Paluma Important Bird Area
Encyclopedia
Wet Tropics of Queensland
The Wet Tropics of Queensland World Heritage Site consists of approximately 8,940 km² of Australian wet tropical forests growing along the north-east Queensland portion of the Great Dividing Range, stretching from Townsville to Cooktown, running in close parallel to the Great Barrier Reef...
World Heritage Site
World Heritage Site
A UNESCO World Heritage Site is a place that is listed by the UNESCO as of special cultural or physical significance...
of north Queensland
North Queensland
North Queensland or the Northern Region is the northern part of the state of Queensland in Australia. Queensland is a massive state, larger than most countries, and the tropical northern part of it has been historically remote and undeveloped, resulting in a distinctive regional character and...
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
.
Description
The geology of the 578 km2 site is dominated by graniteGranite
Granite is a common and widely occurring type of intrusive, felsic, igneous rock. Granite usually has a medium- to coarse-grained texture. Occasionally some individual crystals are larger than the groundmass, in which case the texture is known as porphyritic. A granitic rock with a porphyritic...
and metamorphic rock
Metamorphic rock
Metamorphic rock is the transformation of an existing rock type, the protolith, in a process called metamorphism, which means "change in form". The protolith is subjected to heat and pressure causing profound physical and/or chemical change...
s, forming a rugged mountainous landscape covered by tropical rainforest
Tropical rainforest
A tropical rainforest is an ecosystem type that occurs roughly within the latitudes 28 degrees north or south of the equator . This ecosystem experiences high average temperatures and a significant amount of rainfall...
and patches of wet sclerophyll forest
Sclerophyll
Sclerophyll is the term for a type of vegetation that has hard leaves and short internodes . The word comes from the Greek sclero and phyllon ....
. Most of it lies over 800 m above sea level. Much of the site has been selectively logged, though the ecological integrity of the area is still largely intact. It supports almost all the high altitude rainforest bird species endemic to Australia’s wet tropics, and could serve as an important climate change refuge.
Birds
The site has been identified by BirdLife InternationalBirdLife International
BirdLife International is a global Partnership of conservation organisations that strives to conserve birds, their habitats and global biodiversity, working with people towards sustainability in the use of natural resources...
as an Important Bird Area
Important Bird Area
An Important Bird Area is an area recognized as being globally important habitat for the conservation of bird populations. Currently there are about 10,000 IBAs worldwide. The program was developed and sites are identified by BirdLife International...
(IBA) because it is a southern outlier for many species and contains a significant population of the vulnerable
Vulnerable species
On 30 January 2010, the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species identified 9694 Vulnerable species, subspecies and varieties, stocks and sub-populations.-References:...
Southern Cassowary
Southern Cassowary
The Southern Cassowary, Casuarius casuarius, also known as Double-wattled Cassowary, Australian Cassowary or Two-wattled Cassowary, is a large flightless black bird...
. It also supports populations of Bush Stone-curlew
Bush Stone-curlew
The Bush Stone-curlew or Bush Thick-knee is a large, ground-dwelling bird endemic to Australia...
s, Tooth-billed and Golden Bowerbird
Golden Bowerbird
The Golden Bowerbird, Prionodura newtoniana is a species of bowerbird found in the rainforests above 700m of Atherton, Queensland in Australia...
s, Lovely Fairywrens, Macleay's
Macleay's Honeyeater
The Macleay's Honeyeater, Xanthotis macleayanus, is a honeyeater endemic to Australia. Within Australia it has a limited distribution, occurring only in northern Queensland from Cooktown to the southern end of the Paluma Range. Its natural habitats are tropical dry forests and tropical moist...
, White-gaped
White-gaped Honeyeater
The White-gaped Honeyeater is a species of bird in the Meliphagidae family.It is endemic to Australia.Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests and subtropical or tropical mangrove forests....
, Yellow
Yellow Honeyeater
The Yellow Honeyeater is a species of bird in the Meliphagidae family.It is endemic to Australia.Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests and subtropical or tropical mangrove forests....
, Bridled
Bridled Honeyeater
The Bridled Honeyeater is a species of bird in the Meliphagidae family. It is endemic to Australia. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests and subtropical or tropical mangrove forests....
and Yellow-spotted Honeyeater
Yellow-spotted Honeyeater
The Yellow-spotted Honeyeater is a species of bird in the Meliphagidae family.It is endemic to Australia.Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests and subtropical or tropical mangrove forests....
s, Fernwren
Fernwren
The Fernwren is a species of bird in the Pardalotidae family. It is monotypic within the genus Oreoscopus....
s, Mountain Thornbill
Mountain Thornbill
The Mountain Thornbill is a species of bird in the Pardalotidae family. It is endemic to Australia.Its natural habitat is tropical rainforest on the Atherton tableland in north-east Queensland....
s, Chowchilla
Chowchilla
Chowchilla may refer to:* Chowchilla, a bird * Chowchilla, California, city in Madera County, California, USA** Chowchilla Airport** The kidnapping of a bus of children which took place in, and was named for, Chowchilla...
s, Bower's Shrike-thrush
Bower's Shrike-thrush
The Bower's Shrikethrush is a species of bird in the Colluricinclidae family.It is endemic to Australia.Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests and subtropical or tropical moist montanes....
es, Pied Monarch
Pied Monarch
The Pied Monarch is a species of bird in the monarch-flycatcher family Monarchidae. It is endemic to coastal Queensland in Australia...
s, White-browed
White-browed Robin
The White-browed Robin is a species of bird in the family Petroicidae. It is endemic to north-eastern Australia. Its natural habitats are forest, woodland and scrub, often near water...
and Pale-yellow Robin
Pale-yellow Robin
The Pale-yellow Robin is a species of passerine bird in the Petroicidae family. It is endemic to eastern Australia. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests. It is a non-descript bird with grey head and olive upperparts, white throat and yellow underparts. The sexes are...
s, and Victoria's Riflebird
Victoria's Riflebird
The Victoria’s Riflebird, Ptiloris victoriae also known as Duwuduwu to the local Aboriginal people, is a bird of paradise endemic to the Atherton Tableland region of northeastern Queensland, Australia where it resides year-round....
s.
Other animals
As with birds the IBA forms the southernmost extent of distribution for many other endemic animals, including the Green Ringtail PossumGreen Ringtail Possum
The Green Ringtail Possum is a species of ringtail possum found only in northern Australia. This makes it unique in its genus, all other members of which are found in New Guinea or nearby islands...
, the Limbless Snake-tooth Skink, Boyd's Forest Dragon
Boyd's Forest Dragon
Boyd's Forest Dragon is restricted to the rainforests of northern Queensland, Australia, from just north of Townsville to near Cooktown...
, the Four-fingered Shade Skink, and the endangered Waterfall Frog
Waterfall Frog
The Australian waterfall frog or torrent treefrog is a species of tree frog native to Far North Queensland, Australia. The common name of "waterfall frog" is indicative of its habitat of moist, rocky streams, and is often found along waterfalls within its range.-Physical description:The waterfall...
.