Beall Island is a rocky island with small coves indenting the eastern and western sides, lying south-west of the

Bailey Peninsula Bailey Peninsula is a rocky peninsula, about long and wide, on the Budd Coast of Wilkes Land in Antarctica. It is the site of Australia’s Casey Station. Antarctic Specially Protected Area An area of land on the peninsula, lying only some ...

, in the Windmill Islands on the Budd Coast of

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean, it contains the geographic South Pole. Antarctica is the fifth-largest co ...

. There are several small lakes on the island. It was first mapped from aerial photos taken by the USN's

Operation Highjump Operation HIGHJUMP, officially titled The United States Navy Antarctic Developments Program, 1946–1947, (also called Task Force 68), was a United States Navy (USN) operation to establish the Antarctic research base Little America IV. The opera ...

and Operation Windmill in 1947 and 1948. It was named by the

US-ACAN The Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names (ACAN or US-ACAN) is an advisory committee of the United States Board on Geographic Names responsible for recommending commemorative names for features in Antarctica. History The committee was established ...

for James M. Beall, U.S. Weather Bureau observer with Operation Windmill who assisted staff aerology officers with forecasting duties. The Beall Reefs are submarine ridges with depths of less than , located west of the island; they were discovered at the establishment of

Wilkes Station Wilkes Station was an Antarctic research station established 29 January 1957 by the United States as one of seven U.S. stations established for the International Geophysical Year (IGY) program in Antarctica. It was taken over by Australia on ...

in 1961 and named by ANCA after the island. Connors Point is the north-western point of the island; it was named by the US-ACAN for Aerographer's Mate William J. Connors, USN, a member of the Wilkes Station party of 1958.

Important Bird Area

A 414 ha site comprising both Beall Island and neighbouring

Shirley Island Shirley Island is a rocky island lying north-west of the western end of the Bailey Peninsula, in the Windmill Islands of the Budd Coast, Wilkes Land, Antarctica. It is mostly ice-free with undulating, rocky terrain. It was first mapped from ...

, as well as the intervening marine area, has been designated an

Important Bird Area An Important Bird and Biodiversity Area (IBA) is an area identified using an internationally agreed set of criteria as being globally important for the conservation of bird populations. IBA was developed and sites are identified by BirdLife Int ...

(IBA) by

BirdLife International BirdLife International is a global partnership of non-governmental organizations that strives to conserve birds and their habitats. BirdLife International's priorities include preventing extinction of bird species, identifying and safeguarding ...

because it supports breeding colonies of about 14,000 pairs of

Adélie penguin The Adélie penguin (''Pygoscelis adeliae'') is a species of penguin common along the entire coast of the Antarctic continent, which is the only place where it is found. It is the most widespread penguin species, and, along with the emperor peng ...

s, based on 2011 satellite imagery. Other birds breeding in the IBA include

snow petrel The snow petrel (''Pagodroma nivea'') is the only member of the genus ''Pagodroma.'' It is one of only three birds that has been seen at the Geographic South Pole, along with the Antarctic petrel and the south polar skua, which have the most s ...

s, Wilson's storm petrels and

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 speci ...

References

Important Bird Areas of Antarctica Seabird colonies Penguin colonies Windmill Islands {{WilkesLand-geo-stub

Important Bird Area

See also

References