Flora

See also

References