Casuarius casuarius -upper body -captive-8a-2c

The Paluma Important Bird Area consists of the southernmost section of the Wet Tropics

World Heritage Site A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for h ...

of north Queensland, Australia.

Description

The geology of the 578 km² site is dominated by

granite Granite () is a coarse-grained ( phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies under ...

and

metamorphic rock Metamorphic rocks arise from the transformation of existing rock to new types of rock in a process called metamorphism. The original rock ( protolith) is subjected to temperatures greater than and, often, elevated pressure of or more, caus ...

s, forming a rugged mountainous landscape covered by

tropical rainforest Tropical rainforests are rainforests that occur in areas of tropical rainforest climate in which there is no dry season – all months have an average precipitation of at least 60 mm – and may also be referred to as ''lowland equa ...

and patches of wet sclerophyll forest. Most of it lies over 800 m above sea level. Much of the site has been selectively logged, though the ecological integrity of the area is still largely intact. It supports almost all the high altitude rainforest bird species

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found else ...

to Australia's wet tropics, and could serve as an important climate change refuge.BirdLife International. (2011). Important Bird Areas factsheet: Paluma. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 14/09/2011.

Birds

The site has been identified by BirdLife International as an Important Bird Area (IBA) because it is a southern outlier for many species and contains a significant population of the vulnerable

southern cassowary The southern cassowary (''Casuarius casuarius''), also known as double-wattled cassowary, Australian cassowary or two-wattled cassowary, is a large flightless black bird. It is one of the three living species of cassowary, alongside the dwarf c ...

. It also supports populations of

bush stone-curlew The bush stone-curlew or bush thick-knee, also known as the Iben bird (''Burhinus grallarius'', obsolete name ''Burhinus magnirostris'') is a large, ground-dwelling bird endemic to Australia. Its favoured habitat is open plains and woodlands, whe ...

s, tooth-billed and

golden bowerbird The golden bowerbird (''Prionodura newtoniana'') is a species of bird in the family Ptilonorhynchidae, the bowerbirds. It is endemic to Queensland in Australia, where it is limited to the Atherton region. Distribution This species has a patc ...

lovely fairywren The lovely fairywren (''Malurus amabilis''), or lovely wren, is a species of bird in the Australasian wren family, Maluridae. It is endemic to northeastern Australia. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical dry forest and subtropic ...

s, Macleay's, white-gaped,

yellow Yellow is the color between green and orange on the spectrum of light. It is evoked by light with a dominant wavelength of roughly 575585 nm. It is a primary color in subtractive color systems, used in painting or color printing. In the ...

, bridled and

yellow-spotted honeyeater The yellow-spotted honeyeater (''Meliphaga notata'') is a species of bird in the family Meliphagidae. It is also known as the lesser lewin. The bird is endemic to northern Queensland. The bird's common name refers to the yellow patch that membe ...

s, fernwrens, mountain thornbills, chowchillas, Bower's shrike-thrushes, pied monarchs, white-browed and

pale-yellow robin The pale-yellow robin (''Tregellasia capito'') is a species of passerine bird in the family Petroicidae. It is endemic to eastern Australia. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests. It is a nondescript bird with grey ...

s, and Victoria's riflebirds.

Other animals

As with birds the IBA forms the southernmost extent of distribution for many other endemic animals, including the

green ringtail possum The green ringtail possum (''Pseudochirops archeri'') is a species of ringtail possum found only in northern Australia. This makes it unique in its genus, all other members of which are found in New Guinea or nearby islands. The green ringtail po ...

, the

limbless snake-tooth skink The limbless snake-tooth skink (''Coeranoscincus frontalis'') is a species of skink. It is endemic to north-eastern Queensland, Australia. It is a large, fossorial skink that occurs in the rainforest of coastal ranges and lowlands. ''Coeranosci ...

, Boyd's forest dragon, the four-fingered shade skink, and 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 ...

waterfall frog The Australian waterfall frog or torrent treefrog (''Ranoidea nannotis'') is a species of tree frog native to Far North Queensland, Australia. The common name "waterfall frog" is indicative of its habitat of moist, rocky streams, and is often fo ...

References

Important Bird Areas of Queensland North Queensland {{NorthQueensland-geo-stub