Current view: Text account
Site description (2008 baseline):
Site location and context
Stapleton Island is about 40 km east of Cape Melville in the northern Great Barrier Reef. It is designated as a Preservation Area, the strongest protection within the marine park, strictly regulating all access. It is an elongated narrow cay, about 500 m x 100 m at its widest. The cay is comprised of coral sand and reef rubble rising to a central sand ridge 5 m above sea-level. The outer fringe has a strand community of herbs and the sand ridge is dominated by Lepturus grass and stunted shrubs. Other neighbouring islands could be added to the IBA if further surveys indicate that they regularly support significant numbers of birds, notably Tydeman Cay (1 ha; 738 nests of Brown Booby in 1982) and Sandbank no1 (1 ha; 500 nests of Brown Booby in 1984).
Small numbers of breeding Australian Pelican, Black-naped Tern, Sooty Tern (regular counts of 5000-10,000 pairs), Crested Tern, Common Noddy (max 1000 pairs in 1980-1984) and Little Tern (1000 pairs in 1987).
Non-bird biodiversity: Small numbers of Green Turtles.
Pressure/threats to key biodiversity
Monitor numbers and breeding success of seabird colonies. Raise awareness of likely impacts of sea-level rise and sea warming.
The IBA lies within Howick Group National Park.
Australian Federal Government with management the responsibility of the GBRMPA.
Paul O'Neill provided advice and access to the GBR seabird database.
Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Important Bird Area factsheet: Stapleton Island (Australia). Downloaded from
https://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/stapleton-island-iba-australia on 23/11/2024.
