boats and from the island's beaches. Almost daily during the season, whale songs can be heard under the water while swimming around the island. Birds Lady Elliot Island has one of the highest seabird diversity of any island within the Great Barrier Reef. The Capricorn silvereye, a small bird endemic to the southern Great Barrier Reef, is found on the island, which is also home to the buff-banded rail. It is an important seabird nesting site. The cay is a haven for over fifty species of tropical seabirds and wading birds. Over 100,000 birds nest on Lady Elliot Island during summer breeding season. Seabirds that nest on Lady Elliot Island include: Brown booby Lesser frigatebird Terns: black-naped, bridled, crested, roseate, sooty Black noddy Red-tailed tropicbird Silver gull Wedge-tailed shearwater Pacific reef heron History Origin Lady Elliot Island first appeared above sea level around 1500 BC as a coral rubble spit. It developed into a mature coral cay over the next 3,000 years. Lady Elliot had endured because bird droppings have hardened together with beach sediments into beachrock. The existence of concentric shingle ridges across the island provides evidence of its formation by progradation over several millennia as deposits were laid down during episodic storms. First commercial venture In 1805, first commercial venture on Lady Elliot Island was the collecting of bêche-de-mer. These animals were removed from the shallow water, dried and then smoked before being exported to South-East Asia. The industry petered out when there were no more sea cucumbers. British discovery In 1816, the island was officially "discovered" and named by Captain Thomas Stewart aboard the vessel Lady Elliot. on the way to Sydney in 1816. The Lady Elliot was a 353-tonne vessel that was built in Bengal and registered in Calcutta, India. On the return journey from Sydney, it was wrecked on a reef south of Cardwell in North Queensland, and that reef is called Lady Elliot Reef. The ship was probably named after Anna Maria Elliot, the wife of Gilbert Elliot-Murray-Kynynmound, 1st Earl of Minto, a Scottish politician who was Governor-General of India between 1807 and 1813. Anna Maria (later Lady Elliot) was the daughter of Sir George Amyand, 1st Baronet. An alternative story suggests that it was named after Margaret, wife of Gilbert's brother, Hugh Elliot, a diplomat and Governor of Madras from September 1814 to June 1820. However, Hugh Elliot's wife was not a "Lady",