Data Zone
Country/territory: Antarctica
IBA criteria met: A4ii, A4iii (2015)
For more information about IBA criteria, please click here
Area: 741 ha
Site description (2015 baseline)
Long Peninsula is situated at the western extremity of the northern Vestfold Hills, in Prydz Bay on the Ingrid Christensen Coast, Princess Elizabeth Land. Adélie Penguins (Pygoscelis adeliae) breed on relatively flat sites along the western coast of Long Peninsula, extending from Rookery Lake in the southwest to Bulatnaya Bay in the northwest, a distance of ~6 km. The area is mostly ice free in the summer, and comprises a number of low hills rising to a maximum elevation of 74 m.
The IBA qualifies on the basis of the Adélie Penguin colony present, and comprises the area of Long Peninsula west of Williams Lake.
The nearest permanent station is Davis (AUS), ~10 km to the southwest on Broad Peninsula.
Key biodiversity
Whitehead & Johnstone (1990) counted 37 335 breeding pairs of Adélie Penguin on Long Peninsula from aerial photography acquired in Dec 1981. Breeding occurs at three main locations: on the coast west of Rookery Lake; on a broad, flat peninsula ~2 km northeast of Rookery Lake; and on the northern extremity of the peninsula that lies west of Bulatnaya Bay, locally known as ‘Albino Rookery'.
Approximately 45 497 breeding pairs (95% CI 27 475, 73 759) of Adélie Penguin were present over this area as estimated from December 2012 satellite imagery (Lynch & LaRue 2014), indicating that numbers may be stable at this site. Lynch & LaRue (2014) refer to this site as ‘Vestfold North'.
Non-bird biodiversity: The sea ice within ~1 km from the shore of the breeding area has been identified as a Weddell Seal (Leptonychotes weddellii) pupping area (Australian Antarctic Data Centre 2012).
Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Important Bird Area factsheet: Rookery Lake / W Long Peninsula (Antarctica). Downloaded from
https://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/rookery-lake--w-long-peninsula-iba-antarctica on 28/11/2024.