Bird Island, Falkland Islands

Coordinates: 52°10′S 60°56′W / 52.17°S 60.93°W / -52.17; -60.93
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Bird Island
Isla Pájaro
UTC−3 (FKST
)
If shown, area and population ranks are for all islands and all inhabited islands in the Falklands respectively.

Bird Island (Spanish: Isla Pájaro) is one of the Falkland Islands. It lies due south of West Falkland, near Port Stephens[1] and Calm Head. It has been identified as an Important Bird Area (IBA) by BirdLife International.

According to Ian Strange "Such offshore islands [as Bird Island] are the remaining strongholds of a large percentage of bird life".[1]

Geography

Bird Island is located 4.5 km off the south-western coast of West Falkland and is roughly triangular in shape. The western half of the southern coast has sheer cliffs reaching at least 70 m and the plateau above slopes gently to the north and west. In the centre of the island there is a large seasonal pool to the west of a small inlet. The eastern promontory has two domed peaks reaching to at least 110 m with sheer southern cliffs of 30 m and very steep slopes in the north. Access by boat is difficult, except at the small north-east-facing inlet between the northern and eastern promontories, and the terrain is difficult to cross, with dense growth of Tussac above thick, soft peat and Tussac overhanging deep gulches.[2]

Wildlife

Amongst the birds which breed here are

The total number of species recorded on Bird Island in November 1998 was 27, of which 25 bred or were probably breeding.

thin-billed prions
, an important prey species.

Deep

References

  1. ^ a b c Strange, Ian (1983) The Falkland Islands
  2. ^ a b "Important Bird Areas factsheet: Bird Island". BirdLife International. 2012. Retrieved 3 November 2012.