The Nadgee to Mallacoota Inlet Important Bird Area comprises some 385 km² of coastal and subcoastal land at the south-eastern corner of the 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...

n continent, where Cape Howe

Cape Howe

Cape Howe is a coastal headland in Australia, forming the south-eastern end of the Black-Allen Line, the border between New South Wales and Victoria.-History:...

 marks the junction between the Tasman Sea

Tasman Sea

The Tasman Sea is the large body of water between Australia and New Zealand, approximately across. It extends 2,800 km from north to south. It is a south-western segment of the South Pacific Ocean. The sea was named after the Dutch explorer Abel Janszoon Tasman, the first recorded European...

 and Bass Strait

Bass Strait

Bass Strait is a sea strait separating Tasmania from the south of the Australian mainland, specifically the state of Victoria.-Extent:The International Hydrographic Organization defines the limits of the Bass Strait as follows:...

, as well as the eastern end of the state border between New South Wales and Victoria. It includes the whole of the 207 km² Nadgee Nature Reserve

Nadgee Nature Reserve

Nadgee Nature Reserve is a protected area on the far south coast of New South Wales, to the immediate south of Ben Boyd National Park. Its southern border is the state border with Victoria, where it abuts Croajingolong National Park. Of its total area of , is declared wilderness...

 in 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...

 with the adjoining 167 km² eastern section of the Croajingolong National Park

Croajingolong National Park

Croajingolong is a coastal national park in Victoria, Australia, 427 kilometres east of Melbourne.The name is thought to derive from the aboriginal word Krowathunkooloong, the name of the tribe inhabiting that area of Victoria.-Description:...

 in East Gippsland

East Gippsland

East Gippsland is the eastern region of Gippsland, Australia covering 31,740 square kilometres of Victoria. It has a population of 80,114....

, Victoria

Victoria (Australia)

Victoria is the second most populous state in Australia. Geographically the smallest mainland state, Victoria is bordered by New South Wales, South Australia, and Tasmania on Boundary Islet to the north, west and south respectively....

. The western border of the site is formed by Mallacoota Inlet

Mallacoota, Victoria

-External links:***...

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Description

The habitat contained in the IBA is mainly a mosaic of coastal heath

Heath

-Habitats:* Heath or heathland, low-growing woody vegetation, mostly consisting of heathers and related species* Heaths in the British National Vegetation Classification system...

 and eucalypt

Eucalypt

Eucalypts are woody plants belonging to three closely related genera:Eucalyptus, Corymbia and Angophora.In 1995 new evidence, largely genetic, indicated that some prominent Eucalyptus species were actually more closely related to Angophora than to the other eucalypts; they were split off into the...

 woodland

Woodland

Ecologically, a woodland is a low-density forest forming open habitats with plenty of sunlight and limited shade. Woodlands may support an understory of shrubs and herbaceous plants including grasses. Woodland may form a transition to shrubland under drier conditions or during early stages of...

, including patches of temperate rainforest, wet heath, sedge swamp

Swamp

A swamp is a wetland with some flooding of large areas of land by shallow bodies of water. A swamp generally has a large number of hammocks, or dry-land protrusions, covered by aquatic vegetation, or vegetation that tolerates periodical inundation. The two main types of swamp are "true" or swamp...

, 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...

 swales and dry 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...

. Its temperate coastal vegetation constitutes one of the least disturbed such areas on the mainland of Australia, giving it a nationally significant level of structural and floristic integrity. Among the plants are six rare and several restricted species, with 24 species at their southern distributional limit.

Birds

The site 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 the isolated southernmost population of the endangered Eastern Bristlebird

Eastern Bristlebird

The Eastern Bristlebird is a species of bird in the Bristlebird family Dasyornithidae. It is endemic to Australia. Its natural habitats are temperate forests, temperate shrubland, and temperate grassland...

, with an estimated size of 300 individuals, as well as a population of Pilotbird

Pilotbird

The Pilotbird is a species of bird in the Acanthizidae family. It is monotypic within the genus Pycnoptilus. The exact taxonomic placement of this species is disputed, as it bears some resemblance to the bristlebirds. The species is endemic to south east New South Wales and east Victoria in...

s. Other birds for which the IBA is important include Ground Parrot

Ground Parrot

The Eastern Ground Parrot of Australia is one of only five ground-dwelling parrots in the world, the others being its closest relatives, the Western Ground Parrot , the extremely rare Night Parrot , the somewhat closely related Antipodes Parakeet , and the unrelated highly...

s, Pied

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...

 and Sooty Oystercatcher

Sooty Oystercatcher

The Sooty Oystercatcher, Haematopus fuliginosus, is a species of oystercatcher. It is a wading bird native to Australia and commonly found on its coastline. It prefers rocky coastlines, but will occasionally live in estuaries....

s, Powerful

Powerful Owl

The Powerful Owl , also known as the Powerful Boobok, is a species of owl native to south-eastern and eastern Australia, the largest owl on that continent...

, Sooty and Masked Owl

Masked Owl

The Australian Masked Owl is a barn owl of Southern New Guinea and the non-desert areas of Australia.-Taxonomy:Described subspecies of Tyto novaehollandiae include:* T. n. calabyi I.J. Mason, 1983,...

s, Pink Robin

Pink Robin

The Pink Robin is a small passerine bird native to southeastern Australia. Its natural habitats are temperate forests and subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests. Like many brightly coloured robins of the Petroicidae family, it is sexually dimorphic...

s, Striated Fieldwren

Striated Fieldwren

The Striated Fieldwren or Calamanthus is a species of bird in the Acanthizidae family, endemic to Australia.-References:* BirdLife International 2004. . Downloaded on 25 July 2007....

s and Hooded Plover

Hooded Plover

The Hooded Dotterel or Hooded Plover is a species of bird in the Charadriidae family. It is endemic to southern Australia and Tasmania. There are two recognized subspecies, both of which are classifed as Endangered....

s.

Mammals

Mammals found in the area include Long-nosed Potoroo

Long-nosed Potoroo

The Long-nosed Potoroo is a species of Australian potoroo. It is listed as Endangered in Victoria , Vulnerable in Queensland and nationally , although the IUCN lists it as Lower Risk.At first glance the Long-nosed Potoroo with its...

s, Southern Brown Bandicoot

Southern Brown Bandicoot

The Southern Brown Bandicoot , also known as the Quenda from the local Noongar tongue from South Western Australia, is a short-nosed bandicoot found mostly in southern Australia....

s, Yellow-bellied glider

Yellow-bellied Glider

The Yellow-bellied Glider is an arboreal and nocturnal gliding possum that lives in a narrow range of native eucalypt forests down eastern Australia, reaching from northern Queensland to Victoria.-Habitat:...

s, Tiger Quoll

Tiger Quoll

The tiger quoll , also known as the spotted-tail quoll, the spotted quoll, the spotted-tailed dasyure or the tiger cat, is a carnivorous marsupial of the quoll genus Dasyurus native to Australia...

s and Dingo

Dingo

The Australian Dingo or Warrigal is a free-roaming wild dog unique to the continent of Australia, mainly found in the outback. Its original ancestors are thought to have arrived with humans from southeast Asia thousands of years ago, when dogs were still relatively undomesticated and closer to...

s.