Summary
Scullin and Murray monoliths are thought to hold the largest concentration of breeding seabirds in East Antarctica. The monoliths were designated as an Antarctic Specially Protected Area (ASPA No. 164) in 2005 in recognition of the global importance of the seabird assemblages and to protect their outstanding ecological and scientific values. The management plan for the Scullin and Murray Monoliths ASPA encourages regular seabird population monitoring using methods such as aerial photography, but the complex logistics of accessing this remote site has until now limited quantitative assessment of the seabird populations to a single survey in 1986/87. In December 2010 we photographed the Adélie penguin population to provide the population counts presented here. We discuss the potential biases and uncertainties in estimating the breeding population from both the recent and 1980s population count data.