Nightingale Islands

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Nightingale Islands
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Location of the Nightingale Islands in the Atlantic Ocean
Map of Tristan da Cunha showing the Nightingale Islands and Inaccessible Island. Tristan Map.png
Map of Tristan da Cunha showing the Nightingale Islands and Inaccessible Island.
Nightingale Island Nightingale Island, British overseas territory-20March2012.jpg
Nightingale Island

The Nightingale Islands are a group of three islands in the South Atlantic Ocean, part of the Tristan da Cunha territory. They consist of Nightingale Island, Middle Island and Stoltenhoff Island. The islands are administered by the United Kingdom as part of the overseas territory of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha. The Nightingale Islands are uninhabited.

Contents

Nightingale Island is the smallest of the four main islands of the Tristan da Cunha Group, measuring only 4 square kilometres (1.5 sq mi), and lies 30 kilometres (18.6 mi) away from Tristan and 22 kilometres (13.7 mi) from Inaccessible. Stoltenhoff and Middle (also known as Alex Island [1] ), are really two large islets rather than conventional islands.

Geology

The Nightingale Islands are the heavily eroded remnant once much larger stratovolcano. The oldest potassium–argon dating from the island is 18 ± 4  Ma. The most recent submarine eruption was in 2004. On August 29-30, 2004, earthquake swarms from the south flank of Nightingale island were recorded in Tristan da Cunha. This was subsequently followed by pumice rafting up on the shores of Tristan da Cunha. [2] The youngest subaereal volcanic activity on the island is indirectly dated to 39,160+6,090
−3,410 uncalibrated years BP by radiocarbon dates on peat overlain by volcanic tuff. [3] .

History

Originally named "Gebrooken (Broken) island" by the Dutch under Jan Jacobszoon in January 1656, they found no safe anchorage and did not make the first landing until 1696 (most likely by Willem de Vlamingh in August of that year). Frenchman D'Etchevery also visited the island in September 1767. Nightingale was renamed after British captain Gamaliel Nightingale in 1760. [4]

Jonathan Lambert temporarily changed the name to "Lovel Island" in his 1811 proclamation in the Boston Gazette, but as with his other proposed changes (i.e. Tristan da Cunha Group to "Isles of Refreshment"), the name did not last.

Wildlife

Nightingale, a tiny island, is home to more than three million pairs of seabirds at a density of around 1.3 pairs per square metre; almost the entire vegetated island is occupied. The Nightingale Island finch is found nowhere else in the world.

Important Bird Area

The Nightingale Islands group has been recognised internationally as part of the Tristan da Cunha Endemic Bird Area (EBA). It has also been identified as an Important Bird Area (IBA) by BirdLife International as a breeding site for seabirds and its endemic landbirds. Birds for which the IBA is significant include northern rockhopper penguins (up to 125,000 breeding pairs), sooty albatrosses (up to 250 pairs), Atlantic yellow-nosed albatrosses (5000 pairs), broad-billed prions (10,000 pairs), soft-plumaged petrels (up to 1000 pairs), great shearwaters (up to 3 million pairs), white-faced storm petrels (10,000 pairs), white-bellied storm petrels (1000 pairs), Antarctic terns (up to 400 pairs), southern skuas (up to 500 pairs), Tristan thrushes, Wilkins's buntings and Nightingale buntings. [5] The nearby islands of Gough and Inaccessible Island have been recognised as Wetlands of International Importance under the Ramsar Convention. [6]

Aquatic biodiversity

The islanders of Tristan da Cunha depend on the fish resource to a large extent for food and for bait for the local rock lobster industry. Approximately 61.5 tons of linefish are harvested each year for these purposes. The insular nature of the island ecosystem renders it vulnerable to over-exploitation from commercial fishing operations. Most of the fish species are bound to the islands for the completion of their life cycles; hence, the populations are more or less isolated and not supplemented by recruits from outside of the system. [7]

37°25′16″S12°28′52″W / 37.421°S 12.481°W / -37.421; -12.481

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tristan da Cunha</span> South Atlantic island group

Tristan da Cunha, colloquially Tristan, is a remote group of volcanic islands in the South Atlantic Ocean. It is the most remote inhabited archipelago in the world, lying approximately 2,787 kilometres (1,732 mi) from Cape Town in South Africa, 2,437 kilometres (1,514 mi) from Saint Helena, 3,949 kilometres (2,454 mi) from Mar del Plata in Argentina, and 4,002 kilometres (2,487 mi) from the Falkland Islands.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Great shearwater</span> Species of bird

The great shearwater is a large shearwater in the seabird family Procellariidae. It breeds colonially on rocky islands in the south Atlantic. Outside the breeding season it ranges widely in the Atlantic.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gough Island</span> Island in the South Atlantic

Gough Island, also known historically as Gonçalo Álvares, is a rugged volcanic island in the South Atlantic Ocean. It is a dependency of Tristan da Cunha and part of the British overseas territory of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha. It is approximately 400 km (250 mi) south-east of the Tristan da Cunha archipelago, 2,400 km (1,500 mi) north-east from South Georgia Island, 2,700 km (1,700 mi) west from Cape Town, and over 3,200 km (2,000 mi) from the nearest point of South America.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Inaccessible Island</span> Island in Tristan da Cunha archipelago

Inaccessible Island is a volcanic island located in the South Atlantic Ocean, 31 km (19 mi) south-west of Tristan da Cunha. Its highest point, Swale's Fell, reaches 581 m (1,906 ft), and the island is 12.65 km2 (4.88 sq mi) in area. The volcano was last active approximately one million years ago and is now extinct.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nightingale Island</span> Volcanic island in the South Atlantic Ocean

Nightingale Island is an active volcanic island in the South Atlantic Ocean, 3 square kilometres (1.2 sq mi) in area, part of the Tristan da Cunha group of islands. They are administered by the United Kingdom as part of the overseas territory of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sooty albatross</span> Seabird in the family Diomedeidae

The sooty albatross, also known to sailors as the Quaker, is a species of marine bird belonging to the albatross family Diomedeidae. It is a medium-sized albatross that sports a sooty-brown or sooty-black color. It can be found in the southern Atlantic Ocean, the southern Indian Ocean, and the Southern Ocean. This bird scavenges for squid, fish, and carrion. Like other albatrosses, these birds mate for life and return to the same breeding spots every season. A single pair will mate every other year on a variety of islands in the southern Atlantic Ocean and the southern Indian Ocean islands. This bird is an endangered species and conservation efforts are taking place.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Spectacled petrel</span> Species of bird

The spectacled petrel is a rare seabird that nests only on the high western plateau of Inaccessible Island in the South Atlantic Tristan da Cunha group. It is one of the largest petrels that nests in burrows. This species was formerly considered to be a subspecies of the white-chinned petrel.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Middle Island, Tristan da Cunha</span> Island in Tristan da Cunha archipelago

Middle Island is a small, uninhabited island in the South Atlantic Ocean, part of the Nightingale Islands. It is governed as part of Tristan da Cunha, an archipelago that is part of the British overseas territory of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha. The island is part of the Nightingale Islands group Important Bird Area (IBA), identified as such by BirdLife International as a breeding site for seabirds and endemic landbirds. It is also known as Alex Island.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Atlantic yellow-nosed albatross</span> Large seabird from the south Atlantic

The Atlantic yellow-nosed albatross is a large seabird in the albatross family Diomedeidae.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stoltenhoff Island</span> Island in Tristan da Cunha archipelago

Stoltenhoff Island is a small uninhabited island in the South Atlantic Ocean, part of the Nightingale Islands. It is the smallest of the Nightingale Islands, and is to the northwest of Nightingale Island itself. They are governed as part of Tristan da Cunha, an archipelago and part of the British overseas territory of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha. The island is part of the Nightingale Islands group Important Bird Area (IBA), identified as such by BirdLife International as a breeding site for seabirds and endemic landbirds.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tristan albatross</span> Large seabird from the family Diomedeidae

The Tristan albatross is a large seabird from the albatross family. One of the great albatrosses of the genus Diomedea, it was only widely recognised as a full species in 1998.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Atlantic petrel</span> Species of bird

The Atlantic petrel is a gadfly petrel endemic to the South Atlantic Ocean. It breeds in enormous colonies on Tristan da Cunha and Gough Island, and ranges at sea from Brazil to Namibia, with most records at sea being to the west of the breeding islands, and along the subtropical convergence. Adults are about 43 cm long, powerful, large, stocky, dark in color with white belly. Their head can appear to be grey in worn plumage. Brown undercoating of wings and tail. These petrels can live on average of 15 years of age.

Saint Helena, Ascension Island and Tristan da Cunha, as well the other uninhabited islands nearby, are a haven for wildlife in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. The islands are or were home to much endemic flora and fauna, especially invertebrates, and many endemic fish species are found in the reef ecosystems off the islands. The islands have been identified by BirdLife International as Important Bird Areas for both their endemic landbirds and breeding seabirds.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">White-bellied storm petrel</span> Species of bird

The white-bellied storm petrel is a species of seabird in the family Oceanitidae. It is found in Angola, Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Chile, Ecuador, French Polynesia, French Southern Territories, Maldives, Namibia, New Zealand, Perú, Saint Helena, and South Africa. Its natural habitat is open seas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tristan thrush</span> Species of bird

The Tristan thrush, also known as the starchy, is a species of bird in the thrush family that is endemic to the British overseas territories of the isolated Tristan da Cunha archipelago in the South Atlantic Ocean.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Northern rockhopper penguin</span> Species of bird

The northern rockhopper penguin, Moseley's rockhopper penguin, or Moseley's penguin is a penguin species native to the southern Indian and Atlantic Oceans. It is described as distinct from the southern rockhopper penguin.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Geography of Tristan da Cunha</span>

Tristan da Cunha is an archipelago of five islands in the southern Atlantic Ocean, the largest of which is the island of Tristan da Cunha itself and the second-largest, the remote bird haven, Gough Island. It forms part of a wider territory called Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha which includes Saint Helena and Ascension Island.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tristan da Cunha–Gough Islands shrub and grasslands</span>

The Tristan da Cunha–Gough Islands shrub and grasslands is a terrestrial ecoregion which covers the Tristan da Cunha archipelago and Gough Island in the South Atlantic Ocean. The islands' remote location gave rise to many endemic species.

References

  1. ↑ Grundy, Richard. "Tristan da Cunha Nightingale Islands". www.tristandc.com. Retrieved 2024-05-07.
  2. ↑ "Global Volcanism Program | Nightingale Island". Smithsonian Institution | Global Volcanism Program.
  3. ↑ McDougall, Ian; Ollier, C.D. (1982), "Potassium–argon ages from Tristan da Cunha, South Atlantic" (PDF), Geological Magazine , 119 (1): 87–93, doi:10.1017/S0016756800025681
  4. ↑ Faustini, Arnaldo. "The Annals of Tristan da Cunha: The Early History of Tristan da Cunha." https://web.archive.org/web/20061126204533/http://www.btinternet.com/~sa_sa/tristan_da_cunha/images/tristan_annals.pdf%5B%5D
  5. ↑ "Nightingale Island group". Important Bird Areas factsheet. BirdLife International. 2012. Archived from the original on June 30, 2007. Retrieved 2012-10-26.
  6. ↑ "The Annotated Ramsar List: United Kingdom". Ramsar.org. Archived from the original on 9 April 2013. Retrieved 6 April 2013.
  7. ↑ Andrew, T.G.; Hecht, T.; Heemstra, Phillip C.; Lutjeharms, J.R.E. (1995). "Fishes of the Tristan da Cunha Group and Gough Island, South Atlantic Ocean". Ichthyological Bulletin J.L.B. Smith Institute of Ichthyology (63). J.L.B. Smith Institute of Ichthyology, Rhodes University, Grahamstown, South Africa. hdl:10962/d1019889.
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