Prince Leopold Island

Prince Leopold Island

Prince Leopold Island is located in the Qikiqtaaluk region of Nunavut, Canada. Situated in Lancaster Sound at the intersection of Prince Regent Inlet and Barrow Strait. The nearest landmark is an abandoned trading post called Port Leopold. On the northern and southeastern reaches of the island, evidence of Inuit habitation is present in the form of houses and bones of whales and other marine mammals. Field research in ornithology began on the island in the 1950s, and in 1975 Environment Canada established a research station on the island. Arctic seabirds, Thick-Billed Murres, Northern Fulmars, Black-Legged Kittiwakes and Black Guillemots breed in large numbers on the cliffs, arriving in May or early June and leaving in mid-September. According to periodic surveys since the 1970s, some 155 000 breeding pairs of different species have been regularly nesting on the rock walls around the island. The sea ice surrounding the island breaks up rather early, in March or April, enriching the nearby waters of Lancaster Sound and Barrow Strait with nutrients in late spring and early summer when it melts, leading to high ecological productivity. Abundant plankton feed populations of fish and crustacean, which provide food for nearby birds and many marine mammal species. In the nearby waters, Belugas, Bowhead Whales, Narwhals, Walruses, Ringed and Bearded Seals roam. The only constant land mammal on the island is a small population of Northern Collared Lemmings, although visits from larger mammals such as caribou, hares, foxes and bears have been recorded.