• Summary
• Text account
• Data table and detailed info
• Map
• Reference and further resources

Site description (2015 baseline)

Peterson Island is situated in the southern Windmill Islands, Budd Coast, Wilkes Land. The island is ~3.5 km long and up to 2 km wide, and is separated from Browning Peninsula by a narrow channel of ~200-400 m width. The island has rocky, undulating topography rising to ~60 m and is mostly ice free in summer. A large narrow inlet extends several km from the northern coast southward into the interior of the island, and several small lakes are present in the south.

The IBA qualifies on the basis of the Adélie Penguin (Pygoscelis adeliae) colony present and includes all of Peterson Island and the central inlet.

The nearest permanent station is Casey (AUS), ~19 km to the north on Bailey Peninsula.

Key biodiversity

Woehler et al. (1991) counted 20 453 breeding pairs of Adélie Penguin on Peterson Island in 1989/90, and noted the colony had been increasing since counts were first made in 1961. More recently, ~30 448 breeding pairs (95% CI 18 516, 50 020) of Adélie Penguin were present on Peterson Island as estimated from January 2011 satellite imagery (Lynch & LaRue 2014). While this more recent count suggests an increase by ~50% over 21 years, it is not clear whether this apparent change relates to inter-seasonal fluctuations, methodological differences, or represents a real increase in the local Adélie Penguin population.

Olivier, Lee & Woehler (2004) estimated 2815 breeding pairs of Snow Petrels (Pagodroma nivea) on Peterson Island in 2002/03, and this represents one of the largest colonies yet identified. Around 10 breeding pairs of Cape Petrels (Daption capense) were estimated present on the island in 1996 (Hodum et al. 2004). Southern Fulmars (Fulmarus glacialoides), South Polar Skuas (Catharacta maccormicki) and Wilson's Storm-petrels (Oceanites oceanicus) also breed on the island (Murray & Luders 1990; Australian Antarctic Data Centre 2012) although numbers are not known.

Non-bird biodiversity: Southern Elephant Seals (Mirounga leonina) haul out and also breed on Peterson Island (Murray & Luders 1990), mainly on the northern and northwestern coasts. The colony is the most southerly known breeding site for Southern Elephant Seals (McMahon & Campbell 2000).

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Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Important Bird Area factsheet: Peterson Island (Antarctica). Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/peterson-island-iba-antarctica on 23/11/2024.