The Milingimbi Islands Important Bird Area comprises 94 km² of land in the Milingimbi, or Crocodile Islands

Crocodile Islands

The Crocodile Islands are a group of islands belonging to the Northern Territory of Australia. They are located off the coast of Arnhem Land. One of the main islands in the group is Milingimbi Island, with other large islands including Mooroongga, Yabooma, Gananggaringur and Crocodile Islands...

 group, of the Northern Territory

Northern Territory

The Northern Territory is a federal territory of Australia, occupying much of the centre of the mainland continent, as well as the central northern regions...

 of 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...

. The area is traditionally owned Aboriginal

Australian Aborigines

Australian Aborigines , also called Aboriginal Australians, from the latin ab originem , are people who are indigenous to most of the Australian continentthat is, to mainland Australia and the island of Tasmania...

 land. The mudflats are an important staging site for migratory

Bird migration

Bird migration is the regular seasonal journey undertaken by many species of birds. Bird movements include those made in response to changes in food availability, habitat or weather. Sometimes, journeys are not termed "true migration" because they are irregular or in only one direction...

 wader

Wader

Waders, called shorebirds in North America , are members of the order Charadriiformes, excluding the more marine web-footed seabird groups. The latter are the skuas , gulls , terns , skimmers , and auks...

s, or shorebirds.

Description

The islands lie close to the northern coast of Arnhem Land

Arnhem Land

The Arnhem Land Region is one of the five regions of the Northern Territory of Australia. It is located in the north-eastern corner of the territory and is around 500 km from the territory capital Darwin. The region has an area of 97,000 km² which also covers the area of Kakadu National...

 in Castlereagh Bay, not far from the mouth of the Glyde River. The IBA includes the small islands of Darbada, Yabooma, Crocodile, Gananggarngur and Mooroongga, as well as the coastal fringe of Milingimbi Island

Milingimbi Island

Milingimbi Island is an island off the coast of Arnhem Land, Northern Territory, Australia. It is located approximately 500 km east of Darwin and 250 km west of Nhulunbuy. Its largest community is also called Milingimbi. The island is approximately half a kilometer off the mainland and forms part...

, and consists mainly of intertidal mudflat

Mudflat

Mudflats or mud flats, also known as tidal flats, are coastal wetlands that form when mud is deposited by tides or rivers. They are found in sheltered areas such as bays, bayous, lagoons, and estuaries. Mudflats may be viewed geologically as exposed layers of bay mud, resulting from deposition of...

s with fringing mangrove

Mangrove

Mangroves are various kinds of trees up to medium height and shrubs that grow in saline coastal sediment habitats in the tropics and subtropics – mainly between latitudes N and S...

s, saltmarsh

Salt marsh

A salt marsh is an environment in the upper coastal intertidal zone between land and salt water or brackish water, it is dominated by dense stands of halophytic plants such as herbs, grasses, or low shrubs. These plants are terrestrial in origin and are essential to the stability of the salt marsh...

 and chenopod

Chenopodium

Chenopodium is a genus of about 150 species of perennial or annual herbaceous flowering plants known as the goosefoots, which occur almost anywhere in the world. It is placed in the family Amaranthaceae in the APG II system; older classifications separate it and its relatives as Chenopodiaceae, but...

 shrubland

Shrubland

Shrubland, scrubland, scrub or brush is a plant community characterized by vegetation dominated by shrubs, often also including grasses, herbs, and geophytes. Shrubland may either occur naturally or be the result of human activity...

, with sandy beaches and dune

Dune

In physical geography, a dune is a hill of sand built by wind. Dunes occur in different forms and sizes, formed by interaction with the wind. Most kinds of dunes are longer on the windward side where the sand is pushed up the dune and have a shorter "slip face" in the lee of the wind...

s on exposed shores.

Birds

The land so described has been identified 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...

 (IBA) because it supports over 1% of the world populations of Grey-tailed Tattler

Grey-tailed Tattler

The Grey-tailed Tattler, Tringa brevipes , is a small shorebird.- Description :...

s and Pied Oystercatcher

Pied Oystercatcher

The Pied Oystercatcher, Haematopus longirostris, is a species of oystercatcher. It is a wading bird native to Australia and commonly found on its coastline. The similar South Island Pied Oystercatcher The Pied Oystercatcher, Haematopus longirostris, is a species of oystercatcher. It is a wading...

s, and large numbers of Eastern Curlews and Great Knot

Great Knot

The Great Knot, Calidris tenuirostris, is a small wader. It is the largest of the calidrid species.Their breeding habitat is tundra in northeast Siberia. They nest on the ground laying about four eggs in a ground scrape. They are strongly migratory wintering on coasts in southern Asia through to...

s. Other birds recorded on the islands in large numbers include Radjah Shelduck

Radjah Shelduck

The Raja Shelduck or Radjah Shelduck , also known as the Burdekin Duck in Australia, is a species of shelduck. Placed in the genus Tadorna, it differs markedly in external morphology, and mtDNA cytochrome b sequence data suggests its status should be reinvestigated...

s, Terek Sandpiper

Terek Sandpiper

The Terek Sandpiper is a small migratory Palearctic wader species, the only member of the genus Xenus.- Description and systematics :...

s, Bar-tailed Godwit

Bar-tailed Godwit

The Bar-tailed Godwit is a large wader in the family Scolopacidae, which breeds on Arctic coasts and tundra mainly in the Old World, and winters on coasts in temperate and tropical regions of the Old World...

s and Common Tern

Common Tern

The Common Tern is a seabird of the tern family Sternidae. This bird has a circumpolar distribution, breeding in temperate and sub-Arctic regions of Europe, Asia and east and central North America. It is strongly migratory, wintering in coastal tropical and subtropical regions. It is sometimes...

s. Chestnut Rail

Chestnut Rail

The Chestnut Rail is a species of bird in the Rallidae family. The Chestnut Rail is monotypical of its genus.It is found in Australia and Indonesia.Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical mangrove forests....

s are present on the islands.