Rabbit Island is a rarely visited island located in

Louth Bay Louth Bay (formerly Laurence) is a town and locality in the Australian state of South Australia. It is named after the bay named by Matthew Flinders on 26 February 1802 which itself is derived from a place in Lincolnshire. At the 2006 census, L ...

Spencer Gulf The Spencer Gulf is the westernmost and larger of two large inlets (the other being Gulf St Vincent) on the southern coast of Australia, in the state of South Australia, facing the Great Australian Bight. It spans from the Cape Catastrophe an ...

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 in ...

. It also bears the historic French name of Ile Raynal. Unlike the larger, privately owned

Louth Island Louth Island ( Nauo: ''Jorunu'' or ''Yoruna'') is a 135 ha island located in Louth Bay, Spencer Gulf, South Australia. The island is privately owned, and has previously been used for the grazing of sheep and mining of guano. The island has an ...

which sits to the north-west, Rabbit Island is public land and part of the

Lincoln National Park Lincoln National Park is a protected area in the Australian state of South Australia located about west of the state capital of Adelaide city centre, Adelaide and about south of the municipal seat of Port Lincoln, South Australia, Port Linco ...

. A diversity of native flora and fauna species have been recorded on the island.

Flora and fauna

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 ...

s have been observed nesting on Rabbit Island, but the size and status of the colony is unknown. Species of conservation concern listed under the ''

National Parks and Wildlife Act 1972 Protected areas of South Australia, consisting of protected areas located within South Australia and its immediate onshore waters and which are managed by South Australian Government agencies. As of 2018, South Australia contained 359 separat ...

'' which have been recorded on the island include the

fairy tern The fairy tern (''Sternula nereis'') is a small tern which is native to the southwestern Pacific. It is listed as " Vulnerable" by the IUCN and the New Zealand subspecies is "Critically Endangered". Fairy terns live in colonies along the coastli ...

(listed as endangered) and the

bush stone-curlew The bush stone-curlew or bush thick-knee (''Burhinus grallarius'', obsolete name ''Burhinus magnirostris'') is a large, ground-dwelling bird Endemism, endemic to Australia. Its favoured habitat is open plains and woodlands, where it stalks slowly ...

Cape Barren goose The Cape Barren goose (''Cereopsis novaehollandiae''), sometimes also known as the pig goose, is a species of goose endemic to southern Australia. It is a distinctive large, grey bird that is mostly terrestrial and is not closely related to oth ...

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 fea ...

and

rock parrot The rock parrot (''Neophema petrophila'') is a species of Neophema, grass parrot native to Australia. Described by John Gould in 1841, it is a small parrot long and weighing with predominantly olive (color), olive-brown upperparts and more yell ...

(listed as rare).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rabbit Island (South Australia) Islands of South Australia Spencer Gulf Penguin colonies

Flora and fauna

See also

References