Adelie penguin (Pygoscelis adeliae), walking

McDonald Beach is an extensive beach lying west of

Inclusion Hill Mount Bird is a high shield volcano standing about south of Cape Bird, the northern extremity of Ross Island. It was mapped by the British National Antarctic Expedition, 1901–04, under Robert Falcon Scott, and apparently named by them af ...

and southwest of

Cape Bird Cape Bird () is a cape which marks the north extremity of Ross Island in Antarctica. It was discovered in 1841 by a British expedition under James Clark Ross, and named by him after Lieutenant Edward J. Bird of the ship HMS ''Erebus''. Cape Bird ...

Ross Island Ross Island is an island formed by four volcanoes in the Ross Sea near the continent of Antarctica, off the coast of Victoria Land in McMurdo Sound. Ross Island lies within the boundaries of Ross Dependency, an area of Antarctica claimed by New ...

, Antarctica. It was named by the

New Zealand Geological Survey Antarctic Expedition The New Zealand Geological Survey Antarctic Expedition (NZGSAE) describes a series of scientific explorations of the continent Antarctica. The expeditions were notably active throughout the 1950s and 1960s. Features named by the expeditions 1957 ...

(NZGSAE), 1958–59, after Captain Edwin A. McDonald, then Deputy Commander, US Naval Support Force, Antarctica, who provided extensive transport and other facilities to the NZGSAE in support of the survey of the Cape Bird area.

Important Bird Area

A 269 ha site comprising all the ice-free ground at the beach 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 about 43,000 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 – the mean total count over 30 seasons between 1981 and 2012.

References

External links

* Important Bird Areas of Antarctica Penguin colonies Beaches of Antarctica Landforms of Ross Island {{RossIsland-geo-stub