Bird Island (Tasmania)

For other places with the same name, see Bird Island.

Bird Island is an island game reserve, with an area of 43.92 ha, in Bass Strait, south-eastern Australia. It is part of Tasmania’s Hunter Island Group which lies between north-west Tasmania and King Island. It is home to about 5,000 pairs of Short-tailed Shearwaters, the young of which are harvested annually, and about 3,000 pairs of Little Penguins.[1]

Fauna

The island forms part of the Hunter Island Group Important Bird Area.[2] As well as the shearwaters and penguins, other breeding seabirds and shorebirds include White-faced Storm-Petrel, Pacific Gull, Silver Gull and Sooty Oystercatcher. Reptiles include the Metallic Skink and abundant Tiger Snakes.[1]

References

  1. ^ a b Brothers, Nigel; Pemberton, David; Pryor, Helen; & Halley, Vanessa. (2001). Tasmania’s Offshore Islands: seabirds and other natural features. Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery: Hobart. ISBN 0-7246-4816-X
  2. ^ BirdLife International. (2011). Important Bird Areas factsheet: Hunter Island Group. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 2011-07-09.