The Dunn Rock and

Lake King Lake King is a town in the eastern Wheatbelt region of Western Australia, from Perth along State Route 40 between Kelmscott and Ravensthorpe. As of 2016, the town had a population of 95. The 2011 census recorded both the population of the tow ...

Important Bird Area is a 759 km² irregularly shaped tract of land in the south-eastern wheatbelt region of

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 th ...

. It lies about 380 km south-east of

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...

and 250 km north-east of Albany.

Description

The boundaries of the

Important Bird Area An Important Bird and Biodiversity Area (IBA) is an area identified using an internationally agreed set of criteria as being globally important for the conservation of bird populations. IBA was developed and sites are identified by BirdLife Int ...

(IBA) are defined by the remnant native vegetation associated with Pallarup, Dunn Rock and Lake King Nature Reserves as well as with that on adjacent unallocated Crown Land. It is surrounded by land cleared for farming. The site is one of the largest remaining mallee remnants within the wheatbelt, containing

plant communities A plant community is a collection or association of plant species within a designated geographical unit, which forms a relatively uniform patch, distinguishable from neighboring patches of different vegetation types. The components of each plant co ...

that have largely been cleared elsewhere. It consists mainly of mallee, mallee-heath and salt pans, and receives around 400 mm of rain annually.BirdLife International.

Birds

The IBA contains core habitat for the

malleefowl The malleefowl (''Leipoa ocellata'') is a stocky ground-dwelling Australian bird about the size of a domestic chicken (to which it is distantly related). It is notable for the large nesting mounds constructed by the males and lack of parental ca ...

and supports a significant population of the species. Other birds for which the IBA is an important site include the Carnaby's cockatoo,

red-capped parrot The red-capped parrot (''Purpureicephalus spurius'') is a species of broad-tailed parrot native to southwestern Australia. It was described by Heinrich Kuhl in 1820, with no subspecies recognised. It has long been classified in its own genus o ...

western rosella The western rosella (''Platycercus icterotis''), or moyadong, is a species of parrot endemic to southwestern Australia. The head and underparts are bright red, and the back is mottled black; a yellow patch at the cheek distinguishes it from oth ...

regent parrot The regent parrot or rock pebbler (''Polytelis anthopeplus'') is a bird found in southern Australia. It has predominantly yellow plumage with a green tail. The bird is found primarily in eucalyptus groves and other wooded areas of subtropical s ...

blue-breasted fairywren The blue-breasted fairywren (''Malurus pulcherrimus''), or blue-breasted wren, is a species of passerine bird in the Australasian wren family, Maluridae. It is non-migratory and endemic to southern Western Australia and the Eyre Peninsula in So ...

purple-gaped honeyeater The purple-gaped honeyeater (''Lichenostomus cratitius'') is a species of bird in the family Meliphagidae. It is endemic to semi-arid southern Australia, where it inhabits Mallee, tall heath and associated low eucalypt woodland.Menkhorst, P., ...

and

western yellow robin The western yellow robin (''Eopsaltria griseogularis'') is a species of bird in the Australasian robin family, Petroicidae, native to Australia. Described by John Gould in 1838, the western yellow robin and its Australian relatives are not clos ...

.Birdata.

References

Notes

Sources

* * {{coord, 33, 14, 10, S, 119, 31, 19, E, display=title, region:AU-WA_type:landmark Wheatbelt (Western Australia) Important Bird Areas of Western Australia