Data Zone
Country/territory: Antarctica
IBA criteria met: A4i (2015)
For more information about IBA criteria, please click here
Area: 89 hectares (0.89 km2)
Site description (2015 baseline)
Bluff Island (also known as Murray Island) is located in Hughes Bay, Gerlache Strait, 500 m from the Danco Coast on the western Antarctic Peninsula. The IBA qualifies on the basis of the Imperial Shag (Phalacrocorax [atriceps] bransfieldensis) colony present and comprises the ice free area on a peninsula on the northern coast of Bluff Island.
The nearest permanent station is Primavera (ARG), located ~36 km to the northeast.
Key biodiversity
Approximately 180 breeding pairs of Imperial Shag were recorded on the western coast of a small peninsula at the north of Bluff Island in 1989 (unpublished data S. Poncet pers. comm. 2005). Information on other bird species present at the site is not available.
Non-bird biodiversity: None known.
Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Important Bird Area factsheet: Bluff Island (Antarctica). Downloaded from
https://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/bluff-island-iba-antarctica on 23/12/2024.