Current view: Text account
Site description (2015 baseline):
Site location and context
Duke of York Island is a small island of ~4 km by 2 km situated in southwestern Robertson Bay, on the Pennell Coast. The island rises to ~470 m and lies ~7 km west of the Adare Peninsula, northern Victoria Land. Members of the British Antarctic Expedition (1898-1900) built a stone hut on the island, from which they explored the local area (Borchgrevink 1901).
The IBA qualifies on the basis of the concentration of seabirds present (in particular Adélie Penguin (
Pygoscelis adeliae)) and comprises the whole island.
The nearest permanent stations are Mario Zucchelli (ITA) and Jang Bogo (KOR), ~390 km to the south in Terra Nova Bay, Ross Sea.
Approximately 16 340 breeding pairs (95% CI: 9730, 26 955) of Adélie Penguin were present at Crescent Bay, Duke of York Island, in 2010/11, as estimated from satellite imagery acquired 16 Feb 2011 (Lynch & LaRue 2014). This compares with earlier counts made by K. Barton of 1750 (1982), 4749 (1985), 4454 (1988), and 2307 (1990), giving an average of 3315 pairs over this period (Woehler & Croxall 1997).
Greenfield & Smellie (1992) noted that Marchant & Higgins (1990) reported a breeding colony of Snow Petrel (
Pagodroma nivea) present on Duke of York Island, although did not consider the evidence for its presence to be strong. Borchgrevink reported collecting Snow Petrel and Wilson's Storm-petrel (
Oceanites oceanicus) eggs in the vicinity of Robertson Bay (Borchgrevink 1901). There remains uncertainty about the presence of breeding Snow Petrels on the island. Information on other birds on the island is unavailable.
Non-bird biodiversity: Weddell Seals (
Leptonychotes weddellii) were observed breeding on sea ice on the coast of Duke of York Island by members of the British Antarctic Expedition 1910-13 (photographs archived at the Scott Polar Research Institute). Recent information is not available.
Pressure/threats to key biodiversity
None known.
Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Important Bird Area factsheet: Duke of York Island (Antarctica). Downloaded from
https://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/duke-of-york-island-iba-antarctica on 22/11/2024.
