Current view: Text account
Site description (2015 baseline):
Site location and context
The unnamed island is situated ~0.5 km west of Redfearn Island in the Donskiye Island group, in the southern part of the Vestfold Hills, and ~1 km north of ASPA No. 167 Hawker Island, Princess Elizabeth Land. The unnamed island is ice free, ~ 0.8 km long and up to 0.35 km wide, and rises to ~52 m.
The IBA qualifies on the basis of the Adélie Penguin (
Pygoscelis adeliae) colony present at the site. The IBA comprises the entire unnamed island.
The nearest permanent station is Davis (AUS), ~6 km to the northeast on Broad Peninsula, Vestfold Hills.
Approximately 21 358 pairs of Adélie Penguin were estimated as breeding at the unnamed island using satellite imagery from February 2012 (unpublished data H. Lynch & M. LaRue pers. comm. 2014: CI not available). In 1981/82 the colony size was estimated with 10 522 breeding pairs (Whitehead & Johnstone 1990). The breeding colony is situated on the northern part of the island on both the east and west coast. Lynch & LaRue (2014) grouped records of Adélie Penguins present on the unnamed island in Donskiye Islands IBA with Warriner Island IBA, Lugg, Magnetic and Turner Islands IBA, and Gardner Island IBA and referred to these as ‘Vestfold South'.
No other birds are known to breed in the area.
Non-bird biodiversity: None known.
Pressure/threats to key biodiversity
Donskiye Islands lie close to Davis Station and local operational activities could pose potential concerns for conservation of wildlife. In particular, oil spills and aircraft operations represent potential risks to local breeding birdlife. Davis Station has comprehensive procedures in place to manage and minimise these risks (see e.g. Australian Antarctic Data Centre 2012), and station management are cognisant of locally sensitive wildlife, so risks are considered low.
Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Important Bird Area factsheet: Unnamed island at Donskiye Islands (Antarctica). Downloaded from
https://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/unnamed-island-at-donskiye-islands-iba-antarctica on 18/12/2024.
