Swan Bay and Port Phillip Bay Islands Important Bird Area
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The Swan Bay and Port Phillip Bay Islands Important Bird Area comprises a cluster of disparate sites centred at the eastern end of the Bellarine Peninsula, and the southern end of Port Phillip, in Victoria, south-eastern Australia. As well as providing core wintering habitat for orange-bellied parrots, it is important for waders, or shorebirds, and seabirds.
Sites included in the Important Bird Area (IBA) are:[1]
- Swan Bay area wetlands and barrier islands
- Portarlington sewage treatment works
- Swan Bay - 30 km2 marine embayment with intertidal flats fringed by saltmarsh
- Edwards Point - 4 km sandspit with coastal woodland, heathland and saltmarsh
- Duck Island - small sand and saltmarsh island
- Swan Island - 140 ha sand island, with coastal scrub and saltmarsh
- Rabbit Island - small saltmarsh island
- Freshwater Lake - small ephemeral lake, fringed by herbland
- Lake Victoria - 139 ha shallow saline lake with extensive mudflats bordered by saltmarsh and sedgeland
- Port Phillip islands and structures
- Mud Islands - tight group of three low, sandy islands, with a total area of 50 ha, with shrubland, saltmarsh and mudflats
- Pope's Eye - small artificial island with timber platform and navigation beacon
- South Channel Island - small artificial island
- Wedge Light - timber platform with adjacent navigation beacon
Swan Bay and Mud Islands are within the Port Phillip Bay (Western Shoreline) and Bellarine Peninsula Ramsar Site.[1] Swan Bay, Mud Islands and Pope's Eye are in the Port Phillip Heads Marine National Park.
