Current view: Text account
Site description (2008 baseline):
Site location and context
The IBA includes all of Seagull Lake, inland of Sceale Bay, about 20 km south of Streaky Bay and 280 km north of Port Lincoln, on the Eyre Peninsula. Seagull Lake is a small sub-coastal saline lake, which is fed from a nearby marine spring. Seaward are grassy sand-dunes and the long sandy Sceale Bay. Landward is about 1 km of whipstick mallee and
Melaleuca, then a series of ephemeral saline wetlands. Many of these wetlands have become dryer from reduced rainfall and increased water abstraction. Much of the hinterland is uncleared vegetation, probably samphire and halophytic shrubland. Some areas are permanently wet but much of the lake bed dries up in periods of limited rainfall. Some of the lake is protected by Sceale Bay Conservation Park and the permanent pool on the southern shore is under a Heritage Agreement.
Small numbers of shorebirds recorded including: Banded Stilts, max 600 in 1980 and 520 in 2001 and 1010 in 2006; Red-necked Avocet, max 200 in 2001; Red-necked Stint, max 627 in 1980; Red-capped Plover, max 550 in 1982; Sharp-tailed Sandpiper, max 91 in 2006 and Hooded Plover, max nine in 1981 and three in 2006 (J. Cooper in litt. 2008; Australian Shorebird Count Database).
Non-bird biodiversity: About 1000 individual plants of the nationally vulnerable Bead Samphire have been counted on the southern shore of Seagull Lake, with the equally threatened West Coast Mintbush also found on nearby outcrops (DEH 2006).
Pressure/threats to key biodiversity
Salinity and water quality needs to be monitored to inform water management in the catchment. Human disturbance needs to be controlled around potential Fairy Tern nesting sites. Fox control needs to be targeted around Fairy Tern colonies.
Conservation responses/actions for key biodiversity
Additional reserves and improved management was proposed for the Streaky Bay to Venus Bay area by the Department for Environment and Heritage (2008).
The IBA overlaps with Sceale Bay Conservation Park.
South Australian Government (managed by the Department for Environment and Heritage) and private.
Thanks to Jane Cooper as compiler and Emma Ginman for providing comments.
Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Important Bird Area factsheet: Seagull Lake (Eyre Peninsula) (Australia). Downloaded from
https://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/seagull-lake-(eyre-peninsula)-iba-australia on 23/12/2024.
