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Cape Whitson

Coordinates:60°45′S44°32′W/ 60.750°S 44.533°W/-60.750; -44.533
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The cape is an important breeding site for chinstrap penguins

Cape Whitson,is aheadlandon the south coast ofLaurie Island,the easternmost and second largest of theSouth Orkney IslandsofAntarctica.It lies about 9 km south-east ofArgentina’sOrcadas Base.

It is named after SirThomas Barnby Whitson,Lord Provost of Edinburghat the time of its full mapping in the 1930s by the Edinburgh map-makers J.G.Bartholomew & Sons.[1]

Important Bird Area

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Cape Whitson has been identified as anImportant Bird Area(IBA) byBirdLife Internationalbecause it supports a largebreeding colonyof about 13,000 pairs ofchinstrap penguins.The 54 ha IBA comprises the ice-free land of the cape, extending for 1.5 km betweenAitken CoveandMethuen Cove.It has an elevation of less than 250 m.[2]

References

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  1. ^Biographical Index of Former Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 1783–2002(PDF).The Royal Society of Edinburgh. July 2006.ISBN0-902-198-84-X.Archived fromthe original(PDF)on 4 March 2016.Retrieved20 March2017.
  2. ^"Cape Whitson, Laurie Island".BirdLife data zone: Important Bird Areas.BirdLife International. 2012. Archived fromthe originalon 10 July 2007.Retrieved12 December2012.

60°45′S44°32′W/ 60.750°S 44.533°W/-60.750; -44.533