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The IBA supports the largest known wild population of endangered Gouldian finches. The Wyndham Important Bird Area comprises a 28 km 2 tract of land in the north-east of the Kimberley region of Western Australia. The site lies in the Bastion Hills close to the town of Wyndham, a port on the West Arm of the Cambridge Gulf.
The Gouldian finch was described by British ornithologist John Gould in 1844 as Amadina gouldiae, [3] in honour of his deceased wife Elizabeth. [4] [5] Specimens of the bird were sent to him by British naturalist Benjamin Bynoe, although they had been described some years before by French naturalists Jacques Bernard Hombron and Honoré Jacquinot. [6]
The family Estrildidae was introduced in 1850 by the French naturalist Charles Lucien Bonaparte as "Estreldinae", a spelling variant of the subfamily name. [2] [3] In the list of world birds maintained by Frank Gill, Pamela Rasmussen and David Donsker on behalf of the International Ornithological Committee (IOC) the family contains 140 species divided into 41 genera. [4]
This is a list of the wild birds found in Western Australia. The list includes introduced species, common vagrants, recently extinct species, extirpated species, some very rare vagrants (seen once) and species only present in captivity. 629 species are listed. [1] [2] The taxonomy is based on Christidis and Boles, 2008. [3]
Finches are seed-eating passerine birds, that are small to moderately large and have a strong beak, usually conical and in some species very large. All have twelve tail feathers and nine primaries. These birds have a bouncing flight with alternating bouts of flapping and gliding on closed wings, and most sing well.
John Gould FRS (/ ɡ uː l d /; 14 September 1804 – 3 February 1881 [1]) was an English ornithologist who published monographs on birds, illustrated by plates produced by his wife, Elizabeth Gould, and several other artists, including Edward Lear, Henry Constantine Richter, Joseph Wolf and William Matthew Hart.
"The Gouldian finch is a medium-sized grass eating bird that lives only in the northern savannas region of Australia. It is a strikingly colourful bird which was once very common. Although Gouldian finches are popular as pets around the world, less than 2500 adult finches remain in the wild.
The site has been identified as an Important Bird Area (IBA) by BirdLife International principally because it is home to a population of endangered Gouldian finches.It also supports chestnut-backed buttonquails, bush stone-curlews, varied lorikeets, northern rosellas, hooded parrots, white-gaped, yellow-tinted, bar-breasted and banded honeyeaters, masked and long-tailed finches, and silver ...