Current view: Text account
Site description (2008 baseline):
Site location and context
The IBA includes three adjacent islands, Pearce islet, Urquhart islet and Hervey Rocks, all north-east of North Island in the Edward Pellew Group of the western Gulf of Carpentaria. Pearce is a large, low vegetated islet. Urquhart is a reasonably large, low, circular, vegetated, rock and coral rubble island. Hervey Rocks is a small, low, partially vegetated rock island with a small sand spit (Chatto 2001 island refs S070, S071 and S072). The IBA may be extended to other poorly-known nearby islands if they are surveyed more thoroughly and shown to support large numbers of nesting terns.
Chatto (2001) made several counts on each island. Crested Terns were nesting on Urquhart each year when R. Chatto visited March-July, but were reported to have moved to nearby Turtle Islet in 2000. The highest count of breeding Roseate Terns was 7500+ in 1999 when there were also well over 10,000 additional non-breeding birds roosting nearby. 2000 Bridled Terns were counted on Pearce in 1994, when 1000 were counted on Hervey Rocks. Pearce and Urquhart also support small numbers of Black-naped Terns (max 100 and 60, respectively), and up to 280 Roseate Terns were counted nesting on Pearce in 1994.
Non-bird biodiversity: Large numbers of marine turtles nest on the islands (Chatto 2001).
Pressure/threats to key biodiversity
No known threats. The numbers of nesting seabirds should be monitored.
Conservation responses/actions for key biodiversity
The three islands captured by the IBA are all included within the 'Sir Edward Pellew island group' site of conservation significance as classified by the Northern Territory Government (Harrison et al. 2009; Ward & Harrison 2009).
Wurralibi ALT
Site access / Land-owner requests
Traditionally-owned land.
Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Important Bird Area factsheet: Pearce, Urquhart and Hervey Islands (Sir Edward Pellew Group) (Australia). Downloaded from
https://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/pearce-urquhart-and-hervey-islands-(sir-edward-pellew-group)-iba-australia on 23/12/2024.
