Baffin Island - Wildlife

Wildlife

Baffin Island has both year-round and summer visitor wildlife. On land, examples of year-round wildlife are Barren-ground Caribou, polar bear, Arctic Fox, Arctic Hare, lemming and Arctic Wolf.

Barren-ground Caribou herds that migrate in a limited range from northern Baffin island down to the southern part in winter, even to the Frobisher Bay peninsula, next to Resolution Island and migrate back north in the summer.

Polar bears can be found all along the coast of Baffin Island, but are most prevalent where the sea ice is located as pack ice, where their major food sources — Ringed Seals (Jar Seal) and Bearded Seals — live. Polar bears mate approximately every year with from one to three cubs being born around March. Female polar bears may travel 10–20 km (6–12 mi) inland to find a large snow bank where they dig a den in which to spend the winter and later for giving birth. The polar bear population here is one of 19 genetically distinct demes of the circumpolar region.

Arctic Fox can usually be found where polar bears venture on the fast ice close to land in their search for seals. Arctic Foxes are scavengers, and often follow polar bears to get their leavings. On Baffin Island, Arctic Foxes are sometimes trapped by Inuit, but there is not a robust fur industry.

Arctic Hare are found throughout Baffin island. Their fur is pure white in winter and molts to a scruffy dark grey in summer. Arctic Hares and lemmings are a primary food source for Arctic Foxes and Arctic Wolves.

Lemmings are also found throughout the island, and are a major food source for Arctic foxes, Arctic wolves and the Snowy Owl. In the winter, lemmings dig complicated tunnel systems through the snow drifts in order to get to their food supply of dry grasses and lichens.

The Arctic Wolf, and the Baffin Island Wolf, a Gray Wolf subspecies, is also a year-round resident of Baffin Island. Unlike the Gray Wolf in southern climes, Arctic Wolves often do not hunt in packs, although a male-female pair may hunt together.

In the water (or under the ice) the year-round visitors are mainly the Ringed Seal.

The Ringed Seal lives off-shore within 8 km (5 mi) of land. During the winter, it makes a number of breathing holes through ice up to 8 ft (2.4 m) thick by visiting each one often, and keeping the hole open and free from ice. In March, when a female is ready to whelp, she will enlarge one of the breathing holes that has snow over it, and create a small "igloo" where they whelp one or two pups. Within three weeks the pups are in the water and swimming. During the summer, Ringed Seals keep to a narrow territory approximately 3 km (2 mi) along the shoreline. If pack ice moves in, they may venture out 4–10 km (2–6 mi) and follow the pack ice, dragging themselves up on an ice floe to take advantage of the sun.

Summer land visitors to Baffin Island all have wings and all come to nest. Baffin Island is one of the major nesting destinations from the Eastern and Mid-West flyways for many species of migrating birds. Waterfowl include Canada Goose, Snow Goose and Brant Goose (Brent Goose). Shore birds include the phalarope, various waders (commonly called sandpipers), murres including Brünnich's Guillemot, and plovers. Three gull species also nest on Baffin Island: Glaucous Gull, Herring Gull and Ivory Gull.

Long-range travellers include the Arctic Tern, which migrates from Antarctica every spring. The variety of water birds that nest here include coots, loons, mallards, and many other duck species.

Water species that visit Baffin Island in the summer are:

Harp Seals (or saddle-backed seals), which migrate from major breeding grounds off the coast of Labrador and the southeast coast of Greenland to Baffin Island for the summer. Migrating at speeds of 15–20 kilometres per hour (9–12 mph), they all come up to breathe at the same time, then dive and swim up to 1–2 km (0.62–1.2 mi) before surfacing again. They migrate in large pods consisting of a hundred or more seals, to within 1–8 km (0.62–5.0 mi) of the shoreline, which they then follow, feeding on crustaceans and fish.

Walrus, which actually do not migrate far off land in the winter. They merely follow the "fast ice", or ice that is solidly attached to land, and stay ahead of it as the ice hardens further and further out to sea. As winter progresses, they will always remain where there is open water free of ice. When the ice melts, they move in to land and can be found basking on rocks close to shore. One of the largest walrus herds can be found in the Foxe Basin on the western side of Baffin Island.

Beluga or white whales migrate along the coast of Baffin Island as some head north to the feeding grounds in the Davis Strait between Greenland and Baffin Island, or into the Hudson Strait or any of the bays and estuaries in between. Usually travelling in pods of two or more, they can often be found very close to shore (100 m (330 ft), or less), where they come up to breathe every 30 seconds or so as they make their way along the coastline eating crustaceans.

Narwhals, which are known for their long, spiralling tusks (males only), can also be found along the coast of Baffin Island in the summer. Much like their beluga cousins they may be found in pairs or even in a large pod of ten or more males, females and newborns. They also can be often found close to the shoreline, gracefully pointing their tusks skyward as they come up for air. When they first arrive, the males arrive a few weeks ahead of the females and young.

The largest summer visitor to Baffin Island is the Bowhead Whale. Found throughout the Arctic range, one group of Bowhead Whales are known to migrate to the Foxe Basin, a bay on the western side of Baffin Island. It is still not known whether they visit for the lush sea bounty or to calve in the Foxe Basin.