A magnificent Walrus by Coke & Som Smith.
- The most easily accessible place where there is a good chance of seeing Narwhals
- As well as, possibly, Polar Bear, Walrus, and Beluga and Bowhead Whales
- And some spectacular birds such as Snow Goose, King Eider, Gyr Falcon, Long-tailed Skua, Sabine’s Gull and Brunnich’s Guillemot
- And a chance of Ivory Gull
- All in a wonderland of tundra, ice and snow below glaciers and mountains
- Is there a large animal stranger than a Narwhal? A whale with a spike; a twisted tusk up to three metres long, more than half the length of the animal itself, which is actually a very long incisor tooth! Narwhals spend the long Arctic winters feeding mostly on flatfish and squid which are sucked into their otherwise toothless mouths at depths down to 1500 metres below the ice. Come the spring, when the ice floes frozen to land melt, pods of usually between four and twenty move close to shore, where there is more food, and here the chances of seeing these strange beasts increase, especially on Baffin Island, accessible by air from Ottawa via Iqaluit, the capital of Nunavut territory. From Pond Inlet or Arctic Bay (accessible via another very expensive return flight from Pond Inlet) it is possible to travel to the floe edge on sleds and snowmobiles and camp out with the assistance of local Inuit guides.
- Apart from Spitsbergen where Polar Bears and Walruses are relatively easy to see but where the other mammals listed above are rarely or never seen, the Arctic is also accessible via expensive cruises, mostly to Arctic Canada (including Baffin Island), and on such cruises it is usually possible to see all the mammals listed above.
- Polar Bear, Walrus and Musk Ox, as well as Snowy Owl and other birds, do all occur on remote and rarely visited Wrangel Island in Arctic Russia, which is dealt with on a separate page. One company which runs occasional cruises which visit this island and more of the Russian Arctic is Heritage Expeditions.
- The most famous place in the world to see Polar Bears is Churchill, Manitoba, in Canada, where, in October-November many can be seen at close range from tundra buggies. Churchill is also a good place to see Belugas, in July-August.
Best Birds and other wildlife on Baffin Island
Birds
Canada and (Greater) Snow Geese, Common and King Eiders, Long-tailed Duck,
Red-throated Diver (Loon), (Northern) Fulmar, Gyr (including white morphs) and Peregrine Falcons, Glaucous,
Great Black-backed, Iceland, Sabine’s and Thayer’s Gulls, (Black-legged) Kittiwake, Arctic Tern, Arctic,
Long-tailed and Pomarine Skuas (Jaegers), Black Guillemot, Brunnich’s Guillemot (Thick-billed Murre), (Common)
Raven, Shore (Horned) Lark, (American) Buff-bellied Pipit, Lapland Bunting (Longspur) and Snow Bunting. Also a
chance of (Black) Brant, American Golden Plover, (Common) Ringed and Semipalmated Plovers, Baird’s and
White-rumped Sandpipers, Grey (Red) Phalarope, Ivory Gull, Little Auk (Dovekie) and (Northern) Wheatear.
Mammals
Narwhal and Ringed Seal. Also a chance of Polar Bear (mostly Sep-Oct),
Beluga and Bowhead Whales (at the ‘floe edge’ which is the border between the solid ‘fast’ sea ice and the
water, feeding along and under the ice as they wait to move further north), Arctic Fox, Arctic Hare, and
Bearded and Harp Seals. (Walrus is highly unlikely to be seen at the floe edge but can be seen quite easily
elsewhere on the island basking in the sun on small pans of sea ice over relatively shallow water where they
forage for clams on the ocean floor).
Other Natural Wonders of Baffin Island
Mount Thor This granite peak has a west face with a vertical drop of 1250 m (4101 ft), the greatest vertical drop on Earth.
Best Sites for Birds and other wildlife on Baffin Island
- Pond Inlet Shore Lark, and Lapland and Snow Buntings. Also a chance of Ringed Plover.
- Floe edge out of Pond Inlet Narwhal, Ringed Seal, King Eider, Sabine’s Gull, Long-tailed and Pomarine Skuas, and Brunnich’s Guillemot. Also a chance of Polar Bear, Walrus, Beluga and Bowhead Whales, Bearded and Harp Seals, Ivory Gull and Little Auk.
- Bylot Island, Sirmilik NP Gyr Falcon and seabird cliffs thousands of feet high with usually over 40,000 Brunnich’s Guillemots.
- Floe edge in Arctic Bay Narwhal and Ringed Seal. Also a good chance of Polar Bear, Beluga and Bowhead Whales, and Bearded Seal.
- Isabella Bay A good chance of Bowhead Whale.
Best Times for Birds and other wildlife on Baffin Island
June is usually the best time to be on Baffin Island but it is still very cold with temperatures probably between -10°C and +5°C, even lower at times taking into account the wind-chill factor, and it could snow, so warm layered clothing, waterproof boots and a warm outer suit are recommended. It is normally sunny though and the sun is up 24 hours, so sunscreen is essential.
Recommended Bird Books etc. for Baffin Island
The Arctic Guide: Wildlife of the Far North by S Chester. PUP, 2016.
A Complete Guide to Arctic Wildlife by R Sale. Helm, 2006.
Mammals of North America by R W Kays and D E Wilson. PUP, 2009 (Second Edition).
Mammals of North America by F A Reid. Peterson North American Field Guides, 2006 (Fourth Edition).
Peterson Field Guide to Finding Mammals in North America by V Dinets. Houghton Mifflin, 2015.
Field Guide to the Birds of North America edited by J Dunn and J Alderfer. NGS, 2011 (Sixth Edition).
Kaufman Field Guide to Birds of North America by K Kaufman. Houghton Mifflin, 2005.
The North American Bird Guide by D Sibley. Helm, 2014 (Second Edition).
Collins Bird Guide by L Svensson et al. Collins, 2010 (Second Edition).
Apps etc.
National Geographic Birds: Field Guide to North America.
The Sibley eGuide to the Birds of North America.
Peterson Birds of North America.
Audubon Birds - A Field Guide to North American Birds.
iBird Ultimate Guide to Birds.
Birding and Wildlife Trip Reports for Baffin Island
Many trip reports, some for Baffin Island, are posted on the websites listed here. On some of these websites some reports are independent and some are posted by tour companies who organize tours to Baffin Island. These tour companies and others also post their own reports on their websites, which are listed under 'Some Organized Tours to Baffin Island' below.
- The best website for trip reports is CloudBirders
- but these are also worth a look
- Birdtours
- Fatbirder
- Jon Hornbuckle
- Mammal Watching
Local bird and wildlife guides for Baffin Island
The costs of organized tours partly reflect the quality of the tour leaders. Some leaders are certainly better than others and many companies claim their leaders are the best but even the best rely at least to some extent on the exceptional skills of the local guides they employ. If you are travelling independently, employing such local guides will greatly increase your chances of seeing the wildlife you wish to see.
Accommodation for birders on Baffin Island
Some Organized Tours for birds and other wildlife to Baffin Island
There are many tour companies who organize tours to see mammals, birds, other wildlife and other natural wonders. The cost of these tours vary considerably according to such variables as the airlines used, the number of days the tours last, the number of sites visited, the number of people in the group (an important consideration if you wish to see such wildlife as rainforest mammals and birds), the number of tour leaders, the standard of accommodation and transport, and the percentage profit the company hopes to make. Generally, where the number of days tours last and the number of sites visited are similar, the cheapest tours are those that use the cheapest airlines, accommodation and local transport, that have the largest groups with the least number of leaders, and that make the least amount of profit. The most expensive tours tend to be those which are exceptionally long, use the most expensive accommodation (ridiculously lavish in some cases, even for single nights) and which make the most profit. Some tour costs partly reflect the quality of the tour leaders. Some leaders are certainly better than others and many companies claim their leaders are the best but even the best rely at least to some extent on the exceptional skills of the local guides they employ.
While tour companies organize tours with set itineraries many also organize custom tours for individuals and private groups who instead of taking a tour with a set itinerary want to follow their own itinerary to suit their own personal tastes, whether it be mammals, birds, other wildlife, other natural wonders or even man-made attractions, or a mixture of them all. Many organized tours with set itineraries are also fast-paced and target as many species as possible, whether they are mammals, birds or other wildlife or everything, which usually leaves little time to enjoy the best sites and individual species, but on a custom tour those taking part can specify the pace and the sites and species they wish to concentrate on. Custom tours also suit people who like to travel with people they already know, rather than with a group of strangers, and people with partners with different interests. Individuals and small groups will almost certainly have to pay more than the price of an organized tour with a set itinerary but a large group of friends may be able to travel for less than the price quoted for a set tour.
The most expensive cruises to the Arctic tend to be those on the largest and most lavish vessels, where every cabin has private facilities, but it is the smaller vessels, with much lower passenger numbers and mostly shared facilities, which usually enable greater and easier access to certain areas, and sometimes longer periods ashore.
Tour companies who run organized tours or can arrange custom tours to Baffin Island include the following.
