Harmony Point is a point which lies close west of Harmony Cove and forms both the south side of the entrance to

Malak Sechko Cove Malak Sechko Cove ( bg, залив Малък Сечко, zaliv Malak Sechko, ) is the 1.8 km wide cove indenting for 760 m the northwest coast of Guangzhou Peninsula on Nelson Island in the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica north of Harmony Poi ...

and the western extremity of Guangzhou Peninsula and Nelson Island, in the

South Shetland Islands The South Shetland Islands are a group of Antarctic islands with a total area of . They lie about north of the Antarctic Peninsula, and between southwest of the nearest point of the South Orkney Islands. By the Antarctic Treaty of 195 ...

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 ...

. It was charted in 1935 by

Discovery Investigations The Discovery Investigations were a series of scientific cruises and shore-based investigations into the biology of whales in the Southern Ocean. They were funded by the British Colonial Office and organised by the Discovery Committee in London ...

personnel on the '' Discovery II'', and named from association with Harmony Cove.

Important Bird Area

The 3,069 ha area comprising the ice-free points Harmony and The Toe, together with their ice-covered vicinity has been identified as 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 a variety of breeding birds, including one of the largest chinstrap penguin bird colonies on the

Antarctic Peninsula The Antarctic Peninsula, known as O'Higgins Land in Chile and Tierra de San Martín in Argentina, and originally as Graham Land in the United Kingdom and the Palmer Peninsula in the United States, is the northernmost part of mainland Antarctic ...

with around 90,000 pairs. Other birds nesting at the site are

gentoo penguin The gentoo penguin ( ) (''Pygoscelis papua'') is a penguin species (or possibly a species complex) in the genus '' Pygoscelis'', most closely related to the Adélie penguin (''P. adeliae'') and the chinstrap penguin (''P. antarcticus''). The ea ...

s (3300 pairs), imperial shags (45 pairs),

Wilson's Wilson may refer to: People *Wilson (name) ** List of people with given name Wilson ** List of people with surname Wilson * Wilson (footballer, 1927–1998), Brazilian manager and defender *Wilson (footballer, born 1984), full name Wilson Rodr ...

and

black-bellied storm petrel The black-bellied storm petrel (''Fregetta tropica'') is a species of seabird in the family Oceanitidae. It is found in Antarctica, Argentina, Australia, Bouvet Island, Brazil, Chile, Falkland Islands, French Polynesia, French Souther ...

s (1000 pairs combined),

southern giant petrel The southern giant petrel (''Macronectes giganteus''), 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 pe ...

s (485 pairs), Cape petrels (480 pairs), Antarctic skuas (60 pairs),

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. ...

s (140 pairs), kelp gulls (130 pairs) and Antarctic terns (170 pairs). The site is protected as ASPA 133. Its topography is undulating, rising to 40 m, with many streams Its abundant vegetation includes

moss Mosses are small, non-vascular flowerless plants in the taxonomic division Bryophyta (, ) '' sensu stricto''. Bryophyta ('' sensu lato'', Schimp. 1879) may also refer to the parent group bryophytes, which comprise liverworts, mosses, and ...

es, lichens, and two species of vascular plant –

Antarctic Hairgrass ''Deschampsia antarctica'', the Antarctic hair grass, is one of two flowering plants native to Antarctica, the other being ''Colobanthus quitensis'' (Antarctic pearlwort). They mainly occur on the South Orkney Islands, the South Shetland Island ...

and Antarctic Pearlwort.

References

SCAR Composite Antarctic Gazetteer
Geography of Nelson Island (South Shetland Islands) Headlands of the South Shetland Islands Important Bird Areas of Antarctica Seabird colonies Antarctic Specially Protected Areas Penguin colonies {{NelsonIsland-geo-stub