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Site description (2015 baseline)

MacKellar Islands is a group of around 30 islands situated ~2 km north of Cape Denison, Commonwealth Bay, George V Land. Greater MacKellar Island is the largest of the group at ~1.2 km by ~0.5 km, while the adjacent Lesser MacKellar Island is roughly circular and ~0.5 km across. The larger islands in the group are mainly ice free, whereas the smaller islands have more ice cover.

The IBA qualifies on the basis of the Adélie Penguin (Pygoscelis adeliae) colony present, and consists of the entire island group and intervening marine area.

There are no research stations nearby. The closest permanent station is Dumont d'Urville, ~120 km to the west in Terre Adélie.

Key biodiversity

The majority of the Adélie Penguins breed on Greater MacKellar and on Lesser MacKellar islands, and a substantial number nest on the larger of the northern islands in the group, with smaller numbers occupying ice free ground on the remaining islands. Ensor & Bassett (1987) counted 13 160 Adélie Penguin chicks on Greater MacKellar Island and 13 970 chicks on Lesser MacKellar Island in January 1982, and these counts have been used as estimates of the minimum number of breeding pairs in subsequent compilations (e.g. Woehler 1993). Recently Southwell et al. (2015), after re-constructing the historical population estimates using the original counts and data on chick survival from remote cameras in east Antarctica, derived an estimate of 46 628 breeding pairs, although high uncertainty surrounds the estimate (95% CI 21 500 – 244 000). More recently, approximately 80 360 breeding pairs (95% CI 49 253, 131 836) of Adélie Penguin were present at MacKellar Islands as estimated from February 2011 satellite imagery (Lynch & LaRue 2014). Ensor & Bassett (1987) also noted four breeding pairs of Snow Petrels (Pagodroma nivea), 11 breeding pairs of Wilson's Storm-petrels (Oceanites oceanicus) and six breeding pairs of South Polar Skuas (Catharacta maccormicki) on these islands in 1982, and suggested that more flying birds could have been present.

Non-bird biodiversity: None known.

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Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Important Bird Area factsheet: MacKellar Islands (Antarctica). Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/mackellar-islands-iba-antarctica on 28/11/2024.