Data Zone
Country/territory: Canada
IBA Criteria met: -
For more information about IBA criteria please click here
Area: 1 ha
Site description
The Markham Bay eider colony IBA is situated on the southern coast of Baffin Island in eastern Nunavut. The site is located on the southeastern tip of a large island in Markham Bay, and is about 125 km northwest of the community of Kimmirut (formerly Lake Harbour). The terrain is gently rolling with numerous freshwater ponds. The birds nest in fractured rock habitat where the vegetation is abundant.
Key biodiversity
The large Common Eider colony that occurs on this island consists of about 2,200 nests. This is about 2% of the borealis subspecies population. In 1998 and 1999 at least a hundred nests were abandoned and another hundred were depredated by Thayers or Glaucous gulls.
Three pairs of Canada Geese bred alongside the eiders when biologists were there in the late 1990s. Other birds present in the breeding season were: Oldsqaw, King Eider, Glaucous Gull, Thayers Gull, Black Guillemot, and Snow Bunting.
Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2023) Important Bird Areas factsheet: Markham Bay Eider Colony. Downloaded from
http://www.birdlife.org on 26/03/2023.
