Spencer Gulf Important Bird Area
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The Spencer Gulf Important Bird Area comprises a strip of coastal land extending for about along the north-eastern coast of the
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 ...
in
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 is considered to be an important site for
wader 245px, A flock of Red_knot.html" ;"title="Dunlins and Red knot">Dunlins and Red knots Waders or shorebirds are birds of the order Charadriiformes commonly found wikt:wade#Etymology 1, wading along shorelines and mudflats in order to foraging, ...
s, or shorebirds.


Description

The
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 Int ...
(IBA) extends from Tickera Point (also called Myponie Point) immediately north of
Wallaroo Wallaroo is a common name for several species of moderately large macropods, intermediate in size between the kangaroos and the wallabies, that are native to Australia and Papua New Guinea. The word "wallaroo" is from the Dharug ''walaru'' wi ...
in the south to Ward Point immediately west of
Port Germein Port Germein is a small sea-side town in the Australian state of South Australia located about north of the state capital of Adelaide and about north of the city of Port Pirie on the eastern side of South Australia's Spencer Gulf overlooking G ...
in the north. It also passes close to
Port Broughton Port Broughton is a small South Australian town located at the northern extent of the Yorke Peninsula on the east coast of Spencer Gulf. It is situated about 170 km north-west of Adelaide, and 56 km south of Port Pirie. At the , the to ...
, and the industrial city of
Port Pirie Port Pirie is a small city on the east coast of the Spencer Gulf in South Australia, north of the state capital, Adelaide. Port Pirie is the largest city and the main retail centre of the Mid North region of South Australia. The city has an ex ...
. About , or over 40%, of the IBA consists of
intertidal The intertidal zone or foreshore is the area above water level at low tide and underwater at high tide; in other words, it is the part of the littoral zone within the tidal range. This area can include several types of habitats with various sp ...
sand and
mudflat Mudflats or mud flats, also known as tidal flats or, in Ireland, slob or slobs, are coastal wetlands that form in intertidal areas where sediments have been deposited by tides or rivers. A global analysis published in 2019 suggested that tidal ...
s used by waders as feeding habitat. There are also extensive areas of
mangrove A mangrove is a shrub or tree that grows mainly in coastal saline water, saline or brackish water. Mangroves grow in an equatorial climate, typically along coastlines and tidal rivers. They have particular adaptations to take in extra oxygen a ...
s and
salt marsh A salt marsh, saltmarsh or salting, also known as a coastal salt marsh or a tidal marsh, is a coastal ecosystem in the upper coastal intertidal zone between land and open saltwater or brackish water that is regularly flooded by the tides. I ...
es.


Criteria for nomination as an IBA

The site has been identified by
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 i ...
as an IBA because it supports over 1% of the world population of
red-necked stint The red-necked stint (''Calidris ruficollis'') is a small migratory wader. The genus name is from Ancient Greek ''kalidris'' or ''skalidris'', a term used by Aristotle for some grey-coloured waterside birds. The specific ''ruficollis'' is from La ...
s. Other waders and
waterbird A water bird, alternatively waterbird or aquatic bird, is a bird that lives on or around water. In some definitions, the term ''water bird'' is especially applied to birds in freshwater ecosystems, although others make no distinction from seabi ...
s sometimes recorded in significant numbers include
red knot The red knot or just knot (''Calidris canutus'') is a medium-sized shorebird which breeds in tundra and the Arctic Cordillera in the far north of Canada, Europe, and Russia. It is a large member of the ''Calidris'' sandpipers, second only to the ...
s,
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,
banded stilt The banded stilt (''Cladorhynchus leucocephalus'') is a Bird migration#Short-distance and altitudinal migration, nomadic wader of the stilt and avocet family, Recurvirostridae, native to Australia. It belongs to the monotypic genus ''Cladorhync ...
s,
pied oystercatcher The pied oystercatcher (''Haematopus longirostris'') is a species of oystercatcher. It is a wading bird native to Australia and commonly found on its coastline. The similar South Island pied oystercatcher (''H. finschi'') occurs in New Zealand. ...
s, Australian shovelers and
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 ...
s. Chirruping wedgebills 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 ...
s have been recorded. A single sighting of an
orange-bellied parrot The orange-bellied parrot (''Neophema chrysogaster'') is a small parrot endemic (ecology), endemic to southern Australia, and one of only three species of parrot that bird migration, migrate. It was described by John Latham (ornithologist), John ...
was made in 1992.


Associated protected areas

While the IBA has no statutory status, it does overlap the following
protected area Protected areas or conservation areas are locations which receive protection because of their recognized natural or cultural values. Protected areas are those areas in which human presence or the exploitation of natural resources (e.g. firewood ...
declared by the
South Australian government The Government of South Australia, also referred to as the South Australian Government or the SA Government, is the executive branch of the state of South Australia. It is modelled on the Westminster system, meaning that the highest ranking mem ...
- Heritage Agreement No. HA1096, an allotment of privately owned land sized at .


See also

* List of birds of South Australia


References

Important Bird Areas of South Australia Spencer Gulf {{SouthAustralia-geo-stub