Current view: Text account
Site description (2015 baseline):
Site location and context
Possession Island is the largest and most northerly of the Possession Islands, which lie 17 km east of Cape Roget, at the southern extremity of Adare Peninsula, Borchgrevink Coast, northern Victoria Land.
The IBA qualifies on the basis of the Adélie Penguin (
Pygoscelis adeliae) and South Polar Skua (
Catharacta maccormicki) colonies present and comprises the entire island.
The nearest permanent stations are Mario Zucchelli (ITA) and Jang Bogo (KOR), ~380 km to the south in Terra Nova Bay.
The Adélie Penguin colony at Possession Island had a mean of 111 306 breeding pairs over 3 seasons sampled from 1981 – 2012 (Lyver
et al. 2014). South Polar Skuas are also present on the island, with 474 breeding pairs recorded from a ground count made in 1982 (Ainley
et al. 1986), making it the second largest South Polar Skua colony recorded in the Ross Sea region after Cape Crozier. No recent information is available on the skua colony, and information on other birds breeding in the area is not available.
Non-bird biodiversity: None known.
Pressure/threats to key biodiversity
Possession Island is visited regularly by tourist ships, although not every year. From 2004–2014 visits were conducted on 6 seasons with an average of 86 visitors per season, of whom the majority landed. The number of visitors fluctuates, with four visitors in 2011/12 and 211 visitors in 2013/14 (IAATO Tourism Statistics, accessed: 02/02/2015).
Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Important Bird Area factsheet: Possession Island (Antarctica). Downloaded from
https://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/possession-island-iba-antarctica on 26/12/2024.
