The Three Hummocks Islands are a group of small

granite Granite ( ) is a coarse-grained (phanerite, phaneritic) intrusive rock, intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly coo ...

islands, with a collective area of 190 ha, lying off the east coast of

Arnhem Land Arnhem Land is a historical region of the Northern Territory of Australia. It is located in the north-eastern corner of the territory and is around from the territorial capital, Darwin, Northern Territory, Darwin. In 1623, Dutch East India Compa ...

’s

Gove Peninsula The Gove Peninsula is at the northeastern corner of Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory of Australia. The peninsula became strategically important during World War II when a Royal Australian Air Force base was constructed at what is now Gov ...

in the north-western

Gulf of Carpentaria The Gulf of Carpentaria is a sea off the northern coast of Australia. It is enclosed on three sides by northern Australia and bounded on the north by the eastern Arafura Sea, which separates Australia and New Guinea. The northern boundary ...

, in the

Northern Territory of Australia The Northern Territory (abbreviated as NT; known formally as the Northern Territory of Australia and informally as the Territory) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian internal territory in the central and central-northern regi ...

. They are important as a nesting site for

tern Terns are seabirds in the family Laridae, subfamily Sterninae, that have a worldwide distribution and are normally found near the sea, rivers, or wetlands. Terns are treated in eleven genera in a subgroup of the family Laridae, which also ...

Description

The partly vegetated islands lie south of Wanyanmera Point. They fall into two groups, with some unnamed rocky islets to the north, and some relatively larger islands, including Dudley Island, to the south. The islands are traditionally owned Aboriginal land and are part of the Laynhapuy

Indigenous Protected Area An Indigenous Protected Area (IPA) is a class of protected area used in Australia; each is formed by voluntary agreement with Indigenous Australians, and declared by Aboriginal Australians and Torres Strait Islander representative organisation ...

.BirdLife International. (2011). Important Bird Areas factsheet: Three Hummocks Island. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 2011-11-03.

Birds

The island group has been identified as an

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) 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 ...

because it supports large numbers of breeding

bridled tern The bridled tern (''Onychoprion anaethetus'')Sometimes the name is (wrongly?) spelled as ''S. anaestheta'', for instance in: is a seabird of the family Laridae. It is a bird of the tropical oceans. The scientific name is from Ancient Greek. Th ...

s as well as smaller numbers of other tern species. Estimated numbers of bridled terns nesting in the four years between 1993-1999 when surveys were made varied from 5000 to 50,000. Roseate and

black-naped tern The black-naped tern (''Sterna sumatrana'') is an oceanic tern mostly found in tropical and subtropical areas of the Indian Ocean and western Pacific Ocean. They are rarely found inland. It was described from the islands around Sumatra. It is mos ...

s nest irregularly on the northern islets while black-naped, bridled and roseate terns have been recorded nesting on Dudley Island.

References

{{Islands of the Northern Territory, state=collapsed Important Bird Areas of the Northern Territory Islands of the Northern Territory Arnhem Land Gulf of Carpentaria