Harmony Point
Harmony Point is a headland which forms the western point of Nelson Island and the western entrance point of Harmony Cove, amongst the South Shetland Islands, part of the British Antarctic Territory.
The point was roughly charted by the nineteenth-century sealers and called 'Cape Huntress' after the American schooner Huntress (which gives its name to the Huntress Glacier. It was recharted in 1935 by Discovery Investigations personnel on the RRS Discovery II, and named from association with Harmony Cove.
Important Bird Area
An area of 7,584 acres comprising the ice-free points Harmony and The Toe, together with their ice-covered vicinity has been identified as an 'Important Bird Area' by BirdLife International because it supports a variety of breeding birds, including one of the largest chinstrap penguin bird colonies, with around 90,000 pairs. Other birds nesting at the site are gentoo penguins (3300 pairs), imperial shags (45 pairs), Wilson's and black-bellied storm petrels (1000 pairs combined), southern giant petrels (485 pairs), Cape petrels (480 pairs), Antarctic skuas (60 pairs), snowy sheathbills (140 pairs), kelp gulls (130 pairs) and Antarctic terns (170 pairs).[1]
The site is protected as an 'Antarctic Specially Protected Area' (ASPA No.. 133). Its topography is undulating, rising to 130 feet, with many streams. Its abundant vegetation includes mosses, lichens, and two species of vascular plant – Antarctic hairgrass (Deschampsia antarctica) and Antarctic pearlwort (Colobanthus quitensis).[1]
Location map
- Location map: 62°18’18"S, 59°14’24"W
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Harmony Point, Nelson Island IBA: BirdLife International
- Gazetteer and Map of The British Antarctic Territory: Harmony Point
