All through high school, I joked with my family that
after college I would do Arctic research and live alone in a cabin in the far
north studying birds. Well this past summer, I took one huge step towards my
old career goals. I did a first field season for my Master’s degree on the beautiful Digges Island in the Canadian low Arctic studying an Arctic seabird. I am
now several months into school, but the summer experience is worth sharing.
An unfortunate accident at the end of the season makes
up much of what I have told people about the summer, but the group of us up
there had an incredible month prior to that (Travis, who was injured at the end
of the season, is recovering well now).
The Arctic is a beautiful and harsh place, even in the
relatively warm summer months we were there. We flew into the small town of
Ivujivk, the northernmost town of Quebec. We were welcomed warmly by all the locals we met,
several of whom were a huge help throughout the season – helping move gear,
providing boat transportation, providing support during the accident, and being
a comforting presence 15 km from our island. The locals that I had the chance
to have conversations with were all extremely friendly, and shockingly
insightful. The strong connection to the land and animals that they have makes
them very aware of environmental changes. The need for and results of our
research really interests them. They understand what shifts in ice patterns
mean, both for their own hunting and fishing opportunities, but as a global
trend. It was truly amazing talking to them.
Living and working on Digges was endlessly exciting.
Thick-Billed Murres, my study species, are cliff-nesting birds. This meant
everyday working with them was a guaranteed adventure – rappelling down to our
three work sites, leaning over the top of 500 foot cliffs to capture birds,
handling birds among thousands of murres perched on their cliff ledges,
and eating lunch leaning against a rock looking out at the constant stream of
birds coming to and fro. Hiking to the work sites was always fun too – regular caribou
family sightings, checking out the tiny wildflowers that manage to survive
there, watching for the Golden Eagle pair and Peregrine Falcons pairs on the
island, and of course, constantly being vigilant for polar bears. We did get to
see (a good thing only after he left) one polar bear on the island. Three of us
were walking back from a site chatting, looked up when we came to one of the lakes,
and an “Oh shit!” came from one of us. There was a large, healthy bear ¼ of the
way around the lake. The two of us with shotguns gripped them more tightly, the
other guy got out his camera. We slowly kept walking towards camp, and the bear
decided he was not interested, and ambled around the lake. On the far side he
stopped to look at us, and in profile at 200 meters, he was a very impressive sight.
Words can only do so much to describe Digges, so I will
let photos do the rest.
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| Our first look as a team |
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| A row of murres |
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| My commute to work |
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| Banding and marking murres |
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| Capturing murres |
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| The lakes surrounding our camp (just past middle lake) and a break in the fog |
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| Luckily I learned to like heights |
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| Another day at work |
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| Gull hoping for some murre egg lunch |
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| My favorite view |
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| Just sitting at his desk |
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| Hatched shell and chick hiding behind it's parents and neighbor |
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| Lake and Ocean |
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| Curious young caribou |
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| The precarious pair (and chick under left bird's wing) |
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| Camp |
