The Southwest Bylot plain is an uninhabited

plain In geography, a plain is a flat expanse of land that generally does not change much in elevation, and is primarily treeless. Plains occur as lowlands along valleys or at the base of mountains, as coastal plains, and as plateaus or uplands ...

Qikiqtaaluk Qikiqtaaluk (ᕿᑭᖅᑖᓗᒃ formerly Sillem Island is an uninhabited island in the Qikiqtaaluk Region of Nunavut, Canada. It is the second largest (after Bylot Island) of the several hundred islands and islets that are located in Baffin Bay, ...

, Nunavut,

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. It is located in southwestern Bylot Island directly north of

Eclipse Sound Tasiujaq ( Inuktitut syllabics: ᑕᓯᐅᔭᖅ) formerly Eclipse Sound is a natural waterway through the Arctic Archipelago within the Qikiqtaaluk Region, Nunavut, Canada. It separates Bylot Island (to the north) from Baffin Island (to th ...

Pond Inlet Pond Inlet ( iu, Mittimatalik, lit=the place where Mittima is buried) is a small, predominantly Inuit community in the Qikiqtaaluk Region of Nunavut, Canada, located on northern Baffin Island. To the Inuit the name of the place "is and always h ...

is the closest community. Southwest Bylot is notable for housing the largest known breeding colony of the

greater snow goose The snow goose (''Anser caerulescens'') is a species of goose native to North America. Both white and dark morphs exist, the latter often known as blue goose. Its name derives from the typically white plumage. The species was previously placed ...

Geography

The plain's habitat is characterized as a rolling outwash with barrens, rocky flats, and tundra. Its elevation reaches a height of above sea level. The plain has been dissected by glacial rivers and it slopes towards the mountains.

Flora

Dominant vegetation includes low shrub-herb, and shrub-sedge tundra, along with heath and willow in the river valleys.

Fauna

In addition to the greater snow goose, notable bird species include: black-legged kittiwake, ivory gull, peregrine falcon,

Ross's gull Ross's gull (''Rhodostethia rosea'') is a small gull, the only species in its genus, although it has been suggested it should be moved to the genus '' Hydrocoloeus'', which otherwise only includes the little gull. This bird is named after the B ...

thick-billed murre The thick-billed murre or Brünnich's guillemot (''Uria lomvia'') is a bird in the auk family (Alcidae). This bird is named after the Danish zoologist Morten Thrane Brünnich. The very deeply black North Pacific subspecies ''Uria lomvia arra'' ...

colonial Colonial or The Colonial may refer to: * Colonial, of, relating to, or characteristic of a colony or colony (biology) Architecture * American colonial architecture * French Colonial * Spanish Colonial architecture Automobiles * Colonial (1920 au ...

waterbird A water bird, alternatively waterbird or aquatic bird, is a bird that lives on or around water. In some definitions, the term ''water bird'' is especially applied to birds in freshwater ecosystems, although others make no distinction from seabi ...

s, and

waterfowl Anseriformes is an order of birds also known as waterfowl that comprises about 180 living species of birds in three families: Anhimidae (three species of screamers), Anseranatidae (the magpie goose), and Anatidae, the largest family, which i ...

Conservation

The Southwest Bylot plain is a Canadian Important Bird Area (#NU013). It is in size and is situated within the Bylot Island Migratory Bird Sanctuary. It is one of three IBAs on the island, the others being

Cape Graham Moore Niaqunnguut (Inuktitut syllabics: ''ᓂᐊᖁᙴᑦ'' formerly Cape Graham Moore, after Vice-Admiral Sir Graham Moore, is an uninhabited headland on Bylot Island in the Qikiqtaaluk Region of Nunavut, Canada. It is located at the island's southeast ...

and Cape Hay. Southwest Bylot is also an International Biological Program site.

References

Plains of Qikiqtaaluk Region Important Bird Areas of Qikiqtaaluk Region Important Bird Areas of Arctic islands Seabird colonies {{Bird-stub