The northern wheatear or wheatear is a small passerine bird that was formerly classed as a member of the thrush family Turdidae, but is now more generally considered to be an Old World flycatcher, Muscicapidae. It is the most widespread member of the wheatear genus Oenanthe in Europe and North and Central Asia.
The genus Carduelis is a group of birds in the finch family Fringillidae.
The dunlin is a small wader in the genus Calidris. The English name is a dialect form of "dunling", first recorded in 1531–1532. It derives from dun, "dull brown", with the suffix -ling, meaning a person or thing with the given quality.
The Eurasian or common whimbrel, also known as the white-rumped whimbrel in North America, is a wader in the large family Scolopacidae. It is one of the most widespread of the curlews, breeding across much of subarctic Asia and Europe as far south as Scotland. This species and the Hudsonian whimbrel have recently been split, although some taxonomic authorities still consider them to be conspecific.
The grey plover or black-bellied plover is a large plover breeding in Arctic regions. It is a long-distance migrant, with a nearly worldwide coastal distribution when not breeding.
Baird's sandpiper is a small shorebird. It is among those calidrids which were formerly included in the genus Erolia, which was subsumed into the genus Calidris in 1973. The genus name is from Ancient Greek kalidris or skalidris, a term used by Aristotle for some grey-coloured waterside birds. The English name and specific bairdii commemorate Spencer Fullerton Baird, 19th-century naturalist and assistant secretary of the Smithsonian Institution.
The king eider is a large sea duck that breeds along Northern Hemisphere Arctic coasts of northeast Europe, North America and Asia. The birds spend most of the year in coastal marine ecosystems at high latitudes, and migrate to Arctic tundra to breed in June and July. They lay four to seven eggs in a scrape on the ground lined with grass and down.
The redpolls are a group of small passerine birds in the finch family Fringillidae, which have characteristic red markings on their heads. They are placed in the genus Acanthis. The genus name Acanthis is from the Ancient Greek akanthis, a name for a small now unidentifiable bird.
The common redpoll or mealy redpoll is a species of bird in the finch family. It breeds somewhat further south than the Arctic redpoll, also in habitats with thickets or shrubs.
The lesser redpoll is a small passerine bird in the finch family, Fringillidae. It is the smallest, brownest, and most streaked of the redpolls. It is sometimes classified as a subspecies of the common redpoll but has recently been split from that species by most taxonomies including Clements and the British Ornithologists' Union. It is native to Europe and has been introduced to New Zealand. Many birds migrate further south in winter, but the mild climate means that it can be found all year round in much of its range, and may be joined by the other two redpoll species in winter.
The twite is a small brown passerine bird in the finch family Fringillidae. It is a partially migratory species that is found in northern Europe and across the Palearctic to China. It mainly feeds on small seeds but occasionally also feeds on insects.
The Eurasian siskin is a small passerine bird in the finch family Fringillidae. It is also called the European siskin, common siskin or just siskin. Other (archaic) names include black-headed goldfinch, barley bird and aberdevine. It is very common throughout Europe and Eurosiberia. It is found in forested areas, both coniferous and mixed woodland where it feeds on seeds of all kinds, especially of alder and conifers.
The pine siskin is a North American bird in the finch family. It is a migratory bird with an extremely sporadic winter range.
Ross's gull is a small gull, the only species in its genus, although it has been suggested it should be merged with the closely related genus Hydrocoloeus, which otherwise only includes the little gull.
The stilt sandpiper is a small shorebird. The scientific name is from Ancient Greek. The genus name kalidris or skalidris is a term used by Aristotle for some grey-coloured waterside birds. The specific himantopus means "strap foot" or "thong foot".
The brant or brent goose is a small goose of the genus Branta. There are three subspecies, all of which winter along temperate-zone sea-coasts and breed on the high-Arctic tundra.
The cardueline finches are a subfamily, Carduelinae, one of three subfamilies of the finch family Fringillidae, the others being the Fringillinae and the Euphoniinae. The Hawaiian honeycreepers are now included in this subfamily. Except for the Hawaiian honeycreepers which underwent adaptive radiation in Hawaii and have evolved a broad range of diets, cardueline finches are specialised seed eaters, and unlike most passerine birds, they feed their young mostly on seeds, which are regurgitated. Besides this, they differ from the other finches in some minor details of their skull. They are adept at opening seeds and clinging to stems, unlike other granivorous birds, such as sparrows and buntings, which feed mostly on fallen seeds. Some members of this subfamily are further specialised to feed on a particular type of seed, such as cones in the case of crossbills. Carduelines forage in flocks throughout the year, rather than keeping territories, and males defend their females rather than a territory or nest.
Carl Peter Holbøll (1795–1856) was an officer in the Danish Royal Navy, Greenland colonial officer and explorer of the Greenlandic fauna.
Jens Wilken Hornemann was a Danish botanist.
The Davis Highlands tundra ecoregion covers the Baffin Mountains on the northeast coast of Baffin Island and Bylot Island, facing Baffin Bay in Nunavut, northern Canada. The terrain is extremely rugged, heavily glaciated, with many deep fjords, and very cold. About half of the territory is moss and lichen tundra, the other half bare rock and ice. The region is wetter than the much drier regions to the southwest of the Baffin Islands.
