Two Peoples Bay and Mount Manypeaks Important Bird Area
Encyclopedia
Albany, Western Australia
Albany is a port city in the Great Southern region of Western Australia, some 418 km SE of Perth, the state capital. As of 2009, Albany's population was estimated at 33,600, making it the 6th-largest city in the state....
in south-west Western Australia
Western Australia
Western Australia is a state of Australia, occupying the entire western third of the Australian continent. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Great Australian Bight and Indian Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east and South Australia to the south-east...
. It is an important site for the conservation of several rare and threatened birds.
Description
The Important Bird AreaImportant 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) contains a 50 km length of coastal heathland habitat. It encompasses the Two Peoples Bay
Two Peoples Bay Nature Reserve
Two Peoples Bay is a protected area east of Albany. The area is accessible by 2WD vehicles. The bay itself, including two small secluded beaches, faces due east and is protected from the Southern Ocean by a headland formed by the granite massif of Mount Gardiner...
, Mount Manypeaks, Arpenteur and Bald Island Nature Reserves
Bald Island
Bald Island is an island that is located in the Great Southern region of Western Australia. The island is offshore from Cheynes Beach and is a protected area which was declared a World Conservation Union Category IA nature reserve Bald Island is an island that is located in the Great Southern...
, together with Waychinicup National Park
Waychinicup National Park
Waychinicup National Park is a in Western Australia , southeast of Perth and east of Albany and extends as far Cheynes Beach near Bremer Bay. Facilities at the park include a camping area and bush toilet near the inlet of the Waychinicup River....
and adjacent unprotected land with suitable habitat. It has a temperate climate supporting dense shrubland
Shrubland
Shrubland, scrubland, scrub or brush is a plant community characterized by vegetation dominated by shrubs, often also including grasses, herbs, and geophytes. Shrubland may either occur naturally or be the result of human activity...
and heath
Heath
-Habitats:* Heath or heathland, low-growing woody vegetation, mostly consisting of heathers and related species* Heaths in the British National Vegetation Classification system...
land subject to occasional wildfire
Wildfire
A wildfire is any uncontrolled fire in combustible vegetation that occurs in the countryside or a wilderness area. Other names such as brush fire, bushfire, forest fire, desert fire, grass fire, hill fire, squirrel fire, vegetation fire, veldfire, and wilkjjofire may be used to describe the same...
s. It also contains a series of coastal wetlands, comprising Moates, Gardner and Angove Lake
Angove Lake
Angove Lake is a permanent freshwater lake in the Great Southern area of Western Australia.-Description:The lake is part of the Moates Lake System along with Moates Lake and Lake Gardner...
s, as well as Coffin Island
Coffin Island
Coffin Island is an island that is located in the Great Southern region of Western Australia. The island is offshore from Two Peoples Bay Nature Reserve and the island is also a protected area making up part of the reserve....
which, with Bald Island, supports seabird colonies.
Birds
The site has been identified as an IBA 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...
because it contains almost the entire population of Noisy Scrub-bird
Noisy Scrub-bird
The Noisy Scrub-bird is a species of bird in the Atrichornithidae family. It is endemic to Australia.-Distribution and habitat:...
s, a large proportion of Western Bristlebird
Western Bristlebird
The Western Bristlebird is a species of bird in the Dasyornithidae family.It is endemic to Australia.- Description :...
s and most of the western subspecies of Western Whipbird
Western Whipbird
The Western Whipbird is a passerine bird found in several scattered populations across southern Australia. It is predominantly olive green in colour....
s. It also supports over 1% of the world populations of Flesh-footed Shearwater
Flesh-footed Shearwater
The Flesh-footed Shearwater, Puffinus carneipes, is a small shearwater. Its plumage is black. It has pale pinkish feet, and a pale bill with a black tip. Together with the equally light-billed Pink-footed Shearwater, it forms the Hemipuffinus group, a superspecies which may or may not have an...
s and, probably, of Great-winged Petrel
Great-winged Petrel
The Great-winged Petrel or Grey-faced Petrel, Pterodroma macroptera, is a petrel. In New Zealand it is also known by its Māori name oi and as a muttonbird.- Taxonomy :...
s, as well as significant numbers of Short-billed Black Cockatoos, Australasian Bittern
Australasian Bittern
The Australasian Bittern , also known as the Brown Bittern, is found in south-western and south-eastern Australia, Tasmania, New Zealand, New Caledonia and Ouvea. Populations in Australia and New Zealand have declined in the 20th century.It is a large bittern, patterned and streaked brown, buff...
s, Western Rosella
Western Rosella
The Western Rosella Platycercus icterotis, less commonly known as the Stanley Rosella, Earl of Derby's parakeet or Yellow-cheeked parakeet, is the smallest species of rosella and is found in the South West of Australia. in Eucalypt forests and timbered areas. These are smallish parrots measuring ...
s, Red-capped
Red-capped Parrot
The Red-capped Parrot , also called the Pileated Parakeet , and King Parrot locally in Western Australia, is an Australian species of broad-tailed parrot related to the Rosellas.First described by German naturalist Heinrich Kuhl in 1820, from a collection in Albany,...
and Rock Parrot
Rock Parrot
The Rock Parrot , also known as the Rock Elegant, is a parrot which is endemic to coastal South Australia, southern Western Australia, and that continent's offshore islands, including Rottnest Island. It is a small, predominantly olive-green parrot...
s, Red-winged Fairywrens, Western Spinebill
Western Spinebill
The Western Spinebill, Acanthorhynchus superciliosus, is a honeyeater found in the heath and woodland of south-western Western Australia. It ranges between long, and weighs around . It has a black head, gray back and wings, with a red band behind its neck and from its throat to its breast. There...
s, Western Thornbill
Western Thornbill
The Western Thornbill is a species of bird in the Pardalotidae family.It is endemic to Australia.Its natural habitat is Mediterranean-type shrubby vegetation....
s, White-breasted Robin
White-breasted Robin
The White-breasted Robin is a species of bird in the Petroicidae family. It is endemic to the southwest of Western Australia. Unlike many other Australian robins, it lacks bright colours in its plumage, being a predominantly greyish bird with white underparts. Like many other Australian passerines...
s and Red-eared Firetail
Red-eared Firetail
The Red-eared Firetail is a species of estrildid finch found in the forests and coastal thickets of south-western Australia. It has an estimated global extent of occurrence of 20,000 - 50,000 km². The status of the species is evaluated as Least Concern.-References:...
s. Hooded Plover
Hooded Plover
The Hooded Dotterel or Hooded Plover is a species of bird in the Charadriidae family. It is endemic to southern Australia and Tasmania. There are two recognized subspecies, both of which are classifed as Endangered....
s are regularly seen. Mammals found in the IBA include Gilbert's Potoroo
Gilbert's Potoroo
Gilbert's Potoroo is an Australian marsupial, sometimes called a rat-kangaroo, that is critically endangered. It is described as pointed in the face and about the size of a rabbit. It lives in a restricted area on the southwest coast of Western Australia. Gilbert's Potoroos now exist on Bald...
s, Quokka
Quokka
The Quokka , the only member of the genus Setonix, is a small macropod about the size of a domestic cat. Like other marsupials in the macropod family , the Quokka is herbivorous and mainly nocturnal...
s, Western Ringtail Possum
Western Ringtail Possum
The Western Ringtail Possum or Ngwayir is a possum found in Western Australia, regarded as a subspecies of Common Ringtail Possum, or as a separate species.-Description:...
s, Honey Possum
Honey Possum
The honey possum or tait, its Native Australian name or noolbenger is a tiny Australian marsupial weighing just seven to eleven grams for the male, and eight to sixteen grams for the female—about half the weight of a mouse. Their physical size ranges from a body length of between 6.5 –...
s, Western Brush Wallabies
Western Brush Wallaby
The Western Brush Wallaby , also known as the Black-gloved Wallaby, is a species of wallaby found in southwestern Western Australia. The main threat towards it seems to be predation by the introduced Red Fox...
and Quendas.