Minarets Island

The Minarets on the eastern shore of Baffin Island (61.830°N x 66.950°W), is now called Akpait andis a National Wildlife Area. It is one of Canada’s largest thick-billed murre colonies, estimated at 133,000 pairs, or about 10% of the Canadian population in 1985.

The site also supports northern fulmars (~20,000 breeding sites) and black-legged kittiwakes (~1,200 nests). Glaucous gulls and black guillemots also breed here. Inuit traditional knowledge, and a collection of one individual during research in the early 2000s, shows that Atlantic puffins occur at Akpait. This marine region is used by seabirds from mid-April through October, and is also important for many marine mammals.

Deployment of GLS loggers on Brünnich’s guillemots on Minarets took place pre-SEATRACK but shared with SEATRACK subsequently.