Walker Island (Southern Tasmania)

Maatsuyker Island and Walker Island

Walker Island is a 15 ha island in south-eastern Australia. It lies close to the northern end of Maatsuyker Island and is part of the Maatsuyker Island Group, lying close to the southern end of the south-western coast of Tasmania. It is also part of the Southwest National Park, and thus within the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Site.[1][2] The island is part of the Maatsuyker Island Group Important Bird Area, identified as such by BirdLife International because of its importance as a breeding site for seabirds.[3]

Fauna

Recorded breeding seabird and wader species are the little penguin (2-300 pairs), short-tailed shearwater (146,000 pairs), fairy prion (3000 pairs), common diving-petrel (500 pairs), silver gull and sooty oystercatcher. The island is a haul-out site for the Australian fur seal and an occasional breeding site for the New Zealand fur seal. The Tasmanian tree skink is present.[1]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 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. ↑ Small Southern Islands Conservation Management Statement 2002, Tasmania Parks and Wildlife Service, 2002, archived from the original on 2006-08-22, retrieved 2006-07-20
  3. ↑ BirdLife International. (2011). Important Bird Areas factsheet: Maatsuyker Island Group. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 09/08/2011.

Coordinates: 43°37′57″S 146°16′33″E / 43.63250°S 146.27583°E