Yeah. They’ve got heads kind of like owls, only they’ve got bodies like snakes. If they get pissed they make these high-pitched shrieks.

[But as for the islands...]

Depends on which one. There are a lot of them? And they seem like they pop in and out of existence. There was a volcano eruption not too long ago, but the islets are safe from what I can tell. Never had trouble, at least. The island I found Petunia on was safe, if really creepy. The geography looked like someone had mashed bits of land together.