Cape Vera

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 8 km (5 mi) in size, with an elevation up to 245 m (804 ft) 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 300 ft (91 m) 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

  1. ↑ Sverdrup, Otto Neumann; Per Schei; Herman Georg Simmons; Edvard Bay (1904). New land: four years in the Arctic regions. 2. Ethel Harriet Hearn (translator) (Digitized November 6, 2008 ed.). Longmans, Green, and Co. pp. 42, 474.
  2. ↑ "Cape Vera". bsc-eoc.org. Retrieved 2009-05-04.
  3. ↑ "Ecological investigations of Northern Fulmars at Cape Vera, Devon Island". mb.ec.gc.ca. Archived from the original on 2009-05-10. Retrieved 2009-05-04.

Coordinates: 76°13′59″N 089°13′00″W / 76.23306°N 89.21667°W / 76.23306; -89.21667 (Cape Vera)


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