Kiatak or Northumberland Island ( da, Northumberland Ø), also known as ''Kujata'', is an island off the coast of northern

Greenland Greenland ( kl, Kalaallit Nunaat, ; da, Grønland, ) is an island country in North America that is part of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is located between the Arctic and Atlantic oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Greenland is t ...

Geography

This relatively large island is part of a small group formed by Kiatak,

Herbert Island Herbert Island ( ale, Chiĝulax̂; russian: Херберт) is an island in the Islands of Four Mountains subgroup of the Aleutian archipelago. It is from Chuginadak Island, separated by the Chuginadak Pass. Yunaska Island is west southwest o ...

and

Hakluyt Island Hakluyt Island ( kl, Appasuak, da, Hakluyt Ø) is an island in Baffin Bay, in Avannaata municipality, off northwest Greenland. Geography Hakluyt Island lies off the western shore of Kiatak (Northumberland Island). It is part of a small group of ...

. The latter is the smallest of the group and lies off Kiatak's western shore. The islands lie off the

Inglefield Fjord Inglefield Gulf or Inglefield Fjord ( da, Inglefield Bredning; kl, Kangerlussuaq) is a fjord in northwestern Greenland. To the west, the fjord opens into the Baffin Bay. Administratively it belongs to the Avannaata municipality. Inglefield Gulf ...

, between the

Murchison Sound The Murchison Sound ( da, Murchison Sund; kl, Uummannaq) is a sound in the Avannaata municipality, NW Greenland.GoogleEarth It was named after Scottish geologist Roderick Murchison (1792 – 1871). Geography It is a broad channel that runs roug ...

to the north and the Hvalsund to the south.

Important Bird Area

The island has been designated an

Important Bird Area An Important Bird and Biodiversity Area (IBA) is an area identified using an internationally agreed set of criteria as being globally important for the conservation of bird populations. IBA was developed and sites are identified by BirdLife Int ...

(IBA) by

BirdLife International BirdLife International is a global partnership of non-governmental organizations that strives to conserve birds and their habitats. BirdLife International's priorities include preventing extinction of bird species, identifying and safeguarding ...

because it supports a breeding population of some 2.5 million pairs of

little auk The little auk or dovekie (''Alle alle'') is a small auk, the only member of the genus ''Alle''. ''Alle'' is the Sami name of the long-tailed duck; it is onomatopoeic and imitates the call of the drake duck. Linnaeus was not particularly famil ...

s, as well as other seabird species.

History

The island was inhabited at the time of

Robert Peary Robert Edwin Peary Sr. (; May 6, 1856 – February 20, 1920) was an American explorer and officer in the United States Navy who made several expeditions to the Arctic in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He is best known for, in Apri ...

's Greenland expeditions in 1886 and 1891–1897.Robert Peary, ''Northward over the great ice'', p. 103

Bibliography

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References

{{greenland-geo-stub Islands of Greenland Former populated places in Greenland Important Bird Areas of Greenland Important Bird Areas of Arctic islands Seabird colonies

Geography

Important Bird Area

History

See also

Bibliography