Gourdin Island
| Gourdin Island | ||
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| Waters | Bransfield Street | |
| Geographical location | 63 ° 12 ′ S , 57 ° 18 ′ W | |
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The Gourdin Island ( French Roche Gourdin , Gourdin Rocks ) is the largest island in a group of islands and reef rocks off the Trinity Peninsula in the north of Graham Land on the Antarctic Peninsula . It is 1.5 km north of Prime Head .
There is a large penguin colony in the northwest of the island. In 1997, 14,334 pairs of Adelie penguins , 568 pairs of Gentoo penguins and 3282 pairs of chinstrap penguins were counted here. Occasional white-faced sheaths , sub-Antarctic skuas and Dominican gulls also visit the island. BirdLife International has designated Gourdin Island as an Important Bird Area (AQ075).
Participants in the Third French Antarctic Expedition (1837-1840), led by the polar explorer Jules Dumont d'Urville, discovered the island. It is named after Jean Marie Émile Gourdin (1813–1839), lieutenant on board d'Urville's expedition ship Astrolabe . Scientists from the Falkland Islands Dependencies Survey carried out measurements of the island between 1945 and 1947, and the name was adapted and translated into English.
Web links
- Gourdin Island in the Geographic Names Information System of the United States Geological Survey (English)
- Gourdin Island on geographic.org (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Gourdin Island (AQ075) , data sheet on the BirdLife International website, accessed on July 23, 2018.