Sunday Island (Exmouth Gulf)

Sunday Island
Location of Sunday Island (Exmouth Gulf)
A pair of roseate terns facing each other and calling
The island is an important nesting site for roseate terns

Sunday Island is a small island, lying about 15 km south-east of the Muiron Islands, in the Exmouth Gulf of north-western Australia.

Description

Sunday is a low, sand and limestone, 11 ha island vegetated mainly with beach spinifex, pigface and low shrubs. Other recorded plants include large pigweed, caperbush, limestone wattle and goat's foot. The average annual rainfall is about 300 mm. The island’s high conservation value is recognised by its inclusion in the Muiron Islands Marine Management Area.[1]

Birds

The island has been identified as an Important Bird Area (IBA) by BirdLife International because it supported about 2000 breeding pairs of roseate terns, well over 1% of the world population, when it was surveyed in 1997.[2]

References

  1. ↑ BirdLife International. (2011). Important Bird Areas factsheet: Sunday Island (Exmouth Gulf). Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 2011-10-26.
  2. ↑ "IBA: Sunday Island (Exmouth Gulf)". Birdata. Birds Australia. Retrieved 2011-10-25.

Coordinates: 21°42′17″S 114°25′08″E / 21.70472°S 114.41889°E / -21.70472; 114.41889


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