Point Danger is a

headland 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, Joh ...

on the coast of south-western Victoria, Australia. It lies at the western end of Portland Bay, on the northern side of

Bass Strait Bass Strait () is a strait separating the island state of Tasmania from the Australian mainland (more specifically the coast of Victoria, with the exception of the land border across Boundary Islet). The strait provides the most direct wat ...

, about 6 km south-south-east of the city of

Portland Portland most commonly refers to: * Portland, Oregon, the largest city in the state of Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States * Portland, Maine, the largest city in the state of Maine, in the New England region of the northeas ...

. Cape Nelson lies 2.5 km to the south-west and the Lawrence Rocks 2 km to the south-east.

Gannet colony

Point Danger is home to a colony of Australasian gannets, largely a result of spillover from the nearby Lawrence Rocks colony exceeding its capacity. Established in October 1996, it is Australia's only mainland gannet colony; all others are on islands. However, in the first year of its existence no chicks were produced because of human disturbance and predation by

fox Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush''). Twelv ...

es and

feral cat A feral cat or a stray cat is an unowned domestic cat (''Felis catus'') that lives outdoors and avoids human contact: it does not allow itself to be handled or touched, and usually remains hidden from humans. Feral cats may breed over dozens ...

s. The gannets have subsequently been protected both by limiting public access to a viewing site overlooking the colony and by the presence of two

Maremma Sheepdog The Maremmano-Abruzzese Sheepdog, ( it, ), also called Maremmano, the Maremma Sheepdog or Abruzzese Sheepdog, and Cane da Pastore Abruzzese or Pastore Abruzzese (''Abruzzese Sheepdog'' and ''Abruzzese Shepherd'', respectively) is an Italian ...

s to deter predators. Colony size has grown to about 3000 birds.

References

Danger Danger is a lack of safety and may refer to: Places * Danger Cave, an archaeological site in Utah * Danger Island, Great Chagos Bank, Indian Ocean * Danger Island, alternate name of Pukapuka Atoll in the Cook Islands, Pacific Ocean * Danger Isl ...

Portland, Victoria Bass Strait Seabird colonies {{BarwonSouthWest-geo-stub