Cape Vera Explained

Cape Vera is an uninhabited headland on Devon Island, in the Qikiqtaaluk Region of Nunavut, Canada. Protruding off the island's northwestern Colin Archer Peninsula, it faces Jones Sound. Often, a polynya forms in the Cardigan Strait, a waterway that separates the cape from North Kent Island.

Geography

Cape Vera, approximately 8km (05miles) in size, with an elevation up to 245m (804feet) above sea level, is characterized by open sea, coastal cliffs, grassy to bare-rock cliff ledges, scree, and boulders. The rocky, marine shore, of limestone formation, is approximately 300feet in width.[1]

Fauna

The cape is notable as a Canadian Important Bird Area (#NU053), an International Biological Program site (Region 9, #2-11) and a Key Migratory Bird Terrestrial Habitat site. Notable bird species include the northern fulmar and common eider.[2] Colonial seabirds are also attracted to this remote, High Arctic site.[3]

History

Archeological sites have been found near the base of the cape.

References

76.2331°N -89.2167°W

Notes and References

  1. Book: Sverdrup, Otto Neumann . Per Schei . Herman Georg Simmons . Edvard Bay. Ethel Harriet Hearn (translator). New land: four years in the Arctic regions. Longmans, Green, and Co.. 1904. Digitized November 6, 2008. 2. 42, 474.
  2. Web site: Cape Vera. bsc-eoc.org. 2009-05-04. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20110612092653/http://www.bsc-eoc.org/iba/site.jsp?siteID=NU053. 2011-06-12.
  3. Web site: Ecological investigations of Northern Fulmars at Cape Vera, Devon Island . mb.ec.gc.ca . 2009-05-04 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20090510000132/http://www.mb.ec.gc.ca/nature/ecb/da02s18.en.html . 2009-05-10 .