Habitat and Fauna
The parkland, Albert Park lake, and Gunn Island, provides a grassy wetlands habitat for nearly two hundred bird species, both resident and transient. A 1990 study recorded 31 bird species as breeding in the park with a total of 21 these indigenous species.
Migratory species include the Flame Robin, White-throated Needletail and Sacred Kingfisher.
Locally rare native bird species that have been recorded in the park include Little Egret, Laughing Kookaburra, Australian Shelduck, Cape Barren Goose, Great-crested Grebe, White-bellied Sea Eagle and Whiskered Tern the while Little Ravens, Australian Magpies, Long-billed Corella, Sulphur-crested Cockatoo, Willie Wagtails and Magpie Larks are common. Common lake birds include Black Swans and Pacific Black Ducks, Australasian Grebe, Eurasian Coots, Purple Swamphen, Dusky Moorhen and all four freshwater Cormorant species. Feral white swans were removed from the park between the 1980s and 1990s. Feral Common Myna]]s and Common Starling are also numerous in the park.
Native mammals include Common Brushtail Possums and Common Ringtail Possums and Water Rat. Common Bent-wing Bats, White-striped Mastiff bats and Gould's Wattled Bat have also been recorded in the park. Feral Black Rats are also common in the park. Foxes have also been spotted on occasion at night.
Several reptiles and amphibians, such as the Marbled Gecko make their home in the park.
The lake is home to some freshwater fish species. The department of Primary Industries releases native Golden perch for recreational fishing purposes. European Carp, a noxious pest are the most commonly found fish in the lake and is subject to control programs.
A vegetation survey in 1992 found 117 species of plants, a mixture of native and exotic species.
A native revegetation area in the south east corner of the park features a large ancient river red gum tree known as the Corroboree Tree, a heritage registered eucalypt of cultural significance as a pre-European gathering place.
Read more about this topic: Albert Park And Lake
Famous quotes containing the words habitat and/or fauna:
“Neither moral relations nor the moral law can swing in vacuo. Their only habitat can be a mind which feels them; and no world composed of merely physical facts can possibly be a world to which ethical propositions apply.”
—William James (1842–1910)
“The whole fauna of human fantasies, their marine vegetation, drifts and luxuriates in the dimly lit zones of human activity, as though plaiting thick tresses of darkness. Here, too, appear the lighthouses of the mind, with their outward resemblance to less pure symbols. The gateway to mystery swings open at the touch of human weakness and we have entered the realms of darkness. One false step, one slurred syllable together reveal a man’s thoughts.”
—Louis Aragon (1897–1982)