The Gyrfalcon Islands are an uninhabited island group in the Qikiqtaaluk Region of Nunavut

Nunavut

Nunavut is the largest and newest federal territory of Canada; it was separated officially from the Northwest Territories on April 1, 1999, via the Nunavut Act and the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement Act, though the actual boundaries had been established in 1993...

, Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

. The over 200 small islands form an archipelago

Archipelago

An archipelago , sometimes called an island group, is a chain or cluster of islands. The word archipelago is derived from the Greek ἄρχι- – arkhi- and πέλαγος – pélagos through the Italian arcipelago...

 in western Ungava Bay

Ungava Bay

Ungava Bay is a large bay in northeastern Canada separating Nunavik from Baffin Island. The bay is shaped like a rounded square with a side length of about and has an area of approximately...

 north of Quebec

Quebec

Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....

's Ungava Peninsula

Ungava Peninsula

The Ungava Peninsula of Nunavik, Quebec, Canada, is bounded by Hudson Bay to the west, Hudson Strait to the north, and Ungava Bay to the east. The Ungava Peninsula is part of the Labrador Peninsula and covers about 252,000 km²...

 and 19.7 km (12.2 mi) northeast of Leaf Bay. The closest community is the Inuit

Inuit

The Inuit are a group of culturally similar indigenous peoples inhabiting the Arctic regions of Canada , Denmark , Russia and the United States . Inuit means “the people” in the Inuktitut language...

 village of Kuujjuaq

Kuujjuaq, Quebec

Kuujjuaq is the largest Inuit village in Nunavik, Quebec, Canada with a population of 2,132 as of the 2006 census. This is up roughly 10% from 1,932 as of the 2001 Census. It is the administrative capital of Nunavik and lies on the western shore of the Koksoak River.Kuujjuaq previously was known...

, 120 km (74.6 mi) to the southeast.

Geography

The islands are organized in series of north-west and south-east parallel chains. Their habitat

Habitat

* Habitat , a place where a species lives and grows*Human habitat, a place where humans live, work or play** Space habitat, a space station intended as a permanent settlement...

 is characterized by high, powerful tides, open sea, coastal cliffs, and rocky marine shores.

Flora

Vegetation is sparse, though tundra

Tundra

In physical geography, tundra is a biome where the tree growth is hindered by low temperatures and short growing seasons. The term tundra comes through Russian тундра from the Kildin Sami word tūndâr "uplands," "treeless mountain tract." There are three types of tundra: Arctic tundra, alpine...

 plants can be found away from shore. These include Arctic Willow

Arctic Willow

Salix arctica is a tiny creeping willow . It is adapted to survive in harsh Arctic and subarctic environments, and has a circumpolar distribution round the Arctic Ocean.-Distribution:...

, Crowberry, sedges, mosses and lichens.

Fauna

The Gyrfalcon Islands are a Canadian Important Bird Area

Important Bird Area

An Important Bird Area is an area recognized as being globally important habitat for the conservation of bird populations. Currently there are about 10,000 IBAs worldwide. The program was developed and sites are identified by BirdLife International...

 (#NU028). Their notable bird species includes Common Eider

Common Eider

The Common Eider, Somateria mollissima, is a large sea-duck that is distributed over the northern coasts of Europe, North America and eastern Siberia. It breeds in Arctic and some northern temperate regions, but winters somewhat farther south in temperate zones, when it can form large flocks on...

.

Walrus

Walrus

The walrus is a large flippered marine mammal with a discontinuous circumpolar distribution in the Arctic Ocean and sub-Arctic seas of the Northern Hemisphere. The walrus is the only living species in the Odobenidae family and Odobenus genus. It is subdivided into three subspecies: the Atlantic...

frequent the area during the summer.