Tourville and Murat Bays Important Bird Area

The IBA is an important site for Sooty Oystercatchers

Tourville and Murat Bays are two adjacent bays, with a combined area of 117 km², lying close to the town of Ceduna on the north-west corner of the Eyre Peninsula in South Australia at the eastern end of the Great Australian Bight. It is an important area for waders, or shorebirds.

Description

The bays lie just west of Ceduna, facing the island of St Peter in the Nuyts Archipelago across the Yatala Channel. Tourville Bay has a relatively narrow neck and contains extensive intertidal flats and saltmarsh. Murat Bay is more open to the sea. They are separated by about 10 km of headland. The Important Bird Area (IBA) encompasses the bays’ intertidal flats and extends inland to take in other coastal wetlands, including mangroves and playa lakes.^[1]

Birds

The bays have been identified as an IBA by BirdLife International because, together, they support over 1% of the world populations of both Pied and Sooty Oystercatchers.^[2] Other birds for which the site is important include Common Greenshanks, Red Knots, Sharp-tailed Sandpipers, Banded Lapwings, Red-capped Plovers and Fairy Terns. There are also records of Hooded Plovers, Pied and Great Cormorants, and White-faced Herons. Rock Parrots inhabit the saltmarsh.^[1]

References

1. ^ ^{a b} BirdLife International. (2011). Important Bird Areas factsheet: Tourville and Murat Bays. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 2011-11-07.
2. ^ "IBA: Tourville and Murat Bays". Birdata. Birds Australia. http://www.birdata.com.au/iba.vm. Retrieved 2011-11-06. 

Coordinates: 32°08′37″S 133°29′41″E / 32.14361°S 133.49472°E / -32.14361; 133.49472