The Sisters / (
Moriori: ''Rakitchu'')
[Government of New Zealand, Dept. of Conservation (1999) ]
Chatham IslandsConservation Management Strategy
Accessed on 2012-07-13. is a group of three islands located north of
Cape Pattison, Chatham Island. They are the northernmost members of the
Chatham Archipelago, located east of
New Zealand's South Island
The South Island, also officially named , is the larger of the two major islands of New Zealand in surface area, the other being the smaller but more populous North Island. It is bordered to the north by Cook Strait, to the west by the Tasman ...
.
The islands are:
*
Big Sister (''Rangitatahi'' proper
)
*
Middle Sister (''Te Awanui''
)
*
Little Sister
Fauna
The islands have the second largest breeding colony of the
northern royal albatross
The northern royal albatross or toroa, (''Diomedea sanfordi''), is a large seabird in the albatross family. It was split from the closely related southern royal albatross as recently as 1998, though not all scientists support that conclusion and ...
, and provide breeding sites for
Buller's albatross
Buller's albatross (''Thalassarche bulleri'') or Buller's mollymawk, is a small mollymawk in the albatross family.
It breeds on islands around New Zealand, and feeds in the seas off Australia and the South Pacific.
Taxonomy
Mollymawks are a ty ...
,
northern giant petrel
The northern giant petrel (''Macronectes halli''), also known as Hall's giant petrel, is a large predatory seabird of the southern oceans. Its distribution overlaps broadly, but is slightly north of, the similar southern giant petrel (''Macronec ...
,
fairy prion,
broad-billed prion
The broad-billed prion (''Pachyptila vittata'') is a small pelagic seabird in the shearwater and petrel family, Procellariidae. It is the largest prion, with grey upperparts plumage, and white underparts. The sexes are alike. It ranges from the ...
,
sooty shearwater,
common diving petrel
The common diving petrel (''Pelecanoides urinatrix''), also known as the smaller diving petrel or simply the diving petrel, is a diving petrel, one of four very similar auk-like small petrels of the southern oceans. It is native to South Atlant ...
,
grey-backed storm petrel
The grey-backed storm petrel (''Garrodia nereis'') is a species of seabird in the austral storm petrel family Oceanitidae. It is monotypic within the genus ''Garrodia''. It is found in Antarctica, Argentina, Australia, Chile, Falkland Islands, ...
,
white-faced storm petrel,
pitt shag
The Pitt shag (''Phalacrocorax featherstoni''), also known as the Pitt Island shag or Featherstone's shag is a species of bird in the family Phalacrocoracidae. It is endemic to Pitt Island. Its natural habitats are open seas and rocky shores. ...
,
subantarctic skua
The brown skua (''Stercorarius antarcticus''), also known as the Antarctic skua, subantarctic skua, southern great skua, southern skua, or hākoakoa (Māori), is a large seabird that breeds in the subantarctic and Antarctic zones and moves furth ...
,
red-billed gull
The red-billed gull (''Chroicocephalus novaehollandiae scopulinus''), also known as tarāpunga and once also known as the mackerel gull, is a native of New Zealand, being found throughout the country and on outlying islands including the Chatham ...
, and
white-fronted tern
The white-fronted tern (''Sterna striata''), also known as tara, sea swallow, black-billed tern, kahawai bird, southern tern, or swallow tail, was first described by Johann Friedrich Gmelin in 1789. A medium-sized tern with an all-white body inclu ...
.
The site has been identified 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 ...
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 ...
because it supports Buller's albatrosses and northern giant petrels.
A species of
stag beetle
Stag beetles are a family of about 1,200 species of beetles in the family Lucanidae, currently classified in four subfamilies.Smith, A.B.T. (2006). A review of the family-group names for the superfamily Scarabaeoidea (Coleoptera) with corrections ...
called ''
Geodorcus sororum
''Geodorcus sororum'' is a large flightless species of stag beetle in the family Lucanidae. It was discovered in 1973 by Mr. A. Wright on an expedition to Middle Sister Island/Te Awanui, one of The Sisters (New Zealand), The Sisters Islands/Ran ...
'' is endemic to the islands.
See also
*
List of islands of New Zealand
*
List of islands
This is a list of the lists of islands in the world grouped by country, by continent, by body of water
A body of water or waterbody (often spelled water body) is any significant accumulation of water on the surface of Earth or another plane ...
*
Desert island
A desert island, deserted island, or uninhabited island, is an island, islet or atoll that is not permanently populated by humans. Uninhabited islands are often depicted in films or stories about shipwrecked people, and are also used as stereot ...
References
Islands of the Chatham Islands
Uninhabited islands of New Zealand
Important Bird Areas of the Chatham Islands
Seabird colonies
{{OutlyingNZ-geo-stub