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

Site description (baseline)

Pursuit Point is a largely ice-covered peninsula located on southeastern Wiencke Island, one of the larger islands in the Palmer Archipelago, which lies west of Gerlache Strait and ~9 km from the Antarctic Peninsula. The IBA originally qualified on the basis of the Imperial Shag (Phalacrocorax [atriceps] bransfieldensis) colony present and included all land and permanent ice within a 1 km radius of the breeding locality.

The nearest scientific station is Yelcho (CHL), a summer-only facility located 8 km to the northwest on southern Doumer Island that is temporarily closed (COMNAP, Antarctic Facilities, accessed 19/08/2010).

Key biodiversity

Colonies of around 140 breeding pairs of Imperial Shag and 200 breeding pairs of Gentoo Penguin (Pygoscelis papua) were reported breeding at Pursuit Point in the mid-1980s (Poncet & Poncet 1987; unpublished data S. Poncet pers. comm. 2005). However, recent nest count surveys undertaken in 2012/13 by Casanovas et al. (in press) recorded only 21 breeding pairs of Imperial Shag and 567 pairs of Gentoo Penguin. As a result, the site at Pursuit Point no longer qualifies as an IBA and has been delisted.

Non-bird biodiversity: None known.

Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2023) Important Bird Area factsheet: Pursuit Point, Wiencke Island. Downloaded from http://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/29458 on 28/05/2023.