Flora and Fauna
The island's bold cliffs are a haven for many migratory birds. The indigenous peoples who have lived nearby for thousands of years come to the island to gather bird eggs in the Spring. and have continued to do so as recently as the 1990s.
The island supports a breeding colony of about 35,000 seabirds, including some 25,000 Least and Crested Auklets. In 1925, the Tufted Puffin (Fratercula cirrhata), Horned Puffin (Fratercula corniculata), Parakeet Auklets (Aethia psittacula), and Pallas' Murre (Uria lomvia arra) were reported at Fairway Rock, nesting in the crevices of the island's cliffs. A 1960 account reports that Eskimo inhabitants of Little Diomede reported a Glaucous Gull (Larus hyperboreus) colony on Fairway Rock larger than that on Little Diomede.
The Steller Sea Lion, an endangered species, may also breed on Fairway Rock.
Read more about this topic: Fairway Rock
Famous quotes containing the words flora and/or fauna:
“A man’s interest in a single bluebird is worth more than a complete but dry list of the fauna and flora of a town.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“The whole fauna of human fantasies, their marine vegetation, drifts and luxuriates in the dimly lit zones of human activity, as though plaiting thick tresses of darkness. Here, too, appear the lighthouses of the mind, with their outward resemblance to less pure symbols. The gateway to mystery swings open at the touch of human weakness and we have entered the realms of darkness. One false step, one slurred syllable together reveal a man’s thoughts.”
—Louis Aragon (1897–1982)