| Summary: | Although frequently treated as anecdotal information, ob-servation and counting of visiting birds may be valuable, especially in the Antarctic where there are few sets of good information (Watson et a1 1971; Ainley et al. 1978). These observations, even if marginal, can indicate at-sea distribu-tional boundaries of little known species. Banded birds also provide useful indications of origin or movements. For species that may be expanding their geographical ranges the visitors can be considered as pioneers. This paper pre-sents the observations made at Pointe GCologie and in-shore waters for species that do not breed there. Study area and methods This work was done at the French permanent base (66'39's and 140°01'E) on the Pointe GCologie archipelago. It has a narrowest width of sea ice (for example, 230 km in September 1985), though this may vary from year to year (700 km in September 1984). Sea ice appears in March and does not break until December-January. Polynias (vast areas of water inside the sea ice) frequently occur during the winter. Beyond the continent, there is no land within a radius of 1000 km (Fig. 1). Eight bird species breed there (see Thomas 1986 for a review).
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