Mount Biscoe is a distinctive black peak,
[ the easternmost and largest of two ice-free rock massifs located 6 km south-west of ]Cape Ann
Cape Ann is a rocky peninsula in northeastern Massachusetts on the Atlantic Ocean. It is about northeast of Boston and marks the northern limit of Massachusetts Bay. Cape Ann includes the city of Gloucester and the towns of Essex, Man ...
on the coast of Enderby Land
Enderby Land is a projecting landmass of Antarctica. Its shore extends from Shinnan Glacier at about to William Scoresby Bay at , approximately of the earth's longitude (planets), longitude. It was first documented in western and eastern liter ...
in 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. ...
. About 700 m in height, it lies 7 km north-west of Wordie Nunatak, and 7 km north-east of Mount Hurley
Mount Hurley () is a snow-covered massif with steep bare slopes on the west side, standing south of Cape Ann and south of Mount Biscoe, Antarctica. It was discovered in January 1930 by the British Australian New Zealand Antarctic Research Exped ...
.[
]
Discovery and naming
The mountain was seen from the ''Discovery'' by the (1929-31) and named by Sir Douglas Mawson
Sir Douglas Mawson (5 May 1882 – 14 October 1958) was a British-born Australian geologist, Antarctic explorer, and academic. Along with Roald Amundsen, Robert Falcon Scott, and Sir Ernest Shackleton, he was a key expedition leader during ...
on 13 March 1931, after explorer John Biscoe
John Biscoe (28 April 1794 – 1843) was an English mariner and explorer who commanded the first expedition known to have sighted the areas named Enderby Land and Graham Land along the coast of Antarctica. The expedition also found a number of is ...
who is thought to have discovered the feature a century earlier and called it Cape Ann after his wife. Mawson applied the name Cape Ann to the nearby headland. The mountain's position was fixed by an ANARE
The Australian National Antarctic Research Expeditions (ANARE ) is the historical name for the Australia: Antarctic Program#Australian Antarctic program, Australian Antarctic Program (AAP) administered for Australia by the Australian Antarctic D ...
survey party in 1957.
Important Bird Area
A 361 ha site covering the beaches, and extending up the lower slopes of the mountain to an altitude of 200 m, 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 i ...
because it supports about 29,000 breeding 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. Thousands of Antarctic petrel
The Antarctic petrel (''Thalassoica antarctica'') is a boldly marked dark brown and white petrel, found in Antarctica, most commonly in the Ross and Weddell Seas. They eat Antarctic krill, fish, and small squid. They feed while swimming but can ...
s breed on the slopes above the Adélie colony.
References
Important Bird Areas of Antarctica
Penguin colonies
Mountains of Enderby Land
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