Editing Capricornia Cays National Park

{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2023}}
{{Use Australian English|date=September 2014}}
{{Infobox Australian place
| type                   = protected
| name                   = Capricornia Cays National Park
| state                  = qld
| iucn_category          = II
| image                  = Wedge-tail morphs.jpg
| caption                = The Capricornia Cays support a breeding population of over half a million breeding pairs of wedge-tailed shearwaters
| image_alt              = Capricornia Cays National Park
| coordinates            = {{coord|23|14|54|S|151|46|41|E|display=inline,title}}
| force_national_map     = 
| relief                 = 
| pushpin_map_caption    = 
| pushpin_label_position = left
| map_alt                = 
| nearest_town_or_city   = 
| area                   = 1.78<!-- If the area is greater than 100ha (1km2) a conversion template is not required. -->
| area_footnotes         = 
| established            = 1994
| established_footnotes  = 
| visitation_num         = 
| visitation_year        = 
| visitation_footnotes   = 
| managing_authorities   = Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service
| url                    = http://www.nprsr.qld.gov.au/parks/capricornia-cays/
<!-- Deprecated parameters -->
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}}
'''Capricornia Cays''' is both a [[national park]] and a scientific national park in [[Queensland]] ([[Australia]]), located 486&nbsp;km and 472&nbsp;km north of the state capital [[Brisbane]] respectively. Collectively they comprise 241&nbsp;ha of [[coral]] [[cay]]s.

Popular recreational activities in the park includes bird, whale and turtle watching as well as camping, walking, swimming, boating, snorkelling and diving. Capricornia Cays National Park is noted for its [[biological diversity]], beauty and for provided habitat for a number of endangered plants and animals. In particular the cays are recognised as having the largest breeding population of endangered [[loggerhead turtle]]s in the [[Australasia|South Pacific]].<ref name="qhccnp">{{cite web |url=http://www.queenslandholidays.com.au/things-to-see-and-do/capricornia-cays-national-park/index.cfm |title=Things to do and see: Capricornia Cays National Park |work=Queensland Holidays |publisher=Tourism Queensland |access-date=13 June 2011 }}</ref>

Access to the islands via boat is available from [[Gladstone, Queensland|Gladstone]], [[Bundaberg]] and [[1770, Queensland|1770]].<ref name="qhccnp"/>

==Birds==
The cays form an [[Important Bird Area]] because they support more than 1% of the world populations of [[black noddy|black noddies]] (with up to 300,000 nests) and [[wedge-tailed shearwater]]s (up to 560,000 nests), making up the majority of the east Australian breeding populations of these species, and sometimes more than 1% of the world population of [[brown booby|brown boobies]] (1000-4000 nests).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.birdata.com.au/iba.vm |title=IBA: Capricornia Cays |access-date=2011-06-12 |work=Birdata |publisher=Birds Australia |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110706102341/http://www.birdata.com.au/iba.vm |archive-date=6 July 2011 }}</ref>

Seasonal closures in some areas is imposed to protect breeding seabirds.<ref name="acc">{{cite web |url=http://www.nprsr.qld.gov.au/parks/capricornia-cays/about.html |title=About Capricornia Cays |date=7 June 2011 |publisher=Department of National Parks, Recreation, Sport and Racing |access-date=10 July 2013 }}</ref>

==Molluscs==
233 mollusc species have been recorded from the islands.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://works.bepress.com/robert_cribb/28/ |title=Robert Cribb, Marine molluscs of the Capricorn and Bunker Groups, Queensland}}</ref>

==The cays==
Capricornia Cays National Park protects eight vegetated coral cays in the Capricorn and Bunker group of islands of the southern [[Great Barrier Reef]]:
* [[Erskine Island]]
* [[Heron Island, Australia|Heron Island]] (eastern half)
* [[Lady Musgrave Island]] – Open for visiting, capable of 40 campers.
* [[Masthead Island]] – Open for visiting, capable of 60 campers; however, this is limited to 30 from October to March each year to allow a less disrupted egg-laying ground for turtles.
* [[North West Island]] – Open for visiting, capable of 150 campers.
* [[Tryon Island]] – Currently closed to public access due to a tree infection, the island has the capacity for 30 campers.
* [[Wilson Island (Queensland)|Wilson Island]]
The cays are completely built by corals.  The area is also of significance as a fishery, particularly for [[prawn|king prawns]] These eight islands are part of the [[Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area]] and all surrounded by reefs.<ref name="acc"/> Vegetation on the cays is dominated by the flowering tree species, ''[[Pisonia grandis]]''.<ref name="acc"/>

A further six cays form Capricornia Cays National Park (Scientific):
* [[One Tree Island (Queensland)|One Tree Island]]
* [[Wreck Island (Queensland)|Wreck Island]]
* [[Fairfax Islands (Queensland)|Fairfax Islands]], (East Fairfax & West Fairfax)
* [[Hoskyn Islands (Queensland)|Hoskyn Islands]] (East and West Hoskyn islands)
There is no public access to these cays.

==Scientific National Park fact sheet==
*''Area:'' 0.44&nbsp;km<sup>2</sup>
*''[[Geographic coordinate system|Coordinates]]'': {{coord|23|20|07|S|151|57|24|E|type:landmark_region:AU-QLD|display=inline}}
*''Managing authorities:'' Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service
*''[[World Conservation Union|IUCN]] category:'' Ia

==See also==
{{Portal|Queensland}}
* [[Protected areas of Queensland]]
* {{Wikivoyage inline}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*[http://www.nprsr.qld.gov.au/parks/capricornia-cays/ Capricornia Cays National Park]

{{Central Queensland}}
{{National Parks of Queensland}}

[[Category:Islands on the Great Barrier Reef]]
[[Category:National parks of Central Queensland]]
[[Category:Protected areas established in 1994]]
[[Category:Important Bird Areas of Queensland]]
[[Category:1994 establishments in Australia]]
[[Category:Parks established in the 1990s]]