South Barnard Islands Important Bird Area

The South Barnard Islands Important Bird Area comprises a group of two small islands and a sand islet, with a combined area of 15 ha, on the inner Great Barrier Reef, Far North Queensland, Australia.

The group contains two forested islands, Stephens and Sisters, joined by intertidal sand.

Stephens is a 12 ha rainforested island surrounded by cliffs.

Sisters is 2.5 ha, covered with low, dense rainforest with fringing mangroves.

[1] The islands have been identified by BirdLife International as an Important Bird Area (IBA) because they have supported over 1% of the world populations of lesser crested terns (with up to 1000 breeding pairs) and bridled terns (up to 10,000 breeding pairs).