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 edit

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 edit

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 edit

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

References edit

  1. ^ Sverdrup, Otto Neumann; Per Schei; Herman Georg Simmons; Edvard Bay (1904). New land: four years in the Arctic regions. Vol. 2. Ethel Harriet Hearn (translator) (Digitized November 6, 2008 ed.). Longmans, Green, and Co. pp. 42, 474.
  2. ^ "Cape Vera". bsc-eoc.org. Archived from the original on 2011-06-12. 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.

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