Taylor Rookery is an emperor penguin breeding colony on the Mawson Coast of Mac. Robertson Land in East Antarctica. It is the larger of the two known entirely land-based colonies of the species, most of which are situated on sea ice. [1]
Taylor Rookery is an emperor penguin breeding colony on the Mawson Coast of Mac. Robertson Land in East Antarctica. It is the larger of the two known entirely land-based colonies of the species, most of which are situated on sea ice. [1]
The colony site lies some 90 km west of Australia’s Mawson Station. The rookery is on a low rock outcrop at the south-west corner of a bay formed by Taylor Glacier to the west, the Antarctic ice cap to the south, the islands of the Colbeck Archipelago to the east, and is bordered by sea ice to the east and north. [1]
It is ideal for population monitoring since it is surrounded by low, rocky hills which make it possible to see every bird without entering the breeding area. A long-term count program of the emperor penguin population at Taylor Rookery has been taking place since 1954. The number of penguins averaged about 3000 breeding pairs over the 15 years from 1988 to 2002 and appears stable. The site is protected under the Antarctic Treaty System as Antarctic Specially Protected Area (ASPA) No.101. [1] The 26 ha site has also been designated an Important Bird Area (IBA) by BirdLife International. [2] So far, this is the largest colony of the species to occur on land and is likely to better adapt to the effects of climate change than the other colonies that breed on sea ice.
The emperor penguin is the tallest and heaviest of all living penguin species and is endemic to Antarctica. The male and female are similar in plumage and size, reaching 100 cm (39 in) in length and weighing from 22 to 45 kg. Feathers of the head and back are black and sharply delineated from the white belly, pale-yellow breast and bright-yellow ear patches.
The Scullin Monolith is a crescent-shaped rock fronting the sea 6 km (3.7 mi) west of the similar Murray Monolith, and 8 km (5.0 mi) from Torlyn Mountain, in Mac. Robertson Land, Antarctica. It is a steep massif of metasedimentary gneiss and granitic origin, with the adjacent coastline consisting of 40 m high ice cliffs. The monolith rises steeply to extend from 435 m high Mikkelsen Peak westward in a crescent that forms Douglas Bay.
Cape Hallett is a snow-free area on the northern tip of the Hallett Peninsula on the Ross Sea coast of Victoria Land, East Antarctica. Cape Adare lies 100 km (62 mi) to the north.
Beaufort Island is an island in Antarctica's Ross Sea. It is the northernmost feature of the Ross Archipelago, lying 21 kilometres north of Cape Bird, Ross Island. It is approximately 18.4 km2 in area. It was first charted by James Clark Ross in 1841. Ross named the island for Sir Francis Beaufort, hydrographer to the British Royal Navy.
Cape Denison is a rocky point at the head of Commonwealth Bay in George V Land, Antarctica. It was discovered in 1912 by the Australasian Antarctic Expedition (1911–14) under Douglas Mawson, who named it for Sir Hugh Denison of Sydney, a patron of the expedition. The cape was the site of the expedition's main base. Called by Mawson "the windiest place on Earth", the site experiences fierce katabatic winds.
Cape Adare is a prominent cape of black basalt forming the northern tip of the Adare Peninsula and the north-easternmost extremity of Victoria Land, East Antarctica.
Cape Crozier is the most easterly point of Ross Island in Antarctica. It was discovered in 1841 during James Clark Ross's expedition of 1839 to 1843 with HMS Erebus and HMS Terror, and was named after Francis Crozier, captain of HMS Terror. The extinct volcano Mount Terror, also named during the Ross expedition, rises sharply from the Cape to a height of 3,230 m (10,600 ft), and the edge of the Ross Ice Shelf stretches away to its east.
Cape Shirreff is a prominent cape at the north end of the rocky peninsula which separates Hero Bay and Barclay Bay on the north coast of Livingston Island, in the South Shetland Islands of Antarctica. The cape was named by Edward Bransfield in 1820 after Captain William H. Shirreff, the British commanding officer in the Pacific at that time.
The Dion Islands are a group of small islands and rocks lying in the northern part of Marguerite Bay, 11 kilometres (6 nmi) south-west of Cape Alexandra, Adelaide Island, off the west coast of the Antarctic Peninsula. They were discovered by the French Antarctic Expedition, 1908–10, and named by Jean-Baptiste Charcot for the Marquis Jules-Albert de Dion, who donated three motor sledges and whose De Dion-Bouton works produced equipment for the expedition.
Murray Monolith is a detached part of Torlyn Mountain in Mac.Robertson Land, Antarctica. It is a steep massif of metasedimentary gneiss and granitic origin, with the adjacent coastline consisting of 40 m high ice cliffs. The monolith is dome-shaped with steep sides, rising to a seaward summit of 339 m and an inland summit of 363 m at Torlyn Mountain.
The Rookery Islands are a group of rocks and small islands in western Holme Bay, north of the David and Masson Ranges, on the Mawson Coast of Mac.Robertson Land in East Antarctica. The largest in the group are Giganteus Island in the north-west, 600 m long by 400 m wide, and Rookery Island in the south, 1 km long and 250 m wide. The islands are rocky and of low relief, rising to heights of 60 m on Rookery Island, 25 m on Giganteus Island, and ranging from 10 – 30 m on the smaller islands. The nearest permanent research station is Australia's Mawson, some 15 km to the east in Holme Bay.
Svarthamaren Mountain is a prominent ice-free mountain or large nunatak on the east side of the mouth of Vestreskorve Glacier in the Muhlig-Hofmann Mountains of Queen Maud Land, Antarctica. It was mapped from surveys and aerial photographs by the Norwegian Antarctic Expedition (1956–60) and named Svarthamaren.
Bernard Island is a rocky island 400 m long lying 500 m east of the Petrel Island in the Géologie Archipelago of Antarctica. It was charted in 1951 by a French Antarctic Expedition and named by them for Claude Bernard, a noted French physiologist.
Carrel Island, also known as Le Mauguen Island, is a small, rocky island 400 metres (1,300 ft) long lying 200 metres (660 ft) south of Petrel Island in the Géologie Archipelago of Antarctica. It was charted in 1950 by the French Antarctic Expedition and named by them for Alexis Carrel, noted French surgeon and physiologist.
Edmonson Point is a rounded, largely ice-free point lying below Mount Melbourne along the west side of Wood Bay, Victoria Land, Antarctica. It was mapped by the United States Geological Survey from surveys and from US Navy air photographs, 1955–63, and was named by the Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names for Larry Edmonson, a satellite geodesy scientist at McMurdo Station, winter party 1966.
The Géologie Archipelago, also known as the Pointe Géologie Archipelago, Geology Archipelago or Cape Geology Archipelago, is a small archipelago of rocky islands and rocks close to the north of Cape Géodésie and Astrolabe Glacier Tongue, extending from Helene Island on the west to the Dumoulin Islands on the east, in Adélie Land, Antarctica.
Haswell Island is the largest of the Haswell Islands, lying off the coast of Antarctica, about 3 kilometres (1.5 nmi) north of Mabus Point in Queen Mary Land. It was discovered by the Western Base Party of the Australasian Antarctic Expedition, 1911–14, under Mawson, and named by him for Professor William A. Haswell, a zoologist at Sydney University and a member of the expedition's Advisory Committee.
Lamarck Island is a rocky island 250 m (820 ft) long, lying 300 m (980 ft) east of Petrel Island and 300 m (980 ft) north-east of Rostand Island in the Géologie Archipelago, off the Adélie Coast of Antarctica. It was charted in 1951 by the French Antarctic Expedition and named by them after Jean-Baptiste Lamarck, the French naturalist.
Rostand Island is a rocky island 400 m long and 200 m south-east of Petrel Island in the Geologie Archipelago of Antarctica. It was charted in 1951 by the French Antarctic Expedition and named by them for Jean Rostand, noted French biologist.
Amanda Bay, also sometimes known as Hovde Cove, lies in southern Prydz Bay on the Ingrid Christensen Coast of Princess Elizabeth Land, East Antarctica. It is best known for its breeding colony of several thousand pairs of emperor penguins on sea ice at the south-west corner of the bay.
Coordinates: 67°27′12″S60°53′10″E / 67.45333°S 60.88611°E
 | This Mac. Robertson Land location article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
