The Wilsons Promontory Islands Important Bird Area comprises a loose cluster of 19 small, granite

Granite

Granite is a common and widely occurring type of intrusive, felsic, igneous rock. Granite usually has a medium- to coarse-grained texture. Occasionally some individual crystals are larger than the groundmass, in which case the texture is known as porphyritic. A granitic rock with a porphyritic...

 islands, with a collective area of 658 ha, scattered around Wilsons Promontory

Wilsons Promontory

Wilsons Promontory is a peninsula that forms the southernmost part of the Australian mainland and is located at . South Point at is the southernmost tip of Wilsons Promontory and hence of mainland Australia...

 in the state of 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....

, south-eastern 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 three southernmost islands are part of the state of Tasmania

Tasmania

Tasmania is an Australian island and state. It is south of the continent, separated by Bass Strait. The state includes the island of Tasmania—the 26th largest island in the world—and the surrounding islands. The state has a population of 507,626 , of whom almost half reside in the greater Hobart...

. They are important for their breeding seabird

Seabird

Seabirds are birds that have adapted to life within the marine environment. While seabirds vary greatly in lifestyle, behaviour and physiology, they often exhibit striking convergent evolution, as the same environmental problems and feeding niches have resulted in similar adaptations...

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Description

The 16 islands under Victorian jurisdiction are Shellback, Norman

Norman Island (Victoria)

Norman Island is approximately 4 km west of Picnic Point, Wilsons Promontory in Victoria, Australia at 39° 01’ S, 146° 15’ E. It is proclaimed as a Remote and Natural Area under the National Parks Act...

, Great Glennie, Dannevig, Citadel

Citadel Island

Citadel Island is a small, rugged, granite island in the Glennie group of islands off the west coast of Wilsons Promontory, Victoria, Australia. It is the site of the first automatic acetylene powered lighthouse installed by Australia’s Commonwealth Lighthouse Service. There is no public access...

 and McHugh (all of which are part of Wilsons Promontory Marine Park); Cleft, Kanowna, Anser and Wattle (all within Wilsons Promontory Marine National Park); Rabbit, Rag, Cliffy, Seal and Notch Islands, and Rabbit Rock. The three islands under Tasmanian jurisdiction are Rodondo

Rodondo Island

Rodondo Island is a visually striking granite island, ringed by steep cliffs up to 200 m high, with an area of 106 ha and a high point of 350 m, in south-eastern Australia. It is part of Tasmania’s Rodondo Group, lying in northern Bass Strait only 10 km south of Wilsons Promontory in Victoria, and...

 and West Moncoeur

West Moncoeur Island

West Moncoeur Island is a granite island, ringed by steep cliffs, with an area of 9.18 ha, in south-eastern Australia. It is part of Tasmania’s Rodondo Group, lying in northern Bass Strait south of Wilsons Promontory in Victoria...

 (both of which are 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), and East Moncoeur

East Moncoeur Island

East Moncoeur Island is a granite island, with an area of 14 ha, in south-eastern Australia. It is part of Tasmania’s Rodondo Group, lying in northern Bass Strait south of Wilsons Promontory in Victoria.-Fauna:...

. The islands’ vegetation consists mainly of 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...

 and tussock grassland

Tussock grassland

Tussock grassland is a form of open grassland common in many temperate southern hemisphere regions, notably in New Zealand, but also in Australia, Argentina, some subantarctic islands, and parts of southern and eastern Africa....

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Birds

The islands have been identified 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) 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...

 because they support over 1% of the world populations of Short-tailed Shearwater

Short-tailed Shearwater

The Short-tailed Shearwater or Slender-billed Shearwater , also called Yolla or Moonbird, and commonly known as the muttonbird in Australia, is the most abundant seabird species in Australian waters, and is one of the few Australian native birds in which the chicks are commercially harvested...

s (with over 1.4 million nesting burrows), Pacific Gull

Pacific Gull

The Pacific Gull is a very large gull, native to the coasts of Australia. It is moderately common between Carnarvon in the west, and Sydney in the east, although it has become scarce in some parts of the south-east, as a result of competition from the Kelp Gull, which has "self-introduced" since...

s (with about 450 breeding pairs) and, possibly, of Black-faced Cormorant

Black-faced Cormorant

The Black-faced Cormorant , also known as the Black-faced Shag, is a medium-sized member of the cormorant family. Upperparts, including facial skin and bill, are black, with white underparts. It is endemic to coastal regions of southern Australia.-Ecology:The Black-faced-Cormorant feeds largely on...

s. The IBA also supports a large population of Fairy Prion

Fairy Prion

The Fairy Prion is a small seabird with the standard prion plumage of black upperparts and white underneath with an "M" wing marking.-Taxonomy:...

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