Fauna
There is great diversity of animal and insect life in the wet tropical rainforest on Bedarra. The vibrant blue Ulysses butterfly, the Giant Birdwing butterfly, northern rainforest skink, Scrub Fowl, the Wompoo Fruit dove, Sun birds, tree frogs, geckos, forest dragons, tree monitors, pythons and echidna have all made a habitat here.
Sea turtles and dugongs can be observed around Bedarra Island and recently Migaloo, the white humped back whale, was spotted from a lookout engaged in its annual migration north (late June).
The island has few mammals; the largest is the echidna and there is also the fawn footed melomys, a small native rodent named after E.J. Banfield who first described it. This native, fruit eating marsupial rat is called "Uromys banfieldi".
Several species of bats and flying foxes are seen and heard at night. Unique to this area is the Little Bent Wing Bat, "Miniopterus Australis". The tiny bat gets its name from its elongated finger bone that supports its wing. They are usually colonial in their roost behaviour, nesting in caves, crevices and sometimes roof ceilings of the open plan houses on the island.
The most easily observed bird life in the rainforest, are the large mound builders – the orange footed scrub fowl.
Read more about this topic: Bedarra Island
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