Gillingarra Important Bird Area is an 83 km² tract of land in the 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 is located near Mogumber and Koogan on the former Midland Railway line. It includes the

nature reserve A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, or features of geological or ...

s of Gillingarra and Koodjee with a large area of privately owned farmland. It has been identified by BirdLife International as an Important Bird Area (IBA) because it supports up to 20 breeding pairs of the

endangered An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching and in ...

Carnaby's black-cockatoo which nest in marri trees and feed in native shrublands. It also supports populations of the

western corella The western corella (''Cacatua pastinator'') also known as the western long-billed corella, is a species of white cockatoo endemic to south-western Australia. Taxonomy Cacatuidae is one of three families of the large and diverse avian order Psi ...

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 spinebill The western spinebill (''Acanthorhynchus superciliosus'') is a honeyeater found in the heath and woodland of south-western Australia. Ranging between long, it weighs around . It has a black head, gray back and wings, with a red band behind its ...

and western yellow robin.

Description

The boundaries of the IBA are defined by areas of suitable nesting habitat and associated feeding habitat for the cockatoos. The site comprises isolated marri paddock trees that provide nesting sites for the cockatoos with a large area of intact proteaceous

heath A heath () is a shrubland habitat found mainly on free-draining infertile, acidic soils and characterised by open, low-growing woody vegetation. Moorland is generally related to high-ground heaths with—especially in Great Britain—a cooler a ...

that provide food sources for nesting birds. The area lies at an altitude of 205–240 m above sea level and has a

Mediterranean climate A Mediterranean climate (also called a dry summer temperate climate ''Cs'') is a temperate climate sub-type, generally characterized by warm, dry summers and mild, fairly wet winters; these weather conditions are typically experienced in the ...

.BirdLife International (2011) Important Bird Areas factsheet: Gillingarra. Downloaded from on 24/06/2011.

References

Wheatbelt (Western Australia) Important Bird Areas of Western Australia {{WesternAustralia-geo-stub