The Cape-Pigeon Rocks are twin rocky promontories on the western side of

Watt Bay Watt Bay () is a bay about 16 nautical miles (30 km) wide indenting the coast between Garnet Point and Cape De la Motte. Discovered by the Australasian Antarctic Expedition (1911–14) under Douglas Mawson Sir Douglas Mawson OBE ...

, south of

Garnet Point Garnet Point () is a rocky coastal point consisting of garnet gneiss, located at the west side of the entrance to Watt Bay, in the George V Coast area of Antarctica. Garnet Point was discovered by the Australasian Antarctic Expedition (1911–14) un ...

. They were discovered by the Australasian Antarctic Expedition (1911–14) under Douglas Mawson, who gave the name because of the large rookery of Cape petrels (also known as Cape pigeons) here. The

Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names 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 ...

added a hyphen between the first and second words in the specific part of the name to reduce ambiguity and emphasize the generic term "Rocks".

Important Bird Area

A 127 ha site comprising the ice-free ground of Cape Pigeon Rocks, along with a small ice-free island to the east and the intervening sea ice, 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 a colony of about 10,000 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 p ...

s (estimated from 2011 satellite imagery).

References

External links

* Important Bird Areas of Antarctica Penguin colonies Headlands of George V Land {{GeorgeVLand-geo-stub