Welch Island (Antarctica)
Welch Island is an island, long with a prominent pinnacle rock of , lying north of the Rouse Islands and off the eastern side of Holme Bay in Mac. Robertson Land, Antarctica. It lies south of Welch Rocks. Discovery and naming. Welch Island was discovered in February 1931 by the British Australian and New Zealand Antarctic Research Expedition (BANZARE) under Sir Douglas Mawson, who named it for B. F. Welch, Second Engineer on the RRS "Discovery". Important Bird Area. A 415 ha site comprising Welch Island, neighbouring Klung Island, and the intervening smaller islands and marine area, has  been designated an Important Bird Area (IBA) by BirdLife International because it supports about 36,000 breeding pairs of Adélie penguins, based on 2012 satellite imagery. Snow petrels breed on high ground on the islands. The islands are mostly ice-free in summer and several lakes are present.