Piper Islands National Park

Pied imperial pigeon perched on a branch

The islands are an important breeding site for pied imperial pigeons

The Piper Islands National Park is a national park in Far North Queensland, Australia. It lies 1977 km northwest of Brisbane. It comprises four small islands lying on the inner northern Great Barrier Reef off the eastern coast of the Cape York Peninsula in Temple Bay, between Cape Grenville and Fair Cape.<ref name=bli>BirdLife International. (2011). Important Bird Areas factsheet: Piper Islands. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 19/09/2011.</ref>

Birds

The islands have been identified by BirdLife International as an Important Bird Area (IBA) because they have supported over 1% of the world populations of pied imperial pigeons (with up to 4000 nests) and black noddies (up to 7500 nests).<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Islands

• Baird Island (1 ha) – coral and shingle cay with mangroves (dominated by Rhizophora stylosa and Avicennia marina) growing to a canopy height of 5 m<ref name=bli/>
• Beesley Island (2.4 ha) – cay with grasses and herbs, sharing the same reef as Baird Island<ref name=bli/>
• Farmer Island (7 ha) – cay with a grass and shrub exterior and a wooded interior dominated by Pisonia grandis forest up to 4 m in height<ref name=bli/>
• Fisher Island (3 ha) – coral shingle cay with shrubs and mangroves, sharing the same reef as Fisher Island<ref name=bli/>

See also

• Protected areas of Queensland

External links

• Piper Islands National Park - State of Queensland Department of National Parks, Sport and Racing

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