Bird Island (South Georgia)
Encyclopedia
South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands
South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands is a British overseas territory and overseas territory of the European Union in the southern Atlantic Ocean. It is a remote and inhospitable collection of islands, consisting of South Georgia and a chain of smaller islands, known as the South Sandwich...
by Bird Sound. It is an overseas territory of the United Kingdom, also claimed by Argentina as part of Tierra del Fuego
Tierra del Fuego
Tierra del Fuego is an archipelago off the southernmost tip of the South American mainland, across the Strait of Magellan. The archipelago consists of a main island Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego divided between Chile and Argentina with an area of , and a group of smaller islands including Cape...
province.
History
It was discovered in 1775 by a British expedition under James CookJames Cook
Captain James Cook, FRS, RN was a British explorer, navigator and cartographer who ultimately rose to the rank of captain in the Royal Navy...
, who so named it "on account of the vast numbers [of birds] that were upon it".
In the late 1950s, the island was the subject of a number of US funded projects. Between 1959-62, a great number of the island's wandering albatross
Wandering Albatross
The Wandering Albatross, Snowy Albatross or White-winged Albatross, Diomedea exulans, is a large seabird from the family Diomedeidae, which has a circumpolar range in the Southern Ocean. It was the first species of albatross to be described, and was long considered the same species as the Tristan...
were ringed, which gave startling data about their range - one bird was found in Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
.
The island has been a station for Antarctic research since 1963, and is currently a biological research station of the British Antarctic Survey
British Antarctic Survey
The British Antarctic Survey is the United Kingdom's national Antarctic operation and has an active role in Antarctic affairs. BAS is part of the Natural Environment Research Council and has over 400 staff. It operates five research stations, two ships and five aircraft in and around Antarctica....
(BAS) at Jordan Cove
Jordan Cove
Jordan Cove is a small cove which is the principal indentation in the south side of Bird Island, off the west end of South Georgia. Surveyed by the SGS in the period 1951-57, and named by the United Kingdom Antarctic Place-Names Committee for David S. Jordan , American naturalist, the first...
, with 4 resident biologist
Biologist
A biologist is a scientist devoted to and producing results in biology through the study of life. Typically biologists study organisms and their relationship to their environment. Biologists involved in basic research attempt to discover underlying mechanisms that govern how organisms work...
s. The main focus of the research is the ecology
Ecology
Ecology is the scientific study of the relations that living organisms have with respect to each other and their natural environment. Variables of interest to ecologists include the composition, distribution, amount , number, and changing states of organisms within and among ecosystems...
and population of the island's seabird
Seabird
Seabirds are birds that have adapted to life within the marine environment. While seabirds vary greatly in lifestyle, behaviour and physiology, they often exhibit striking convergent evolution, as the same environmental problems and feeding niches have resulted in similar adaptations...
s and seal
Pinniped
Pinnipeds or fin-footed mammals are a widely distributed and diverse group of semiaquatic marine mammals comprising the families Odobenidae , Otariidae , and Phocidae .-Overview: Pinnipeds are typically sleek-bodied and barrel-shaped...
s.
While the British Magistrate
Magistrate
A magistrate is an officer of the state; in modern usage the term usually refers to a judge or prosecutor. This was not always the case; in ancient Rome, a magistratus was one of the highest government officers and possessed both judicial and executive powers. Today, in common law systems, a...
and other civilians and military present in Grytviken
Grytviken
Grytviken is the principal settlement in the British territory of South Georgia in the South Atlantic. It was so named in 1902 by the Swedish surveyor Johan Gunnar Andersson who found old English try pots used to render seal oil at the site. It is the best harbour on the island, consisting of a...
were removed from South Georgia during the Argentine occupation of South Georgia in 1982, another 15 Britons remained beyond Argentine reach. The losses suffered at Grytviken prevented Argentina from occupying the rest of the island, with Bird Island base, and field camps at Schlieper Bay
Schlieper Bay
Schlieper Bay is a bay 1 mile wide, entered between Romerof Head and Weddell Point along the south coast of South Georgia. Schlieper Bay was named between 1905-12 after the director of the Compañía Argentina de Pesca....
, Lyell Glacier
Lyell Glacier, South Georgia
For the glacier located on Mount Lyell in California, see Lyell GlacierLyell Glacier is a glacier flowing in a north direction to Harpon Bay at the southeast head of Cumberland West Bay, South Georgia...
and St. Andrews Bay remaining under British control.
The island is currently a Site of Special Scientific Interest
Site of Special Scientific Interest
A Site of Special Scientific Interest is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom. SSSIs are the basic building block of site-based nature conservation legislation and most other legal nature/geological conservation designations in Great Britain are based upon...
, and so there are no landings allowed without permission.
The summit
Summit (topography)
In topography, a summit is a point on a surface that is higher in elevation than all points immediately adjacent to it. Mathematically, a summit is a local maximum in elevation...
of the island, Roché Peak
Roché Peak
Roché Peak is a conspicuous peak rising to 365 m, the highest feature on Bird Island, South Georgia. Situated 1.6 km west of the east extremity of the island. Named by the UK Antarctic Place-names Committee in 1960 for the Englishman Anthony de la Roché who discovered South Georgia in 1675.-See...
is named for the Englishman
English people
The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...
Anthony de la Roché
Anthony de la Roché
Anthony de la Roché, born sometime in the 17th century, was an English merchant born in London to a French Huguenot father and an English mother...
who discovered South Georgia
South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands
South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands is a British overseas territory and overseas territory of the European Union in the southern Atlantic Ocean. It is a remote and inhospitable collection of islands, consisting of South Georgia and a chain of smaller islands, known as the South Sandwich...
in 1675.
2008 marks the 50th anniversary of biological research on Bird Island.
Wildlife
The island is home to:- 65,000 Antarctic Fur SealAntarctic Fur SealThe Antarctic fur seal is one of eight seals in the genus Arctocephalus, and one of nine fur seals in the subfamily Arctocephalinae. As its name suggests, the Antarctic fur seal is distributed in Antarctic waters. Around 95% of the world population breeds at the Island of South Georgia...
s (around 1 for every 6 m² of the island) - 50,000 Macaroni penguinMacaroni PenguinThe Macaroni Penguin is a species of penguin found from the Subantarctic to the Antarctic Peninsula. One of six species of crested penguin, it is very closely related to the Royal Penguin, and some authorities consider the two to be a single species...
s - 15,000 pairs of black-browed albatrossBlack-browed AlbatrossThe Black-browed Albatross or Black-browed Mollymawk, Thalassarche melanophrys, is a large seabird of the albatross family Diomedeidae, and it is the most widespread and common albatross.-Taxonomy:...
- 12,000 pairs of grey-headed albatrossGrey-headed AlbatrossThe Grey-headed Albatross, Thalassarche chrysostoma, also known as the Grey-headed Mollymawk, is a large seabird from the albatross family. It has a circumpolar distribution, nesting on isolated islands in the Southern Ocean and feeding at high latitudes, further south than any of the other...
- 1000 pairs of wandering albatrossWandering AlbatrossThe Wandering Albatross, Snowy Albatross or White-winged Albatross, Diomedea exulans, is a large seabird from the family Diomedeidae, which has a circumpolar range in the Southern Ocean. It was the first species of albatross to be described, and was long considered the same species as the Tristan...
- 500 pairs of southern Giant PetrelSouthern Giant PetrelThe Southern Giant Petrel , also known as the Antarctic Giant Petrel, Giant Fulmar, Stinker, and Stinkpot, is a large seabird of the southern oceans. Its distribution overlaps broadly with the similar Northern Giant Petrel, though it overall is centered slightly further south...
s (10% of South Georgia's total)
This is in addition to several hundred thousand other birds, including Gentoo Penguin
Gentoo penguin
The Gentoo Penguin , Pygoscelis papua, is easily recognized by the wide white stripe extending like a bonnet across the top of its head and its bright orange-red bill. The gentoo penguin has pale whitish-pink webbed feet and a fairly long tail - the most prominent tail of all penguins. Chicks have...
s, South Georgia Pintail
South Georgia Pintail
The South Georgia Pintail , also misleadingly known as the South Georgian Teal, is the nominate subspecies of the Yellow-billed Pintail , a duck in the dabbling duck subfamily Anatinae...
s and South Georgia Pipit
South Georgia Pipit
The South Georgia Pipit is a sparrow sized bird, only found on the South Georgia archipelago. It is the Antarctic's only song bird, and South Georgia's only passerine, and one of the few non-seabirds of the region....
s. Of South Georgia's 31 breeding species, 27 are found here.
The island is rat
Rat
Rats are various medium-sized, long-tailed rodents of the superfamily Muroidea. "True rats" are members of the genus Rattus, the most important of which to humans are the black rat, Rattus rattus, and the brown rat, Rattus norvegicus...
-free, unlike the main island of South Georgia.
See also
- Composite Antarctic Gazetteer
- History of South Georgia and the South Sandwich IslandsHistory of South Georgia and the South Sandwich IslandsThe history of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands is relatively recent. When European explorers found the islands, they were uninhabited, and their hostile climate, mountainous terrain, and remoteness made subsequent settlement difficult...
- List of Antarctic and sub-Antarctic islands
- List of Antarctic islands north of 60° S
- SCARScientific Committee on Antarctic ResearchThe Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research is an interdisciplinary body of the International Council for Science . It was established in February 1958 to continue the international coordination of Antarctic scientific activities that had begun during the International Geophysical Year of 1957-58...