Birds and marine mammals in southwestern Foxe Basin, Nunavut, Canada

• Published in: Polar Record
• Main Authors: Gaston, Anthony J., Smith, Stephen A., Saunders, Robert, Storm, G. Ilya, Whitney, Jane A.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Cambridge University Press (CUP) 2007
• Subjects: Foxe Basin; narwhal*; Nunavut; Polar Record; Repulse Bay; walrus*
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0032247406005651; https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0032247406005651

The southwestern part of Foxe Basin is a little known region of the Canadian Arctic, being difficult to access during the summer because of heavy and unpredictable ice conditions. Surveys of birds and marine mammals in the area were carried out by lightweight expeditions in the summers of 1994 and 1995, using sea-kayaks, as well as a Peterhead boat from the nearest community, at Repulse Bay. The area supports important populations of narwhal, bowhead whales and walrus, as well as significant concentrations of shorebirds, common eiders, black guillemots, and perhaps one third of the world's Thayer's gulls. New information was obtained on the status and abundance of these species and novel observations were made on the feeding ecology and breeding phenology of the gulls.