Boondelbah Island, also known as the Boondelbah Nature Reserve, is an uninhabited 14 ha island lying 2 km off the mouth of Port Stephens

Port Stephens

Port Stephens is a large natural harbour located about north-east of Sydney in New South Wales, Australia. It lies wholly within the Port Stephens Local Government Area although its northern shoreline forms the boundary between the Port Stephens and Great Lakes LGAs...

 on the coast of New South Wales

New South Wales

New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...

, Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

. It is one of two breeding sites of the nominate subspecies

Subspecies

Subspecies in biological classification, is either a taxonomic rank subordinate to species, ora taxonomic unit in that rank . A subspecies cannot be recognized in isolation: a species will either be recognized as having no subspecies at all or two or more, never just one...

 of the threatened Gould's Petrel

Gould's Petrel

Gould's Petrel is a species of seabird in the Procellariidae family. It is a small petrel, 30 cm long with a wingspan of about 70 cm. It is largely grey above and white below with a blackish crown and hindneck and a black M-shaped band across the wings and rump.The subspecies P. l...

 and, with the nearby Cabbage Tree Island

Cabbage Tree Island

Cabbage Tree Island, also known as the John Gould Nature Reserve, is an uninhabited island with an area of 300,000 m2 lying 1.4 km off the mouth of Port Stephens on the coast of New South Wales, Australia. It is named for the Cabbage-tree Palms which are a feature of the island’s rainforest...

 which hosts the principal colony, has been classified by BirdLife International

BirdLife International

BirdLife International is a global Partnership of conservation organisations that strives to conserve birds, their habitats and global biodiversity, working with people towards sustainability in the use of natural resources...

 as an Important Bird Area

Important Bird Area

An Important Bird Area is an area recognized as being globally important habitat for the conservation of bird populations. Currently there are about 10,000 IBAs worldwide. The program was developed and sites are identified by BirdLife International...

. Both Boondelbah and Cabbage Tree Islands are gazetted nature reserve

Nature reserve

A nature reserve is a protected area of importance for wildlife, flora, fauna or features of geological or other special interest, which is reserved and managed for conservation and to provide special opportunities for study or research...

s under the New South Wales National Parks and Wildlife Act, so protecting the islands’ habitat from land uses incompatible with nature conservation. Access is only permitted for scientific and conservation purposes.

Description

Boondelbah Island is a small, flat-topped, V-shaped island, surrounded by cliffs, about 600 m in length, by 400 m wide, with a maximum height of about 40 m. In contrast to rainforest-covered Cabbage Tree, Boondelbah is virtually treeless with the vegetation dominated by Mat Rush

Lomandra longifolia

Lomandra longifolia, commonly known as Spiny-head Mat-rush, Spiky-headed Mat-rush or Basket Grass is a perennial, rhizomatous herb found throughout eastern Australia. The leaves are 40 cm to 80 cm in long, and generally have a leaf of about 8mm to 12mm wide . It grows in a variety of soil...

 and Coastal Rosemary

Westringia fruticosa

Westringia fruticosa is a shrub that grows near the coast in eastern Australia. The flowers are white, hairy and have the upper petal divided into two lobes. They also have orange-to-purply spots on their bottom half....

, with tussocks

Tussock (grass)

Tussock grasses or bunch grasses are found as native plants in natural ecosystems, as forage in pastures, and as ornamental grasses in gardens....

 of Paroo Lily

Dianella caerulea

Dianella caerulea, commonly known as the Blue flax-lily, blueberry lily, or paroo lily, is a perennial herb of the family Xanthorrhoeaceae, subfamily Hemerocallidoideae, found across the eastern states of Australia and Tasmania. It is a herbaceous strappy perennial plant to a metre high, with dark...

 and Knobby Club Rush. Prickly Pear

Opuntia stricta

Opuntia stricta is a species of cactus from southern North America, Central America, the Caribbean, and northern South America. Common names include Erect Prickly Pear and Nopal Estricto ....

 covers much of the cliff tops.

Gould’s Petrel conservation management

Although the larger Cabbage Tree Island had been known for its breeding colony of Gould’s Petrels for many years, it was only in 1995 that a few breeding birds were found on Boondelbah. In order to establish a second colony, in February 1999 a hundred Gould’s Petrel chicks were translocated from Cabbage Tree to Boondelbah and placed in artificial nest box

Nest box

A nest box, also spelled nestbox is a man-made box provided for animals to nest in. Nest boxes are most frequently utilized for wild and domesticated birds, in which case they are also called birdhouses, but some mammalian species may also use them. Birdhouses are the most common types of nest...

es, with a further hundred being translocated in March 2000. Almost all the chicks fledged successfully.