Erythrura gouldiae -Frankfurt Zoo -black headed-8a-3cp

The Yinberrie Hills Important Bird Area comprise some 1050 km² of rocky,

tropical savanna Tropical and subtropical grasslands, savannas, and shrublands is a terrestrial biome defined by the World Wide Fund for Nature. The biome is dominated by grass and/or shrubs located in semi-arid to semi-humid climate regions of subtropical and t ...

covered, wooded hills in the lower

Top End The Top End of Australia's Northern Territory is a geographical region encompassing the northernmost section of the Northern Territory, which aside from the Cape York Peninsula is the northernmost part of the Australian continent. It covers a ra ...

of the

Northern Territory The Northern Territory (commonly abbreviated as NT; formally the Northern Territory of Australia) is an Australian territory in the central and central northern regions of Australia. The Northern Territory shares its borders with Western Aust ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...

. They lie 45 km north of the town of

Katherine Katherine, also spelled Catherine, and other variations are feminine names. They are popular in Christian countries because of their derivation from the name of one of the first Christian saints, Catherine of Alexandria. In the early Christ ...

, and about the same distance south of Pine Creek. The site is important for

Gouldian finch The Gouldian finch (''Chloebia gouldiae''), also known as the Lady Gouldian finch, Gould's finch or the rainbow finch, is a colourful passerine bird that is native to Australia. Taxonomy The Gouldian finch was described by British ornithologi ...

es.

Description

The site is bounded by

Nitmiluk National Park Nitmiluk National Park is in the Northern Territory of Australia, 244 km southeast of Darwin, and 23 km northeast of the town of Katherine, around a series of gorges on the Katherine River and Edith Falls. Previously named Katherine ...

and the

Arnhem Land Plateau Arnhem Land is a historical region of the Northern Territory of Australia, with the term still in use. It is located in the north-eastern corner of the territory and is around from the territory capital, Darwin. In 1623, Dutch East India Compan ...

in the east. It consists of rolling hills with thin, sandy loam soils overlaid by angular

cobbles Cobblestone is a natural building material based on cobble-sized stones, and is used for pavement roads, streets, and buildings. Setts, also called Belgian blocks, are often casually referred to as "cobbles", although a sett is distinct f ...

. The hills are covered by smooth-barked

eucalypt Eucalypt is a descriptive name for woody plants with capsule fruiting bodies belonging to seven closely related genera (of the tribe Eucalypteae) found across Australasia: ''Eucalyptus'', ''Corymbia'', ''Angophora'', '' Stockwellia'', ''Allosyn ...

s with an understorey of native

grass Poaceae () or Gramineae () is a large and nearly ubiquitous family of monocotyledonous flowering plants commonly known as grasses. It includes the cereal grasses, bamboos and the grasses of natural grassland and species cultivated in lawns a ...

es. They are drained by a network of ephemeral streams which retain water through the

dry season The dry season is a yearly period of low rainfall, especially in the tropics. The weather in the tropics is dominated by the tropical rain belt, which moves from the northern to the southern tropics and back over the course of the year. The ...

in small, scattered pools. Mean annual rainfall in the area is about 1000 mm, falling mainly from December to March. Key features of the habitat for the finches are that the lack of grazing, and few extensive hot fires, allow native grasses to seed; the persistent waterholes provide drinking water; the cavity-bearing trees provide nesting sites; and the perennial grasses on the adjacent lowlands provide seed during the

wet season The wet season (sometimes called the Rainy season) is the time of year when most of a region's average annual rainfall occurs. It is the time of year where the majority of a country's or region's annual precipitation occurs. Generally, the sea ...

. Land tenure is primarily Aboriginal freehold land held by the Barnjarn Aboriginal Corporation and Wagiman Aboriginal Land Trust.

Birds

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 Inte ...

(IBA) 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 ...

principally because it is home to a population of

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 ...

es. It also supports chestnut-backed buttonquails,

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 ...

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 depictio ...

northern rosella The northern rosella (''Platycercus venustus''), formerly known as Brown's rosella or the smutty rosella, is a species of parrot native to northern Australia, ranging from the Gulf of Carpentaria and Arnhem Land to the Kimberley. It was describ ...

hooded parrot The hooded parrot (''Psephotellus dissimilis'') is a species of parrot native to the Northern Territory in Australia. It is found in savannah and open woodland and is one of two extant species in its genus that breed in termite mounds. It has ...

s, 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 ...

s, masked and

long-tailed finch The long-tailed finch (''Poephila acuticauda'') is a common species of estrildid finch found in northern Australia, from the Kimberley region to the Gulf of Carpentaria. It is a predominantly fawn-coloured bird with a pale grey head and promine ...

es, and silver-crowned friarbirds. Other birds occasionally recorded from the IBA include the

Australasian bittern The Australasian bittern (''Botaurus poiciloptilus''), also known as the brown bittern or matuku hūrepo, and also nicknamed the "bunyip bird", is a large bird in the heron family Ardeidae. A secretive bird with a distinctive booming call, it is ...

partridge pigeon The partridge pigeon (''Geophaps smithii'') is a species of bird in the family Columbidae. It is endemic to Australia. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical dry shrubland and subtropical or tropical dry lowland grassland. It is threate ...

yellow-rumped munia The yellow-rumped mannikin (''Lonchura flaviprymna'') also known as the yellow-rumped munia, is a species of estrildid finch found in the eastern Kimberley region and north-west Northern Territory, Australia. It has an estimated global extent of ...

and the northern subspecies of the crested shrike-tit.

References

Important Bird Areas of the Northern Territory Tropical and subtropical grasslands, savannas, and shrublands Mountains of the Northern Territory {{NorthernTerritory-geo-stub