Malcolm Gorrill
Northern News Services
Inuvik (Jun 22/01) - Those wishing to spot some of the feathered friends which frequent the area can now go on a guided tour.
Cindy Verbeek, a research technician at the Aurora Research Institute, is one of two guides involved in the arctic bird hikes.
People begin the hikes at the institute and then walk along the Jimmy Adams Peace Trail, stopping along the way to take in a yellow warbler or one of the many other birds that can be spotted here.
About seven people took in the first hike, held June 14.
"They saw yellow warblers, they saw ravens," Verbeek said.
"There was actually a nest on the trail, so they got to see a baby raven. The Northern waterthrush is one we've seen a lot of around here, and the white crowned sparrow."
Arctic bird hikes take place Tuesdays and Thursdays at 7 p.m., and Sundays at 8 a.m.
"It's always a surprise," Verbeek said of birdwatching.
"You never know what you're going to see, and so it's almost like Christmas time, and you're unwrapping a present," she said.
"Usually every time there's something really special that you get to see."
As well, Verbeek said it's amazing that many of the birds have come here from the tropics. For instance, yellow warblers spend the winter in South America.
"So they've come all the way from South America to the Arctic to breed," she said. "It's an amazing journey for most of them."
Verbeek is involved with the hikes along with her husband, Dennis, who also works at the research institute and was a bird bander for a few years in Alberta.
"We've probably been birding for about six or seven years," Cindy explained.
"We've come up with a list of birds that we would expect to see here, and that some of the locals have told us you can see, and there's probably just over 130 species that you could see over the year -- not (all) in one day."
