Summary
The Ade´lie penguin is broadly distributed throughout the Antarctic, with a minimum breeding population of c. 2.5 million pairs (Woehler 1993). This value is based on many separate, independent studies at smaller scales, and is probably an underestimate as many areas with potential breeding habitat have not been searched (Southwell et al. in press, Woehler 1993). This paper addresses one region along the Mawson coast between 57–628E that was identified by Southwell et al. (in press) as having little evidence of previous search effort. Ade´lie penguin colonies are known to occur at four sites (Table I) in this region, but it is not clear whether the apparent absence at most sites in the area is real or due to incomplete search effort. Consequently, we attempted to completely search this area for Ade´lie penguin colonies, and count breeding adults to improve population estimates