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Pelican Island (Kimberley Coast)
Pelican Island is an island off the Kimberley coast of Western Australia. The island is approximately off-shore with a total area of about . It is situated in the Joseph Bonaparte Gulf close to the Northern Territory border. It is an important habitat for many birds including the Australian darter, common greenshank, eastern reef egret The Pacific reef heron (''Egretta sacra''), also known as the eastern reef heron or eastern reef egret, is a species of heron found throughout southern Asia and Oceania. It occurs in two colour morphs with either slaty grey or pure white plumag ..., rufous night heron, brahminy kite, and sacred kingfisher. See also * References {{coord, 14, 46, 8, S, 128, 46, 32, E, display=title, region:AU_type:isle_source:GNS-enwiki, name=Yawajaba Island Islands of the Kimberley (Western Australia) ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Island
An island (or isle) is an isolated piece of habitat that is surrounded by a dramatically different habitat, such as water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, cays or keys. An island in a river or a lake island may be called an eyot or ait, and a small island off the coast may be called a holm. Sedimentary islands in the Ganges delta are called chars. A grouping of geographically or geologically related islands, such as the Philippines, is referred to as an archipelago. There are two main types of islands in the sea: continental and oceanic. There are also artificial islands, which are man-made. Etymology The word ''island'' derives from Middle English ''iland'', from Old English ''igland'' (from ''ig'' or ''ieg'', similarly meaning 'island' when used independently, and -land carrying its contemporary meaning; cf. Dutch ''eiland'' ("island"), German ''Eiland'' ("small island")). However, the spelling of the word ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kimberley (Western Australia)
The Kimberley is the northernmost of the nine regions of Western Australia. It is bordered on the west by the Indian Ocean, on the north by the Timor Sea, on the south by the Great Sandy Desert, Great Sandy and Tanami Desert, Tanami deserts in the region of the Pilbara, and on the east by the Northern Territory. The region was named in 1879 by government surveyor Alexander Forrest after Secretary of State for the Colonies John Wodehouse, 1st Earl of Kimberley. History The Kimberley was one of the earliest settled parts of Australia, with the first humans landing about 65,000 years ago. They created a complex culture that developed over thousands of years. Yam (vegetable), Yam (''Dioscorea hastifolia'') agriculture was developed, and rock art suggests that this was where some of the earliest boomerangs were invented. The worship of Wandjina deities was most common in this region, and a complex theology dealing with the transmigration of souls was part of the local people's r ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Western Australia
Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Australia is Australia's largest state, with a total land area of . It is the second-largest country subdivision in the world, surpassed only by Russia's Sakha Republic. the state has 2.76 million inhabitants percent of the national total. The vast majority (92 percent) live in the south-west corner; 79 percent of the population lives in the Perth area, leaving the remainder of the state sparsely populated. The first Europeans to visit Western Australia belonged to the Dutch Dirk Hartog expedition, who visited the Western Australian coast in 1616. The first permanent European colony of Western Australia occurred following the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Joseph Bonaparte Gulf
Joseph Bonaparte Gulf is a large body of water off the coast of the Northern Territory and Western Australia and part of the Timor Sea. It was named after Joseph Bonaparte, brother of Napoleon and King of Naples (1806-1808) and then Spain (1808-1813) by French explorer and naturalist Nicolas Baudin in 1803. It is also often referred to in Australia as the "Bonaparte Gulf". Description The Keep River and Victoria River drain into the gulf in the Northern Territory, the former close to the Western Australia - Northern Territory border. The Ord River, Pentecost River, Durack River, King River and the Forrest River drain into the Cambridge Gulf, another gulf within the southern part of the Joseph Bonaparte Gulf. The Legune (Joseph Bonaparte Bay) Important Bird Area lies at the south-eastern end of the gulf. The Bonaparte Basin is a large sedimentary basin underlying the gulf and a large part of the Timor Sea, deriving its name from the Joseph Bonaparte Gulf, which has several ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Northern Territory
The Northern Territory (commonly abbreviated as NT; formally the Northern Territory of Australia) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian territory in the central and central northern regions of Australia. The Northern Territory shares its borders with Western Australia to the west (129th meridian east), South Australia to the south (26th parallel south), and Queensland to the east (138th meridian east). To the north, the territory looks out to the Timor Sea, the Arafura Sea and the Gulf of Carpentaria, including Western New Guinea and other islands of the Indonesian archipelago. The NT covers , making it the third-largest Australian federal division, and List of country subdivisions by area, the 11th-largest country subdivision in the world. It is sparsely populated, with a population of only 249,000 – fewer than half as many people as in Tasmania. The largest population center is the capital city of Darwin, Northern Territory, Darwin. The archaeological hist ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Australian Darter
The Australasian darter or Australian darter (''Anhinga novaehollandiae'') is a species of bird in the darter family, Anhingidae. It is found in Australia, Indonesia, and Papua New Guinea. It weighs around 2.6 kg and spans 86–94 cm (34–37 in) in length. Taxonomy John Gould described the Australasian darter as ''Plotus novaehollandiae'' in 1847. Closely related to American (''Anhinga anhinga''), African (''Anhinga rufa''), and Oriental (''Anhinga melanogaster'') darters, the Australasian darter has been classed as a subspecies of the African or African plus Oriental darters. All four have also been classed as a single species. Examination of the leg bones indicates the three Old World species are more closely related to each other with the American species more divergent. Genetic analysis showed it differed from ''A. rufa'' to a degree equivalent to that between other separate species, and shifted consensus to treating the Australasian darter as a separate speci ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Common Greenshank
The common greenshank (''Tringa nebularia'') is a wader in the large family Scolopacidae, the typical waders. The genus name ''Tringa'' is the New Latin name given to the green sandpiper by Aldrovandus in 1599 based on Ancient Greek ''trungas'', a thrush-sized, white-rumped, tail-bobbing wading bird mentioned by Aristotle. The specific ''nebularia'' is from Latin ''nebula'' "mist". Like the Norwegian ''Skoddefoll'', this refers to the greenshank's damp marshy habitat. Relatives Its closest relative is the greater yellowlegs, which together with the spotted redshank form a close-knit group. Among them, these three species show all the basic leg and foot colours found in the shanks, demonstrating that this character is paraphyletic. They are also the largest shanks apart from the willet, which is altogether more robustly built. The greater yellowlegs and the common greenshank share a coarse, dark, and fairly crisp breast pattern as well as much black on the shoulders and back in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eastern Reef Egret
The Pacific reef heron (''Egretta sacra''), also known as the eastern reef heron or eastern reef egret, is a species of heron found throughout southern Asia and Oceania. It occurs in two colour morphs with either slaty grey or pure white plumage. The sexes are similar in appearance. Taxonomy The Pacific reef heron was formally described in 1789 by the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin in his revised and expanded edition of Carl Linnaeus's ''Systema Naturae''. He placed it with the herons, cranes and egrets in the genus '' Ardea'' and coined the binomial name ''Ardea sacra''. Gmelin based his description on the "Sacred heron" that had been described in 1785 by the English ornithologist John Latham in his multi-volume work ''A General Synopsis of Birds''. The naturalist Joseph Banks had provided Latham with a specimen of a white morph that had been collected on Tahiti. The Pacific reef heron is now placed with 12 other species in the genus ''Egretta'' that was introduce ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Brahminy Kite
The brahminy kite (''Haliastur indus''), formerly known as the red-backed sea-eagle in Australia, is a medium-sized bird of prey in the family Accipitridae, which also includes many other diurnal raptors, such as eagles, buzzards, and harriers. They are found in the Indian subcontinent, Southeast Asia, and Australia. They are found mainly on the coast and in inland wetlands, where they feed on dead fish and other prey. Adults have a reddish-brown body plumage contrasting with their white head and breast which make them easy to distinguish from other birds of prey. Taxonomy In 1760, French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson described and illustrated the Brahminy kite in the first volume of his ''Oiseaux'' based on a specimen collected in Pondicherry, India. He used the French name ''L'aigle de Pondichery''. The brahminy kite was included by the French polymath Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon in his ''Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux''. It was also illustrated in a hand-colo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sacred Kingfisher
The sacred kingfisher (''Todiramphus sanctus'') is a medium-sized woodland kingfisher that occurs in mangroves, woodlands, forests and river valleys in Australia, New Zealand and other parts of the western Pacific. Taxonomy The binomial name ''Halcyon sanctus'' was introduced by Nicholas Aylward Vigors and Thomas Horsfield in 1827 who described a sacred kingfisher zoological specimen from New Holland, Australia. Vigors and Horsfield compare it with ''Alcedo sacra'' described by Johann Friedrich Gmelin in 1788. Gmelin in turn based his description on John Latham's "Sacred King's Fisher" published in 1782. Latham described several varieties, one of which was illustrated in Arthur Phillip's ''The Voyage of Governor Phillip to Botany Bay'' published in 1789. The genus ''Halcyon'' is now split and the sacred kingfisher placed in the genus ''Todiramphus'' that had been erected by the French surgeon and naturalist René Lesson in 1827. The generic name is derived from the genus ''To ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
