Birds and Mammals of Prince Leopold Island, Nunavut, 1975–2012

Abstract

ABSTRACT. Prince Leopold Island is the most important marine bird colony in the Canadian High Arctic. An Environment Canada research camp on the island was occupied for varying periods (mean 37 days) during 18 summers from 1975 to 2012. Research concentrated on the biology of the marine bird colonies, but incidental notes were kept on other sightings of birds and mammals. Forty-seven species of birds, of which 12 bred, six species of terrestrial mammals, four seals, and three whales were recorded on or from the island. Sightings of Ivory Gull and Brant decreased over the period considered, while sightings of Peregrine Falcons and breeding records of Baird's Sandpipers increased. Collared lemmings invaded the island in 2009, and extensive evidence of their presence was found by 2012. Arctic fox presence has become more frequent. Some or all of these changes may be related to recent climate warming and increased precipitation in the area. Eleven species of small passerines that normally do not breed north of the tree line were recorded, most often in June, suggesting that their appearance was due to migration overshoot. The regular appearance of southern passerines suggests that colonization of the Arctic Archipelago by sub-Arctic species may occur rapidly if climate and vegetation become more suitable. La présence du renard arctique s'est également amplifiée. Une partie ou la totalité de ces changements pourrait être attribuable au réchauffement planétaire et aux précipitations accrues dans la région. Onze espèces de petits passereaux qui ne se reproduisent normalement pas au nord de la limite forestière ont été répertoriées, la plupart du temps en juin, ce qui suggère que leur présence était attribuable au dépassement de la migration. La présence régulière des passereaux du sud laisse entrevoir que la colonisation de l'archipel Arctique par les espèces subarctiques pourrait se produire rapidement si le climat et la végétation devenaient plus appropriés.

First Report of Scoters (<i>Melanitta</i> spp.) along Eastern Baffin Island, Nunavut, Canada

“…This task is challenging to undertake in the vast Canadian Arctic, however, because baseline information on distribution is generally poor for many species or for times of year other than the breeding season (reviewed in Richards and Gaston, 2018). Natural history records from early exploration (e.g., Richardson, 1825), local ecological knowledge (LEK) interviews (Gilchrist et al, 2005;Mallory et al, 2008), ornithological surveys (e.g., Manning, 1946;Soper, 1946;Johnston and Pepper, 2009), and long-term research stations (e.g., Lepage et al, 1998;Black et al, 2012;Gaston, 2014) have provided key information to generate maps of species' distributions. However, the small and widely dispersed human population and the high expense of Arctic research (Mallory et al, 2018) have meant that few observers have documented birds in the Arctic through the year, and many areas are woefully understudied.…”