Ildefonso Islands

Islas Ildefonso are a group of islands in Chile. The islands belong to the Commune of Cabo de Hornos in Antártica Chilena Province of Magallanes y Antártica Chilena Region. They are located at coord|55|44|S|69|26|W, 96 kilometres west of Isla Hermite, part of Tierra del Fuego, and 93 km NNW of Diego Ramirez Islands, but only 27 km south of Isla Hoste or 23 km to rocks near Isla Hoste.

The islands consist of nine stacks, within two groups. They extend 6 km on a northwest-southeast axis.

The land area measures about 0.2 km². More than 50% of this comprises the large single southern stack, which is 970 m long and between 80 and 200 m wide.

The islands are steep and rocky, and covered in tussac grass.

They are inhabited by penguins: both Rockhopper Penguin and Magellanic Penguin are present. There is a large colony of Black-browed Albatross here also, with small number of Grey-headed Albatross. Imperial Shag is also a common breeding species.

References

* Shirihai, Hadoram (2002) A complete guide to Antarctic wildlife ISBN 951-98947-0-5