Populations of breeding birds of a 1200 ha high Arctic oasis at Alexandra Fjord, Ellesmere Island, N.W.T. (7853'/N, 75 55'W) were 153 pairs (12.8 pr/100 ha) in 1980, and 164 pairs (13.7 pr/ 100 ha) in 1981. An average of 77% of the breeding birds were Snow Buntings (Plectrophenax nivalis); Baird's Sandpipers (Calcarius lapponicus), Hoary Redpolls (Carduelis hornemanni), Lapland Longspurs (Calcarius lapponicus), and Arctic Terns (Sterna paradisaea); smaller numbers of five other species made up the rest. The total breeding bird density was similar to those reported for other high Arctic oases, but much lower than for most low Arctic localities, where productivity is higher.
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Freedman et al. (1982) studied this question.