Harmony Point is a point which lies close west of

Harmony Cove Harmony Cove () is a cove entered between Harmony Point and The Toe on the west side of Nelson Island (South Shetland Islands), Nelson Island, in the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica. It was named by American sealers in about 1820 after the seali ...

and forms both the south side of the entrance to Malak Sechko Cove and the western extremity of Guangzhou Peninsula and Nelson Island, in the

South Shetland Islands The South Shetland Islands are a group of List of Antarctic and subantarctic islands, Antarctic islands located in the Drake Passage with a total area of . They lie about north of the Antarctic Peninsula, and between southwest of the n ...

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

. 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

Important Bird Area

The 3,069 ha area comprising the ice-free points Harmony and

The Toe The Toe is a point marking the south side of the entrance to Harmony Cove and the north-west side of the entrance to Varvara Cove on the west side of Nelson Island, in the South Shetland Islands. This descriptive name seems first to appear on a ...

, 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 i ...

because it supports a variety of breeding birds, including one of the largest

chinstrap penguin The chinstrap penguin (''Pygoscelis antarcticus'') is a species of penguin that inhabits a variety of islands and shores in the Southern Pacific and the Antarctic Oceans. Its name stems from the narrow black band under its head, which makes it a ...

bird colonies on the

Antarctic Peninsula The Antarctic Peninsula, known as O'Higgins Land in Chile and Tierra de San Martin 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 Antarctica. ...

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 earl ...

s (3300 pairs),

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 ...

s (45 pairs), Wilson's and black-bellied storm petrels (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 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 petr ...

s (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 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, pa ...

s (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 plant, non-vascular flowerless plants in the taxonomic phylum, division Bryophyta (, ) ''sensu stricto''. Bryophyta (''sensu lato'', Wilhelm Philippe Schimper, Schimp. 1879) may also refer to the parent group bryo ...

es,

lichen A lichen ( , ) is a hybrid colony (biology), colony of algae or cyanobacteria living symbiotically among hypha, filaments of multiple fungus species, along with yeasts and bacteria embedded in the cortex or "skin", in a mutualism (biology), m ...

s, and two species of vascular plant– Antarctic Hairgrass and

Antarctic Pearlwort ''Colobanthus quitensis'', also known as the Antarctic pearlwort, is one of two native flowering plants found in the Antarctic region, the other being Deschampsia antarctica, Antarctic hair grass. It has yellow flowers and grows about tall, givi ...

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