Wyndham Important Bird Area

The Wyndham Important Bird Area comprises a 28 km2 tract of land in the north-east of the Kimberley region of Western Australia. The site lies in the Bastion Hills close to the town of Wyndham, a port on the West Arm of the Cambridge Gulf. It is an important site for Gouldian Finches.

Description

The site is characterised by gently sloping ranges, vegetated with tropical savanna woodlands and grasslands, with sandstone outcrops. The woodland has a high density of cavity-bearing old-growth eucalypts suitable as finch nest-sites; the grassland provides food for the birds; and the proximity of Wyndham provides reliable sources of drinking water. The area has a tropical monsoon climate with a mean minimum temperature of 17°C in July, a mean maximum of 40°C in November, with the mean annual rainfall of 780 mm falling mainly from November to March.[1]

Birds

The site has been identified as an Important Bird Area (IBA) by BirdLife International because it supports the largest known population of endangered Gouldian Finches. It also contains populations of, Northern Rosellas, White-gaped, Yellow-tinted and Bar-breasted Honeyeaters, Silver-crowned Friarbirds, Masked and Long-tailed Finches and Yellow-rumped Munias.[2]

References

  1. ^ BirdLife International. (2011). Important Bird Areas factsheet: Wyndham. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 2011-12-03.
  2. ^ "IBA: Wyndham". Birdata. Birds Australia. http://www.birdata.com.au/iba.vm. Retrieved 2011-12-02.