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Haystack Island
Haystack Island is an island located in Investigator Strait off the south coast of Yorke Peninsula in the Australian state of South Australia about south-west of Stenhouse Bay. Since 1972, it has been part of the Althorpe Islands Conservation Park. Description Haystack Island is about south-west of Stenhouse Bay. It is described as ‘a narrow wall of sheer cliffs, undermined, indented and marked by fresh scars and rockfalls’ and that ‘has been eroded to a series of tall lobes connected by thin necks of rock that narrow to an almost knife-edge ridge’. It is surrounded by a ‘fringing wave-cut reef’. The island is about long by a maximum width of about and with the tallest lobe having a height of . Its long axis is aligned in a north-west to south-east direction. Access is reported as best done in calm seas and that the summit ridge can be reached from the island’s east coast via a rubble cone of rubble, taking care when climbing the slope’s ‘loose an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Investigator Strait
Investigator Strait is a body of water in South Australia lying between the Yorke Peninsula, on the Australian mainland, and Kangaroo Island. It was named by Matthew Flinders after his ship, HMS ''Investigator'', on his voyage of 1801–1802. It is bordered by the Gulf St Vincent in the northeast. Discovery and exploration It was named Investigator’s Strait by Flinders on Monday 29 March 1802. Extent Investigator Strait is bounded by Yorke Peninsula to its north and by Kangaroo Island to its south. Flinders identified its boundaries with the following adjoining bodies of water - Gulf St Vincent and Backstairs Passage. The Strait’s boundary with Gulf St Vincent is the line from Troubridge Point on Yorke Peninsula to Cape Jervis on Fleurieu Peninsula. Its boundary with Backstairs Passage is the line from Cape Jervis on Fleurieu Peninsula to Kangaroo Head (west of Penneshaw) on Kangaroo Island. Flinders noted that Backstairs Passage is a body of water separate to Investi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tecticornia Australasica
''Tecticornia australasica'', also known as grey samphire, is found in intermittent patches across tropical coastal regions of Australia. External linksOnline Field guide to Common Saltmarsh Plants of Queensland {{Taxonbar, from=Q7692813 australasica Taxa named by Paul G. Wilson ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Islands Of South Australia
This is a list of selected Australian islands grouped by State or Territory. Australia has 8,222 islands within its maritime borders. Largest islands The islands larger than are: * Tasmania (Tas) ; * Melville Island, Northern Territory (NT), ; * Kangaroo Island, South Australia (SA), ; * Groote Eylandt (NT), ; * Bathurst Island (NT), ; * Fraser Island, Queensland (Qld), ; * Flinders Island (Tas), ; * King Island (Tas), ; and * Mornington Island (Qld), . New South Wales * Amherst Island, in Lake Mummuga * Bare Island, near the north headland of Botany Bay * Belowla Island, off Kioloa Beach * Bird Island, located near Budgewoi, east of the Central Coast * Boondelbah Island, at the mouth of Port Stephens * Brisbane Water: ** Pelican Island ** Riley's Island ** St Hubert's Island (largely artificial, created by raising an inter-tidal wetland above high water level) * Broughton Island, located north of Port Stephens * Broulee Island, located off the coast at Broulee ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
White-bellied Sea Eagle
The white-bellied sea eagle (''Haliaeetus leucogaster''), also known as the white-breasted sea eagle, is a large diurnal bird of prey in the family Accipitridae. Originally described by Johann Friedrich Gmelin in 1788, it is closely related to Sanford's sea eagle of the Solomon Islands, and the two are considered a superspecies. A distinctive bird, the adult white-bellied sea eagle has a white head, breast, under-wing coverts and tail. The upper parts are grey and the black under-wing flight feathers contrast with the white coverts. The tail is short and wedge-shaped as in all ''Haliaeetus'' species. Like many raptors, the female is slightly larger than the male, and can measure up to long with a wingspan of up to , and weigh . Immature birds have brown plumage, which is gradually replaced by white until the age of five or six years. The call is a loud goose-like honking. Resident from India and Sri Lanka through Southeast Asia to Australia on coasts and major waterways, the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Midden
A midden (also kitchen midden or shell heap) is an old dump for domestic waste which may consist of animal bone, human excrement, botanical material, mollusc shells, potsherds, lithics (especially debitage), and other artifacts and ecofacts associated with past human occupation. These features provide a useful resource for archaeologists who wish to study the diets and habits of past societies. Middens with damp, anaerobic conditions can even preserve organic remains in deposits as the debris of daily life are tossed on the pile. Each individual toss will contribute a different mix of materials depending upon the activity associated with that particular toss. During the course of deposition sedimentary material is deposited as well. Different mechanisms, from wind and water to animal digs, create a matrix which can also be analysed to provide seasonal and climatic information. In some middens individual dumps of material can be discerned and analysed. Shells A shell mi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pacific Gull
The Pacific gull (''Larus pacificus'') is a very large gull, native to the coasts of Australia. It is moderately common between Carnarvon in the west, and Sydney in the east, although it has become scarce in some parts of the south-east, as a result of competition from the kelp gull, which has "self-introduced" since the 1940s. Much larger than the ubiquitous silver gull, and nowhere near as common, Pacific gulls are usually seen alone or in pairs, loafing around the shoreline, steadily patrolling high above the edge of the water, or (sometimes) zooming high on the breeze to drop a shellfish or sea urchin onto rocks. Diet The gulls' diet consists of a number various fish species and invertebrates. They frequently consume crabs, most often the species ''Ovalipes australiensis'' and ''Paragrapsus gaimardii.'' They also commonly eat '' Platycephalus bassensis'' (sand flatheads) and cephalapods, both of which are sourced from their regular consumption of waste from fish which hav ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
White-faced Storm Petrel
The white-faced storm petrel (''Pelagodroma marina''), also known as white-faced petrel is a small seabird of the austral storm petrel family Oceanitidae. It is the only member of the monotypic genus ''Pelagodroma''. Description The white-faced storm petrel is in length with a wingspan. It has a pale brown to grey back, rump and wings with black flight feathers. It is white below, unlike other north Atlantic petrels, and has a white face with a black eye mask like a phalarope. Its plumage makes it one of the easier petrels to identify at sea. Behaviour The white-faced storm petrel is strictly pelagic outside the breeding season, and this, together with its often-remote breeding sites, makes this petrel a difficult bird to see from land. Only in severe storms might this species be pushed into headlands. There have been a handful of western Europe records from France, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands. It has a direct gliding flight and will patter on the water surface as i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vertebrate
Vertebrates () comprise all animal taxa within the subphylum Vertebrata () ( chordates with backbones), including all mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and fish. Vertebrates represent the overwhelming majority of the phylum Chordata, with currently about 69,963 species described. Vertebrates comprise such groups as the following: * jawless fish, which include hagfish and lampreys * jawed vertebrates, which include: ** cartilaginous fish (sharks, rays, and ratfish) ** bony vertebrates, which include: *** ray-fins (the majority of living bony fish) *** lobe-fins, which include: **** coelacanths and lungfish **** tetrapods (limbed vertebrates) Extant vertebrates range in size from the frog species ''Paedophryne amauensis'', at as little as , to the blue whale, at up to . Vertebrates make up less than five percent of all described animal species; the rest are invertebrates, which lack vertebral columns. The vertebrates traditionally include the hagfish, which do no ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Frankenia Pauciflora
''Frankenia pauciflora'', the common sea-heath or southern sea-heath, is an evergreen shrub native to southern Australia. It is part of the Frankenia genus of the Frankeniaceae family. It can be prostrate or may grow up to 0.5 m in height. Pink or white flowers are produced between June and February in its native range. It occurs in saline flats, salt marshes, or coastal limestone areas. Taxonomy The specific epithet ''pauciflora'', referring the Latin words ''paucus'', meaning ''few'', and ''florus'' meaning ''flower'', referring to the fact that the species produces few flowers. Varieties The currently recognised varieties are: *''F. p. ''var. ''fruticulosa'' (DC.) Summerh. *''F. p. ''var. ''gunnii'' Summerh. *''F. p. ''var. ''longifolia'' Summerh. *''F. p. ''var.'' pauciflora'' DC. Habitat ''Frankenia pauciflora'' is characterized as a halophyte and as such is found to localize in sandy soils, salt floats, salt marshes, and coastal limestones. The plant subsists in env ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Disphyma Crassifolium Subsp
''Disphyma'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Aizoaceae that are native to New Zealand, Australia and southern Africa. Plants in this genus are prostrate, annual or short-lived perennial shrubs with succulent leaves and daisy-like flowers arranged singly on the ends of shoots with petal-like staminodes, many stamens and usually five styles. Description Plants in the genus ''Disphyma'' are prostrate, annual plants or short-lived perennials with branches that root at nodes. The leaves are arranged alternately and fused at the base, succulent and round to more or less triangular in cross-section. The flowers are usually arranged singly, sometimes in pairs or three, on the ends of branches or on short side shoots, each flower on a pedicel up to long. The perianth is tube-shaped with five sepals, two larger and leaf-like and three smaller, slightly succulent and not leaf-like. There are many petal-like, purplish staminodes in two rows and many stamens in four or fiv ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Leucophyta
''Leucophyta'' is a plant genus which is endemic to Australia. The genus was first formally described by botanist Robert Brown in 1818. The sole species in the genus is ''Leucophyta brownii'', also known as cushion bush. In 1891, German botanist Otto Kuntze assigned a number of species to this genus in his publication ''Revisio Generum Plantarum'' but none of his name combinations have currency, those species being presently divided between the genera '' Balladonia'', '' Blennospora'', '' Calocephalus'' and '' Gnephosis''. ''Leucophyta brownii'' is a small, rounded shrub with tangled tomentose branchlets that give it a silvery appearance. Although it can grow up to a metre high, it is more usually 0.2 to 0.7 metres high. It produces flowers during summer (December to February in Australia), which are white-yellow globular heads and about 1 cm in diameter. The species is common in cultivation in Australia, with a selected dwarf form from Tasmania, known by the cultivar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nitraria Billardierei
''Nitraria billardierei'', commonly known as nitre bush or dillon bush, is a perennial shrub native to Australia. It is often found in saline areas or other areas which have been disturbed. This species produces flowers predominantly in spring, with small ovoid or oblong fruit (drupe) that are purple, red or golden. The fruit are edible, said to taste like salty grapes. They were eaten, sometimes whole, including the stone, by indigenous Australians such as the Wemba-Wemba. Fruit can also be made into jam or dried and stored. It is a broad and low shrub, up to high and 4 m wide. Nitre bush is found across all mainland states of Australia. The plant's spread and germination in areas of heavy clay soil is assisted by the fruit's consumption by emu The emu () (''Dromaius novaehollandiae'') is the second-tallest living bird after its ratite relative the ostrich. It is endemic to Australia where it is the largest native bird and the only extant member of the genus ''D ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
