The Ilhéus do Rombo, also known as the Ilhéus Secos (Portuguese for "Dry Islets", because of their aridity and paucity of vegetation), are a group of small, uninhabited islands in the Cape Verde archipelago, lying 600 km (370 mi) off the coast of north-west Africa in the Atlantic Ocean.
Ilhéu Grande, which has been used by goat farmers and whalers in the past, does not currently support breeding seabirds, though large colonies must have existed formerly as the island has thick layers of guano.
[3] The island group has been identified as an Important Bird Area (IBA) by BirdLife International because it supports seabird colonies as well as peregrine falcons and Iago sparrows.
Birds include the Frigate bird (Pelagodroma marina) numbering around 1,000 in 1989, the Boyd's shearwater (Puffinus boydi), Oceanodroma castro, Bulwer's petrel (Bulweria bulwerii), the brown booby (Sula leucogaster) (50 pairs between 1986 and 1990) and Phaethon aethereus (only 5-10 couples between 1986 and 1990).
[3] Sea turtles have been reported to nest occasionally on the small, sandy beaches of Ilhéu de Cima.