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NOTES ON THE COMMON BIRDS OF GABO ISLAND, VICTORIA


A total of 144 bird species has been recorded for Gabo Island and its adjacent waters; however, only 19 are confirmed or suspected as breeding on the island. Seabirds breeding on the island are the Little Penguin and the Short-tailed Shearwater, with about 16500 and about 6400 pairs, respectively. Other birds include the Caspian Tern, Swamp Harrier, Sooty Oystercatcher, Masked Lapwing, Brush Bronzewing, Horsfield's Bronze-cuckoo, Yellow-faced Honeyeater, New Holland Honeyeater, Tawny-crowned Honeyeater, Golden Whistler, Willie Wagtail, Welcome Swallow, Australian Pipit, Golden-headed Cisticola, Silvereye, Common Blackbird and Common Starling. Notable absentees include rails, rosellas, Laughing Kookaburra, Eastem Yellow Robin, Grey Shrike-thrush, fairy-wrens, White-browed Scrubwren, gerygone warblers, thornbills, wattlebirds, woodswallows, butcherbirds and currawongs. It is not clear why so many species apparently do not occur on the island as only a narrow passage separates it from the mainland, although a change in vegetation on the island over time is suspected.

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