Berkley Island () is an
island, 1 km long, which marks the north-eastern end of the
Swain Islands
The Swain Islands are a group of small islands and rocks about in extent, lying north of Clark Peninsula at the northeast end of the Windmill Islands. Delineated from aerial photographs taken by U.S. Navy Operation Highjump in February 1947. Nam ...
. It was first mapped from air photos taken by
U.S. Navy 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 ...
, 1946–47, and was included in a survey of the Swain Islands in 1957 by
Wilkes Station personnel under
Carl R. Eklund
Carl Robert Eklund (January 27, 1909 – November 3, 1962) was a leading American specialist in ornithology and geographic research in both the north and south polar regions. He was appointed as the first Scientific Station Leader of the Wilkes S ...
. It was named by Eklund for
Richard J. Berkley, a geomagnetician with the
US-
IGY
Immunoglobulin Y (abbreviated as IgY) is a type of immunoglobulin which is the major antibody in bird, reptile, and lungfish blood. It is also found in high concentrations in chicken egg yolk. As with the other immunoglobulins, IgY is a class of ...
wintering party of 1957 at Wilkes Station.
[
]
Important Bird Area
The island, along with neighbouring Cameron Island, the intervening sea and smaller islets, has been identified as a 97 ha 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 ...
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 some 14,000 pairs of breeding 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 p ...
s (as estimated from January 2011 satellite imagery). It lies about 9 km east of Australia's Casey Station
Casey Station, commonly called Casey, is one of three permanent stations and research outposts in Antarctica managed by the Australian Antarctic Division (AAD). Casey lies on the northern side of the Bailey Peninsula (Antarctica), Bailey Peninsu ...
.[ ]
See also
* Composite Antarctic Gazetteer
The Composite Gazetteer of Antarctica (CGA) of the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR) is the authoritative international gazetteer containing all Antarctic toponyms published in national gazetteers, plus basic information about t ...
* List of Antarctic islands south of 60° S
* Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research
* Territorial claims in Antarctica
References
External links
*
Important Bird Areas of Antarctica
Penguin colonies
Islands of Wilkes Land
{{WilkesLand-geo-stub