Sandy Island (Windy Harbour)

Sandy Island
Location of Sandy Island (Windy Harbour)
Flesh-footed shearwater in flight over the sea
The island is an important breeding site for flesh-footed shearwaters
For other uses, see Sandy Island.

Sandy Island is a 20 ha island lying about 5 km off the coast of Windy Harbour in south-west Western Australia. It is part of D'Entrecasteaux National Park and is an important breeding site for seabirds.

Description

The island is aligned north-west to south-east, about 800 m long by 300 m wide, flat and mainly sandy. There is an area of limestone and unconsolidated dune at the north-western end. The southern coastline is composed of migmatitic rocks. Most of the island is vegetated with Poa tussock grassland, pigface and Lobelia alata. Some 46 plant species have been recorded.[1] It should not be confused with the non-existent Sandy Island, which many maps show as being between Queensland and New Caledonia.

Birds

The island has been identified by BirdLife International as an Important Bird Area (IBA) because it supports a high proportion of the nesting population of flesh-footed shearwaters (with up to 300,000 breeding pairs) and has supported relatively high numbers of breeding fairy terns.[2] Other birds recorded breeding on the island are little shearwaters, sooty oystercatchers and silver gulls.[1]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 BirdLife International. (2011). Important Bird Areas factsheet: Sandy Island (Windy Harbour). Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 2011-10-03.
  2. ↑ "IBA: Sandy Island (Windy Harbour)". Birdata. Birds Australia. Retrieved 2011-10-03.

Coordinates: 34°51′59″S 116°02′22″E / 34.86639°S 116.03944°E / -34.86639; 116.03944


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