Migratory birds

Migratory birds of interest: Some of the most notable species that can be observed within Wapusk are seasonal migrants meaning they only spend a small portion of the year in the park. For example, the arctic tern will spend its summer months breeding within Wapusk, but then migrates to Antarctica during the winter. Every year, arctic terns complete a round trip journey of about 30,000 kilometres — one of the longest of any animal on earth!

Red knots are a medium-sized shorebird that breed in the central Canadian Arctic and overwinters at the southern tip of South America. The Red knot is a shorebird protected under the Migratory Birds Convention Act, 1994 and is listed on Schedule 1 of the Species at Risk Act. The majority of Wapusk National Park’s shoreline has been identified as critical habitat for this Endangered species.

Common eiders, the largest duck in the Northern Hemisphere, nest throughout the park at low densities but form two small colonies located near Nestor Two Research Station. The common eider is a sea-duck that spends the majority of its life at sea, diving down to the ocean floor to ‘pick’ food (e.g. blue mussels) from the ocean floor. One interesting aspect is that unlike most birds who fly south for the winter, common eiders of Wapusk migrate north to areas of open water surrounded by sea ice, called polynyas, in northern Hudson Bay every winter.