The South Barnard Islands Important Bird Area comprises a group of two small islands and a sand islet, with a combined area of 15 ha, on the inner Great Barrier Reef

Great Barrier Reef

The Great Barrier Reef is the world'slargest reef system composed of over 2,900 individual reefs and 900 islands stretching for over 2,600 kilometres over an area of approximately...

, Far North Queensland

Far North Queensland

Far North Queensland, or FNQ, is the northernmost part of the Australian state of Queensland. The region, which contains a large section of the Tropical North Queensland area, stretches from the city of Cairns north to the Torres Strait...

, 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 group lies about 6 km off the coast and 26 km south-east of Innisfail

Innisfail, Queensland

Innisfail is a town located in the far north of the state of Queensland, Australia. It is the major township of the Cassowary Coast and is well renowned for its sugar and banana industries, as well as for being one of Australia's wettest towns...

 and is protected within the Barnard Island Group National Park

Barnard Island Group National Park

The Barnard Island Group is a national park in Queensland, Australia, 1,296 km northwest of Brisbane.Islands within the group include Jessie Island and Kent Island....

. It is an important breeding site for tern

Tern

Terns are seabirds in the family Sternidae, previously considered a subfamily of the gull family Laridae . They form a lineage with the gulls and skimmers which in turn is related to skuas and auks...

s.

Description

The group contains two forested islands, Stephens

Stephens Island (Great Barrier Reef)

Stephens Island is about 40 km north of Dunk Island. With nearby Sisters Island it forms the South Barnard Islands Group, which is protected within the Barnard Island Group National Park...

 and Sisters, joined by intertidal

Intertidal zone

The intertidal zone is the area that is above water at low tide and under water at high tide . This area can include many different types of habitats, with many types of animals like starfish, sea urchins, and some species of coral...

 sand. Stephens is a 12 ha rainforest

Rainforest

Rainforests are forests characterized by high rainfall, with definitions based on a minimum normal annual rainfall of 1750-2000 mm...

ed island surrounded by cliffs. Sisters is 2.5 ha, covered with low, dense rainforest 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. Most terns nest on the grass

Grass

Grasses, or more technically graminoids, are monocotyledonous, usually herbaceous plants with narrow leaves growing from the base. They include the "true grasses", of the Poaceae family, as well as the sedges and the rushes . The true grasses include cereals, bamboo and the grasses of lawns ...

y 0.3 ha islet.

Birds

The islands have 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 they have supported over 1% of the world populations of Lesser Crested Tern

Lesser Crested Tern

The Lesser Crested Tern is a seabird of the tern family Sternidae...

s (with up to 1000 breeding pairs) and Bridled Tern

Bridled Tern

The Bridled Tern is a seabird of the tern family Sternidae. It is a bird of the tropical oceans.-Description:...

s (up to 10,000 breeding pairs). Some 120 pairs of Roseate Tern

Roseate Tern

The Roseate Tern is a seabird of the tern family Sternidae. This bird has a number of geographical races, differing mainly in bill colour and minor plumage details....

s bred in the IBA in 1985, and up to 1500 non-breeding Black-naped Tern

Black-naped Tern

The Black-naped Tern is an oceanic tern mostly found in tropical and subtropical areas of the Pacific and Indian Oceans. It is rarely found inland....

s have been recorded there.