O'Connor Island

O'Connor Island is a rocky island, 1.7 kilometres (1.1 mi) long, lying between Holl and Ford Islands in the southern part of the Windmill Islands of Wilkes Land, Antarctica.

O'Connor Island

Adélie penguins breed in the IBA
O'Connor Island Location in Antarctica
Geography
Location	Wilkes Land, Antarctica
Coordinates	66°25′S 110°28′E
Archipelago	Windmill Islands
Length	1.7 km (1.06 mi)
Width	0.7 km (0.43 mi)
Highest elevation	80 m (260 ft)
Administration
Administered under the Antarctic Treaty System
Demographics
Population	Uninhabited

Discovery and naming

The island was first mapped from aerial photos taken by United States Navy Operation Highjump and Operation Windmill in 1947 and 1948. It was named by the Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names (US-ACAN) for Joseph (Jerry) J. O'Connor, who served as air crewman with the eastern task group of U.S. Navy Operation Highjump, 1946–47, and assisted U.S. Navy Operation Windmill parties in establishing astronomical control stations between the Wilhelm II Coast and Budd Coast during the 1947–48 season.

Important Bird Area

A 1,052 ha site comprising both O'Connor Island and neighbouring Holl Island has been designated an Important Bird Area (IBA) by BirdLife International because it supports about 30,000 breeding Adélie penguins, estimated from 2011 satellite imagery. Other birds recorded as breeding in the IBA include snow petrels, Cape petrels, south polar skuas, Wilson's storm petrels and southern fulmars.

See also

• Composite Antarctic Gazetteer
• List of Antarctic and Subantarctic islands
• List of Antarctic islands south of 60° S
• SCAR
• Territorial claims in Antarctica

External links

•  This article incorporates public domain material from "O'Connor Island". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey.