"White-breasted mesite The white-breasted mesite (""Mesitornis variegatus"") is a ground-dwelling bird endemic to Madagascar. One of three species in the mesite family, Mesitornithidae, it is classified as vulnerable by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). It has a small population and is restricted to five sites in the north and west of the island, and one in the east. The white-breasted mesite is a medium-sized terrestrial bird which is often described as rail-like (a family with which the mesites are sometimes placed). The species has a white face with distinctive facial markings (a white supercilium and dark malar"
"Mercury Islands tusked weta The Mercury Islands tusked wētā, ""Motuweta isolata,"" also known as the Middle Island tusked wētā, is a large flightless insect in the family Anostostomatidae, discovered in 1970 living on a single small island in New Zealand. Distinguished by the enormous tusks with which males fight, it was saved from extinction by a captive breeding programme and translocation: the entire world population is descended from a male and two females captured and bred in captivity in 1998, just before the species went extinct in the wild. ""Motuweta isolata"" is the largest of the three tusked wētā species,"
"Greenland Greenland (, ; , ) is an autonomous constituent country of the Kingdom of Denmark between the Arctic and Atlantic Oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Though physiographically a part of the continent of North America, Greenland has been politically and culturally associated with Europe (specifically Norway and Denmark, the colonial powers, as well as the nearby island of Iceland) for more than a millennium. The majority of its residents are Inuit, whose ancestors began migrating from the Canadian mainland in the 13th century, gradually settling across the island. Greenland is the world's largest island. Australia and Antarctica"
"second largest island after Greenland and by far the largest of the Pacific islands. The other main Melanesian groups from north to south are the Bismarck Archipelago, the Solomon Islands archipelago, Santa Cruz, Vanuatu, Fiji and New Caledonia. Polynesia, stretching from Hawaii in the north to New Zealand in the south, also encompasses Tuvalu, Tokelau, Samoa, Tonga and the Kermadec Islands to the west, the Cook Islands, Society Islands and Austral Islands in the center, and the Marquesas Islands, Tuamotu, Mangareva Islands, and Easter Island to the east. Australasia comprises Australia, New Zealand, the island of New Guinea, and neighbouring"
"the east at least have adapted to feeding on agricultural land. The breeding areas are grassy islands off the Australian coast, where this species nests on the ground in colonies. It bears captivity well, quite readily breeding in confinement if large enough paddocks are provided. In Australia, 19th-century explorers named a number of islands ""Goose Island"" due to the species' presence there. In 1968, a small number of geese were introduced to Maria Island. https://tomelbourne.com.au/cape-barren-goose-bird-phillip-island/ Cape Barren goose The Cape Barren goose (""Cereopsis novaehollandiae"") is a large goose resident in southern Australia. The species is named for Cape Barren Island,"
"populations of bridled quail-doves, purple-throated caribs, green-throated caribs, Antillean crested hummingbirds, Caribbean elaenias, scaly-breasted thrashers, pearly-eyed thrashers, brown tremblers, forest thrushes and Lesser Antillean bullfinches. Centre Hills Centre Hills is a forest reserve on the island of Montserrat, a British Overseas Territory in the Leeward Islands of the Caribbean Sea. It forms one of the territory’s Important Bird Areas (IBAs), which encompasses the forest reserve as well as additional habitat for the Montserrat oriole, the territory’s endemic, and critically endangered, national bird. The 1112 ha IBA comprises the largest remnant of Montserrat’s native forest. It encompasses the highlands of the"
"are occasional visitors to Marion Island and the Crozet Islands. Some immature gannets spend 3 to 4 years in Australian waters before returning to New Zealand, while others remain in New Zealand waters. The Australasian gannet is generally solitary when out at sea, though once a bird has found fish to hunt, other gannets may notice and join it. It is gregarious on land, nesting in colonies. Non-breeding gannets often form groups on the outskirts of the colony. Small numbers of gannets may remain around the colony site outside of the breeding season, using it as a roosting site. Gannet"
"the islands of the Pacific it is found in the Bismarck Islands, Solomon Islands and New Caledonia, and fossil remains of adults and juveniles have been found in Tonga, where it probably was wiped out by arriving humans. It is possible it may once have ranged across Vanuatu and Fiji as well. It is an uncommon to fairly common winter visitor to all parts of South Asia, and Southeast Asia from Myanmar through to Indochina and southern China, Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines. The worldwide distribution of the species is unusual for land based birds, and only recognised in five"
"The four-toed earless skink was the only reptile found in 1996. The islet is part of the Flinders Chase National Park and has been specifically proclaimed as a prohibited area in order to protect breeding seabirds such as crested terns. Since December 2012, the waters around the islet has been part of a habitat protection zone located within the boundaries of the Western Kangaroo Island Marine Park. Paisley Islet Paisley Islet (also known as West Bay Islet) is an islet located in the Great Australian Bight immediately off the west coast of Kangaroo Island in South Australia approximately west south-west"
"Emu The emu (""Dromaius novaehollandiae"") is the second-largest living bird by height, after its ratite relative, the ostrich. It is endemic to Australia where it is the largest native bird and the only extant member of the genus ""Dromaius"". The emu's range covers most of mainland Australia, but the Tasmanian emu and King Island emu subspecies became extinct after the European settlement of Australia in 1788. The bird is sufficiently common for it to be rated as a least-concern species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. Emus are soft-feathered, brown, flightless birds with long necks and legs, and"
"west of Madagascar and one site in the east. A third bird, also known as a mesite, is the subdesert mesite which grows to tall and is also ′rail-like′. The bird lives in small groups, and can be found in sub-desert spiny forests in a long and wide coastal strip, between the Fiherenana and Mangoky rivers. Mesitornis Mesitornis is a genus of birds in the family Mesitornithidae. Its two members. the white-breasted mesite and the brown mesite are endemic to Madagascar and both species are classified as vulnerable on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red list of"
"Islet off NE Groote Eylandt Important Bird Area The Islet off NE Groote Eylandt Important Bird Area comprises a small (10 ha), unnamed, sand and rock island off the north-eastern coast of Groote Eylandt in the Gulf of Carpentaria, northern Australia. It lies halfway between the north-eastern tip of Groote Eylandt and the North East Islands and is traditionally owned Aboriginal land. It has been identified by BirdLife International as an Important Bird Area (IBA) because it supports over 1% of the world population of roseate terns, with reported numbers of from 2000 to 5500 individual birds present. Up to"
"Fauna of Borneo Borneo is the third largest island in the world. In prehistoric times it was connected to the Asian mainland due to geological and climate changes. During the recent ice ages of the Pleistocene and the Holocene separation from the mainland caused extinctions and speciation of fauna on the island. The high complexity of the Bornean tropical rain forest has created many niches that accommodate a rich diversity of fauna. Some fauna are specialised and some coexisted by having niche separation to avoid inter- and intra-specific competition within the same habitat. Ecological separation can be in the form"
"western Indonesia and the Philippines. There is a single record of a vagrant bird in Alaska; on Shemya Island in 1985. A bird in Humberside, England in 1991 was not accepted into Category A, a wild bird, but was put in a Category D, meaning likely to be of captive origin. It was retained in Category D following a review in 2009. After a third review in 2016 the bird was placed in category E. The main habitats are forest and woodland, particularly at higher elevations. It is also found in parks and gardens during migration. It usually occurs alone"
"""ieg"" is actually a cognate of Swedish ""ö"" and German ""Aue"", and related to Latin ""aqua"" (water). Greenland is the world's largest island, with an area of over 2.1 million km, while Australia, the world's smallest continent, has an area of 7.6 million km, but there is no standard of size that distinguishes islands from continents, or from islets. There is a difference between islands and continents in terms of geology. Continents sit on continental lithosphere, which is part of tectonic plates floating high on Earth's mantle. Oceanic crust is also part of tectonic plates, but it is denser than"
"they are more common on the northwestern islands. There are large breeding colonies on Europa, Aldabra and Christmas Islands in the Indian Ocean, with smaller colonies in Madagascar, where it nests on the tiny island of Nosy Ve, the Seychelles, and Mauritius. In Australia, it nests on Queensland's coral islands (including Raine Island and Lady Elliot Island), and Ashmore Reef and Rottnest Island off Western Australia, as well as Sugarloaf Rock at Cape Naturaliste and Busselton on the Western Australian coastline itself, and the offshore territories of the Cocos (Keeling) Islands, Norfolk and Lord Howe islands. In New Zealand territory"
"of its natural resources, the grant will gradually be diminished. This is generally considered to be a step toward eventual full independence from Denmark. Greenlandic was declared the sole official language of Greenland at the historic ceremony. Greenland is the world's largest non-continental island and the third largest country in North America. It is between latitudes 59° and 83°N, and longitudes 11° and 74°W. The Atlantic Ocean borders Greenland's southeast; the Greenland Sea is to the east; the Arctic Ocean is to the north; and Baffin Bay is to the west. The nearest countries are Canada, to the west and"
"true wonders and the single most important nesting and breeding ground on Earth. As the Earth's third largest island, Borneo straddles the equator, carved up between Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei. The island is dominated by Kota Kinabalu, a massive outcrop of rock more than 13,000 feet high and the tallest peak in South East Asia. Far below, warm morning mists shroud the rainforest, concealing the exotic creatures teeming in and below the canopy. The vast jungle provides shelter for some of the rarest, strangest and most magnificent creatures on Earth. It is a Living Eden both rich and fragile -"
"to Easter Island. The greatest concentration of species is in the tropics, and in particular the Amazon Basin. In the north, they tend to be forest or woodland birds, while in the south they prefer open habitats. Tinamous form the dominant group of terrestrial birds in South America, where they largely replace the Galliformes ecologically, with no other bird family there having comparable diversity, distribution, or suite of habitat adaptations. Rheas are only found in open country, curassows and guans are generally limited to forests, and the pheasant family is only represented by a few species in the north of"
"more energy consuming than the dynamic-soaring favoured by albatrosses. As all Sulids, they are fish-eating birds that plunge-dive from considerable height. The breeding range of Cape gannet is restricted to southern Africa in three islands off Namibia and three islands off South Africa. They normally nest in large and dense colonies on flat islands or on flat ledges of the steeply sloping Mercury Island off Namibia. The world population was estimated in 1996 to number about 340,000 birds, with 12% in Namibia and 88% in South Africa. The largest colony of this bird, with over 140,000 birds, is found on"
"Pacific island groups, including the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu. Geologically, the island of New Guinea is a northern extension of the Indo-Australian tectonic plate, forming part of a single land mass which is Australia-New Guinea (also called ""Sahul"" or ""Meganesia""). It is connected to the Australian segment by a shallow continental shelf across the Torres Strait, which in former ages lay exposed as a land bridge, particularly during ice ages when sea levels were lower than at present. Consequently, many species of birds and mammals found on New Guinea have close genetic links with corresponding species found in Australia. One"
"Australia (continent) The continent of Australia, sometimes known in technical contexts by the names Sahul, Australinea or Meganesia to distinguish it from the country of Australia, consists of the land masses which sit on Australia's continental shelf. This includes mainland Australia, Tasmania, and the island of New Guinea (comprising Papua New Guinea and two Indonesian provinces). Situated in the geographical region of Oceania, it is the smallest of the seven traditional continents in the English conception. The continent lies on a continental shelf overlain by shallow seas which divide it into several landmasses—the Arafura Sea and Torres Strait between mainland"
"on every continent except Antarctica. They are the only terrestrial placental mammals to have colonized Australia and New Guinea without human intervention. Humans have also allowed the animals to spread to many remote oceanic islands (e.g., the Polynesian rat). Rodents have adapted to almost every terrestrial habitat, from cold tundra (where they can live under snow) to hot deserts. Some species such as tree squirrels and New World porcupines are arboreal, while some, such as gophers, tuco-tucos, and mole rats, live almost completely underground, where they build complex burrow systems. Others dwell on the surface of the ground, but may"
"sites. The kikuyu is a barrier for the shearwaters and penguins who cannot penetrate it to move or to burrow. Various native species are used to replant areas after the kikuyu grass has been controlled. Montague Island (Australia) Montague Island is a continental island contained within the Montague Island Nature Reserve, a protected nature reserve that is located offshore from the South Coast region of New South Wales, in eastern Australia. The nearest town located onshore from the reserve and island is , situated approximately to the northwest. Montague Island is the second largest island off the New South Wales"
"Sea to the west. It is the most significant breeding ground of the Flatback Turtle Chelonia depressa and occasional nesting by Eretmochelys imbricata and Lepidochelys olivacea. This island is south of the Torres Strait Islands. Crab Island (Queensland) Crab Island, called Moent Island in the native language, is a now uninhabited island west of Muttee Heads and the coastal community of Seisia which is adjacent to Bamaga at the tip of Cape York Peninsula within the Endeavour Strait in the Gulf of Carpentaria in Queensland, Australia. It is around . The distance to the closest mainland (close to Slade Point)"
"white-fronted tern. Briggs Islet Briggs Islet is a small granite island, with an area of 3.4 ha, in south-eastern Australia. It is part of Tasmania’s Great Dog Island Group, lying in eastern Bass Strait between Flinders and Cape Barren Islands in the Furneaux Group. It is a conservation area. The island is part of the Franklin Sound Islands Important Bird Area, identified as such by BirdLife International because it holds over 1% of the world populations of six bird species. Recorded breeding seabird and wader species are little penguin, white-faced storm-petrel, Pacific gull, silver gull, sooty oystercatcher, Caspian tern, crested"
"in the forested regions of New Guinea. In areas where it has established, native animal populations have dramatically decreased. New Guinea has a rich biodiversity of bird life, with over 79 families and approximately 730 species that can be classified into four groups: breeding land and freshwater species, seabirds, migrants from the north, and migrants and vagrants from Australia and New Zealand. There are eight Endemic Bird Areas with about 320 endemic bird species in New Guinea. The largest birds in New Guinea are the flightless cassowaries, of which all three species are native to New Guinea. Two of these"
"Centre Hills Centre Hills is a forest reserve on the island of Montserrat, a British Overseas Territory in the Leeward Islands of the Caribbean Sea. It forms one of the territory’s Important Bird Areas (IBAs), which encompasses the forest reserve as well as additional habitat for the Montserrat oriole, the territory’s endemic, and critically endangered, national bird. The 1112 ha IBA comprises the largest remnant of Montserrat’s native forest. It encompasses the highlands of the northern half of the island from an elevation of 150 m up to the 741 m summit of Katy Hill. The terrain is steep, largely"
"species has rarely been recorded recently. It is suspected to be declining because deforestation, logging and forest fires have destroyed much habitat and it is trapped and traded. The IUCN has assessed it as a vulnerable species. The IUCN considers ""A. c. graydoni"" a separate species and has assessed it to be of least concern. Chestnut-necklaced partridge The chestnut-necklaced partridge (""Arborophila charltonii"") is a species of bird in the family Phasianidae. It is found in forests in the Thai-Malay Peninsula, Sumatra and Borneo. It is threatened by habitat loss and trapping. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has"
"New Guinea New Guinea (; ; ; , historically, """") is a large island off the continent of Australia. It is the world's second-largest, after Greenland, covering a land area of , and the largest wholly or partly within the Southern Hemisphere and Oceania. The eastern half of the island is the major land mass of the independent state of Papua New Guinea. The western half, referred to as either Western New Guinea or West Papua, has been administered by Indonesia since 1962 and comprises the provinces of Papua and West Papua. The island has been known by various names:"
"of the world populations of six bird species. The island’s vegetation is dominated by tussock grass communities. Recorded breeding seabird and wader species are little penguin, short-tailed shearwater (600,000 pairs) and sooty oystercatcher. Reptiles present include the metallic skink and tiger snake. Little Green Island Little Green Island is a granite island, with an area of , in south-eastern Australia. It is part of Tasmania’s Great Dog Island Group, lying in eastern Bass Strait between Flinders and Cape Barren Islands in the Furneaux Group. It is partly a conservation area, and partly private property, used for grazing livestock. The island"
"higher now than it was before European settlement, some local populations are at risk of extinction. The threats faced by emus include the clearance and fragmentation of areas of suitable habitat, deliberate slaughter, collisions with vehicles and predation of the eggs and young. Emu The emu (""Dromaius novaehollandiae"") is the second-largest living bird by height, after its ratite relative, the ostrich. It is endemic to Australia where it is the largest native bird and the only extant member of the genus ""Dromaius"". The emu's range covers most of mainland Australia, but the Tasmanian emu and King Island emu subspecies became"
"These birds nest in tree holes and hens usually lay 2 to 4 eggs, which are incubated for 13 to 15 days. Mountain barbet The mountain barbet (""Psilopogon monticola"") is a species of bird in the family Megalaimidae. It is endemic to the Southeast Asian island of Borneo. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests and subtropical or tropical moist montane forests. They resemble female Red-throated Barbets - except, they have smaller bills and lack the red spot at the base of the rictal bristles (""whiskers"") on each side of the upper bill. Mountain Barbets primarily feed"