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Potter Peninsula
Potter Peninsula is a low ice-free peninsula between Potter Cove and Stranger Point in south-west King George Island, in the South Shetland Islands of Antarctica. It is protected as ASPA 132, largely because of the richness and diversity of its flora and fauna. History The peninsula was named "Peninsula Potter", in association with Potter Cove, by Chilean geologists Roberto Araya and Francisco Hervé in 1966, following field work there. The English form of the name has been accepted. Important Bird Area The peninsula has been identified as an Important Bird Area (IBA) by BirdLife International because it supports a wide range of bird colonies including over 14,000 pairs of Adélie penguins, 2000 pairs of gentoo penguins and 265 pairs of chinstrap penguins. Other species found nesting at the site are south polar skuas, southern giant petrels, black-bellied and Wilson's storm petrels, Cape petrels, imperial shags, snowy sheathbills, brown skuas, kelp gull The kelp ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pygoscelis Papua -Jougla Point, Wiencke Island, Palmer Archipelago -adults And Chicks-8
The genus ''Pygoscelis'' ("rump-legged") contains three living species of penguins collectively known as "brush-tailed penguins". Taxonomy Mitochondrial and nuclear DNA evidence suggests the genus split from other penguins around 38 million years ago, about 2 million years after the ancestors of the genus ''Aptenodytes''. In turn, the Adelie penguins split off from the other members of the genus around 19 million years ago. ;Extant species A 2020 study found that the gentoo penguin may actually comprise a species complex of 4 similar but genetically distinct species: the northern gentoo penguin (''P. papua''), the southern gentoo penguin (''P. ellsworthi''), the eastern gentoo penguin (''P. taeniata''), and the newly-described South Georgia gentoo penguin (''P. poncetii''). However, in 2021 the International Ornithological Congress recognized these as being subspecies of ''P. papua''. A study has estimated that there are about 3.79 million pairs of Adélie, 387,0 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
South Polar Skua
The south polar skua (''Stercorarius maccormicki'') is a large seabird in the skua family, Stercorariidae. An older name for the bird is MacCormick's skua, after explorer and naval surgeon Robert McCormick, who first collected the type specimen. This species and the other large skuas, such as the great skua, are sometimes placed in a separate genus ''Catharacta''. Description The south polar skua is a large bird (though small compared to other skuas sometimes placed in ''Catharacta'') that measures around in length. Adults are greyish brown above, and have a whitish (pale morph) or straw-brown (intermediate morph) head and underparts, and the contrast between head and body makes it easy to separate from similar species with good views. Juveniles and adult dark morphs are harder to distinguish from their relatives, and more subjective or difficult-to-observe criteria, such as the colder brown plumage and blue bill base, must be used. Identification Distinguishing this skua fr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Seabird Colonies
Seabirds (also known as marine birds) are birds that are 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. The first seabirds evolved in the Cretaceous period, while modern seabird families emerged in the Paleogene. Seabirds generally live longer, breed later and have fewer young than other birds, but they invest a great deal of time in their young. Most species nest in colonies, varying in size from a few dozen birds to millions. Many species are famous for undertaking long annual migrations, crossing the equator or circumnavigating the Earth in some cases. They feed both at the ocean's surface and below it, and even on each other. Seabirds can be highly pelagic, coastal, or in some cases spend a part of the year away from the sea entirely. Seabirds and humans have ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Important Bird Areas Of Antarctica
Importance is a property of entities that matter or make a difference. For example, World War II was an important event and Albert Einstein was an important person because of how they affected the world. There are disagreements in the academic literature about what type of difference is required. According to the causal impact view, something is important if it has a big causal impact on the world. This view is rejected by various theorists, who insist that an additional aspect is required: that the impact in question makes a value difference. This is often understood in terms of how the important thing affects the well-being of people. So in this view, World War II was important, not just because it brought about many wide-ranging changes but because these changes had severe negative impacts on the well-being of the people involved. The difference in question is usually understood counterfactually as the contrast between how the world is and how the world would have been witho ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Peninsulas Of King George Island (South Shetland Islands)
A peninsula is a landform that extends from a mainland and is only connected to land on one side. Peninsulas exist on each continent. The largest peninsula in the world is the Arabian Peninsula. Etymology The word ''peninsula'' derives , . The word entered English in the 16th century. Definitions A peninsula is generally defined as a piece of land surrounded on most sides by water. A peninsula may be bordered by more than one body of water, and the body of water does not have to be an ocean or a sea. A piece of land on a very tight river bend or one between two rivers is sometimes said to form a peninsula, for example in the New Barbadoes Neck in New Jersey, United States. A peninsula may be connected to the mainland via an isthmus, for example, in the Isthmus of Corinth which connects to the Peloponnese peninsula. Formation and types Peninsulas can be formed from continental drift, glacial erosion, glacial meltwater, glacial deposition, marine sediment, marine transg ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Antarctic Tern
The Antarctic tern (''Sterna vittata'') is a seabird in the family Laridae. It ranges throughout the southern oceans and is found on small islands around Antarctica as well as on the shores of the mainland. Its diet consists primarily of small fish and crustaceans. It is very similar in appearance to the closely related Arctic tern, but it is stockier, and it is in its breeding plumage in the southern summer, when the Arctic tern has shed old feathers to get its non-breeding plumage. The Antarctic tern does not migrate like the Arctic tern does, but it can still be found on a very large range. This tern species is actually more closely related to the South American tern. Gulls, skuas and jaegers are the primary predators of the bird's eggs and young. The Antarctic tern can be further divided into six subspecies. The total global population of this bird is around 140,000 individuals. Taxonomy The Antarctic tern was formally described in 1789 by the German naturalist Johann Frie ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kelp Gull
The kelp gull (''Larus dominicanus''), also known as the Dominican gull, is a gull that breeds on coasts and islands through much of the Southern Hemisphere. The nominate ''L. d. dominicanus'' is the subspecies found around South America, parts of Australia (where it overlaps with the Pacific gull), and New Zealand (where it is known as the black-backed gull, the southern black-backed gull, mollyhawk – particularly the juveniles, or by its Māori name ''karoro''). ''L. d. vetula'' (known as the Cape gull) is a subspecies occurring around Southern Africa. The specific name comes from the Dominican Order of friars, who wear black and white habits. Description The kelp gull superficially resembles two gulls from further north in the Atlantic Ocean, the lesser black-backed gull and the great black-backed gull, and is intermediate in size between these two species. This species ranges from in total length, from in wingspan and from in weight. Adult males and females ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Brown Skua
The brown skua (''Stercorarius antarcticus''), also known as the Antarctic skua, subantarctic skua, southern great skua, southern skua, or hākoakoa (Māori), is a large seabird that breeds in the subantarctic and Antarctic zones and moves further north when not breeding. Its taxonomy is highly complex and a matter of dispute, with some splitting it into two or three species: Falkland skua (''S. antarcticus''), Tristan skua (''S. hamiltoni''), and subantarctic skua (''S. lönnbergi''). To further confuse, it hybridizes with both the south polar and Chilean skuas, and the entire group has been considered to be a subspecies of the great skua, a species otherwise restricted to the Northern Hemisphere. Description This is the heaviest species of skua and rivals the largest gulls, the great black-backed gull and glaucous gull, as the heaviest species in the shorebird order although not as large in length or wingspan. It is in length, in wingspan and has a body mass of .''CRC Handb ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Snowy Sheathbill
The snowy sheathbill (''Chionis albus''), also known as the greater sheathbill, pale-faced sheathbill, and paddy, is one of two species of sheathbill. It is usually found on the ground. It is the only land bird native to the Antarctic continent. Taxonomy The snowy sheathbill was formally described in 1789 by the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin in his revised and expanded edition of Carl Linnaeus's ''Systema Naturae''. He placed it in a new genus ''Vaginalis'' and coined the binomial name ''Vaginalis alba''. Gmelin based his description on the "white sheath-bill" that had been described and illustrated in 1785 by the English ornithologist John Latham in his ''A General Synopsis of Birds ''. Latham erroneously believed that the bird was found in New Zealand. The type locality was designated as the Falkland Islands by Baron Bradford and Charles Chubb in 1912. The snowy sheathbill is now placed in the genus '' Chionis'' that was introduced in 1788 by the German natural ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Imperial Shag
The imperial shag or imperial cormorant (''Leucocarbo atriceps'') is a black-and-white cormorant native to southern South America, islands of the Subantarctic, and the Antarctic Peninsula, primarily in rocky coastal regions, but locally also at large inland lakes. Some taxonomic authorities, including the International Ornithologists' Union, place it in the genus ''Leucocarbo'', others in the genus ''Phalacrocorax''. It is also known as the blue-eyed shag, blue-eyed cormorant and by many other names, and is one of a larger group of cormorants called blue-eyed shags. The Taxonomy (biology), taxonomy is complex, and several types are treated as either subspecies or separate species. Taxonomy The taxonomy is complex, and species limits within this group remain unresolved. Some taxonomic authorities, including the International Ornithologists' Union, split the group into the species listed below. Others consider all or part of the group conspecific. The following are part of this gro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cape Petrel
The pintado petrel (''Daption capense''), also called the Cape petrel, or Cape fulmar, is a common seabird of the Southern Ocean from the family Procellariidae. It is the only member of the genus ''Daption'', and is allied to the fulmarine petrels and the giant petrels. It is an abundant seabird, with an estimated population of around 2 million. Taxonomy The pintado petrel was formally described by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in 1758 in the tenth edition of his ''Systema Naturae'' under the binomial name ''Procellaria capensis''. Linnaeus cited the "white and black spotted peteril" that had been described and illustrated in 1747 by the English naturalist George Edwards in the second volume of his ''A Natural History of Uncommon Birds''. The pintado petrel is now the only species placed in the genus ''Daption'', introduced in 1826 by English naturalist James Francis Stephens. The genus name ''Daption'' is an anagram of the Portuguese name "Pintado" which was given to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wilson's Storm Petrel
Wilson's storm petrel (''Oceanites oceanicus''), also known as Wilson's petrel, is a small seabird of the austral storm petrel family Oceanitidae. It is one of the most abundant bird species in the world and has a circumpolar distribution mainly in the seas of the southern hemisphere but extending northwards during the summer of the northern hemisphere. The world population was estimated in 2022 as stable at 8 to 20 million birds. In 2010 it had been estimated at 12–30 million. A 1998 book had estimated more than 50 million pairs. The name commemorates the Scottish-American ornithologist Alexander Wilson (ornithologist), Alexander Wilson. The genus name ''Oceanites'' refers to the mythical Oceanids, the three thousand daughters of Tethys (mythology), Tethys. The species name is from Latin ''oceanus'', "ocean". Taxonomy Originally described in the genus ''Procellaria'' it has been placed under the genus ''Oceanites''. Two or three subspecies are recognized and one population '' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
