Devil Island is a 128 ha, ice-free island about 2 km long, in the

James Ross Island group The James Ross Island group is a group of islands located close to the northeastern tip of the Antarctic Peninsula. The largest islands in the group are James Ross Island, Snow Hill Island, Vega Island, and Seymour Island. The islands lie to ...

near the north-eastern tip of 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 ...

. It lies in a small cove 1 km north of

Vega Island Vega Island is a small island to the northwest of James Ross Island, on the Antarctic Peninsula. It is separated from James Ross Island by Herbert Sound. The island was named by Otto Nordenskjold, leader of the Swedish Antarctic Expedition (190 ...

, east of the Trinity Peninsula. It is characterised by several low hills rising to a maximum height of about 150 m.

Geography

Devil island is a recent volcano consisting of two basalt volcano necks, surrounded by extensive talus.

Important Bird Area

The site 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 large breeding colony of about 15,000 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. Other birds recorded as nesting there include brown skuas and snow petrels. Mating adele

References

Important Bird Areas of Antarctica Seabird colonies Islands of the James Ross Island group Penguin colonies {{GrahamLand-geo-stub