The Prince Regent and Mitchell River Important Bird Area is a 7333 km² tract of land comprising several contiguous protected areas in the north-west

Kimberley region 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 and Tanami deserts in the region of the Pilbara, an ...

of northern Western Australia. It includes the Mitchell Plateau.

Description

The site consists of the Prince Regent, the

Mitchell River Mitchell River may refer to: Australia *Mitchell River (Queensland) *Mitchell River (Victoria) *Mitchell River (Western Australia) Canada *Mitchell River (Cross River) *Mitchell River (Quesnel River tributary) United States *Mitchell River (Mass ...

and

Lawley River National Park Lawley may refer to: Places * Lawley, Shropshire, England * Lawley, Gauteng, South Africa * Lawley Street railway station, in Birmingham, England * Mount Lawley, Western Australia ** Mount Lawley Senior High School Mount Lawley Senior High S ...

s, and the Camp Creek and Laterite Conservation Parks. The climate is monsoonal; the average annual rainfall of over 1200 mm is the highest in the north-west Kimberley, sustaining the richest patches of rainforest in the region. Because it has not been stocked with cattle, which damage woodland habitats, riverine vegetation and alluvial flats, it carries relatively high densities of key bird species. Much of the country is rugged, constituted of Wunaamin Miliwundi sandstones. The Mitchell Plateau is a bauxitic

laterite Laterite is both a soil and a rock type rich in iron and aluminium and is commonly considered to have formed in hot and wet tropical areas. Nearly all laterites are of rusty-red coloration, because of high iron oxide content. They develop by ...

plateau with '' Livistona'' palm forests. On the coast there are substantial areas of mangroves.BirdLife International. (2011). Important Bird Areas factsheet: Prince Regent and Mitchell River. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 23/09/2011.

Threats

Threats to the area's biodiversity come from uncontrolled bushfires, feral animals (especially

cats The cat (''Felis catus'') is a domestic species of small carnivorous mammal. It is the only domesticated species in the family Felidae and is commonly referred to as the domestic cat or house cat to distinguish it from the wild members of t ...

), and increasing numbers of wild cattle.

Birds

The site has been identified by

BirdLife International BirdLife International is a global partnership of non-governmental organizations that strives to conserve birds and their habitats. BirdLife International's priorities include preventing extinction of bird species, identifying and safeguarding ...

as an

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) because it supports the largest known population of the western

subspecies In biological classification, subspecies is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (morphology), but that can successfully interbreed. Not all species ...

of the partridge pigeon as well as

chestnut rail The chestnut rail (''Eulabeornis castaneoventris'') is a species of bird in the family Rallidae. It is the only species in the genus ''Eulabeornis''. It is found in the Aru Islands and northern Australia. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tr ...

white-quilled rock-pigeon The white-quilled rock pigeon (''Petrophassa albipennis'') is a dark brown rock pigeon with a white patch on its wing. It has distinctive pale lines across its face curving above and below its eye. It is a species of bird in the family Columbidae ...

s and rainbow pittas. It contains most of the world populations of black grasswrens and Kimberley honeyeaters. It also supports several species restricted to tropical savanna habitats, chestnut-backed buttonquails,

varied lorikeet The varied lorikeet (''Psitteuteles versicolor''), is a species of parrot in the family Psittacidae that is endemic to the northern coastal regions of Australia. It is the only species in the genus ''Psitteuteles''. Taxonomy The first depict ...

s, northern rosellas, white-gaped, yellow-tinted, bar-breasted and

banded honeyeater The banded honeyeater (''Cissomela pectoralis'') is a species of honeyeater in the family Meliphagidae with a characteristic narrow black band across its white underparts. It is endemic to tropical northern Australia. Taxonomy and systematics ...

silver-crowned friarbird The silver-crowned friarbird (''Philemon argenticeps'') is a species of bird in the family Meliphagidae. It is endemic to northern Australia. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical dry forest A forest is an area of land domi ...

sandstone shrike-thrush The sandstone shrikethrush (''Colluricincla woodwardi'') is a species of bird in the family Pachycephalidae. It is endemic to Australia. Alternate names for the sandstone shrikethrush include the brown-breasted shrike-thrush and sandstone thrush. ...

es, white-browed robins, canary white-eyes, masked and long-tailed finches.

Other animals

The area is one of only two in Australia that retains a largely intact

mammal Mammals () are a group of vertebrate animals constituting the class Mammalia (), characterized by the presence of mammary glands which in females produce milk for feeding (nursing) their young, a neocortex (a region of the brain), fur or ...

fauna. It contains populations of golden bandicoots, golden-backed tree rats, scaly-tailed possums,

monjon The monjon (''Petrogale burbidgei'') is the smallest species of rock-wallabies (''Petrogale'') and is found in north-west Australia. They are restricted to a small area of the Kimberley region and on nearby islands in the Bonaparte Archipelago. ...

s and Kimberley rock rats. The rich herpetofauna found in the many small rainforest patches includes endemic

reptile Reptiles, as most commonly defined are the animals in the class Reptilia ( ), a paraphyletic grouping comprising all sauropsids except birds. Living reptiles comprise turtles, crocodilians, squamates (lizards and snakes) and rhynchocephalians ( ...

s such as the

rough-scaled python The rough-scaled python (''Morelia carinata'') is a large-scaled python species endemic to Australia. No subspecies are currently recognized. Description The rough-scaled python is able to grow to around in total length. It has a triangular-sha ...

. There are several species of camaenid land snails.

References

{{coord, 15, 22, 45, S, 125, 25, 58, E, display=title, region:AU-WA_type:landmark Kimberley (Western Australia) Important Bird Areas of Western Australia Kimberley tropical savanna