Current view: Text account
Site description (2015 baseline):
Site location and context
Cape Bienvenue is a rocky peninsula approximately 0.5 km in length and across and forms the eastern coast of Piner Bay in Terre Adélie. The cape is ~18 km east of Cape Jules and a similar distance west of the Astrolabe Glacier Tongue.
The IBA qualifies on the basis of the Adélie Penguin (
Pygoscelis adeliae) colony present and comprises all of the ice free area at Cape Bienvenue.
The nearest permanent station is Dumont d'Urville (FRA), ~25 km to the west at Pointe Géologie.
Barbraud
et al . (1999) made a ground count of 15 023 breeding pairs of Adélie Penguin
in 1997/98. This compares with approximately 35 466 breeding pairs (95% CI: 21 500, 57 951) of Adélie Penguin at Cape Bienvenue as estimated from February 2011 satellite imagery (Lynch & LaRue 2014). It is not clear whether this more recent count demonstrates change as a result of inter-seasonal fluctuations, methodological differences, or represents a real increase in the local Adélie Penguin population.
The Barbraud
et al . (1999) survey also reported 20 pairs of Snow Petrels (
Pagodroma nivea ), four pairs of South Polar Skuas (
Catharacta maccormicki ) and confirmed Wilson's Storm-petrels (
Oceanites oceanicus ) as breeding at Cape Bienvenue.
Non-bird biodiversity: None known.
Pressure/threats to key biodiversity
None known.
Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Important Bird Area factsheet: Cape Bienvenue (Antarctica). Downloaded from
https://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/cape-bienvenue-iba-antarctica on 22/12/2024.
