Home page

Text size

E-mail this page

NUNAVUT
It was a surprising year in a few communities during their annual bird counts.

In Arctic Bay, a record three species of birds were spotted and in Chesterfield Inlet, although not a record, four bird species were observed. In Rankin Inlet, ravens were the lone birds counted.

The Christmas Bird Count takes place in more than 2,000 communities across North America between Dec. 14 and Jan. 5. Bird Studies Canada and the Audubon Society partner to co-ordinate the counts. The annual event is in its 112th edition.

Arctic Bay's Clare Kines counted 142 ravens, five rock ptarmigan and 11 hoary redpoll during two hours on Jan. 2. Three species is a record high for counts north of 70, he remarked, as a number of count circles in the High Arctic have featured two species but never three.

"They're all three species that are expected to be here during the winter," he said. "Sometimes, the two other species - the ptarmigan and the redpolls - aren't really always easy to find but I was fortunate this time to run across both of them."

Traditionally, only ravens were seen in Arctic Bay, said Kines, with one or two counts containing ptarmigan. During the previous count, he and another volunteer had counted 207 ravens.

"They're all three species that over winter in the Arctic," he said. "It's surprising (to see) the redpolls over-winters here because it's just a little tiny bird you would think would get out of the cold and the dark but they stay up here all year round."

Kines was the lone person counting that day, which featured -28 C temperatures and no wind.

He said he counted birds on the way to the dump but not on the way back to ensure he wouldn't count the same birds twice.

Out in the Kivalliq, lone count volunteer Brian Zawadski spotted four bird species during the Dec. 28 count in Chesterfield Inlet.

He recorded 26 common ravens, four long-tailed ducks, eight common eiders and 335 black guillemot.

Zawadski stated, via e-mail, he was able to count marine species because this winter the floe edge was about two kilometres outside the community, closer than the normal six kilometres.

"Chesterfield (Inlet), the number of guillemot seems higher than I thought it might be. If the conditions are right, that's what you could expect," he said, in terms of results and species.

"If there's open water, then you can expect some of those birds to be around," Zawadski said.

Three days later, in Rankin Inlet, Zawadski recorded 84 common ravens.

During the previous count in Rankin Inlet, he had spotted 89 ravens and three common eiders.

Zawadski explained via e-mail the tidal pool where common eiders are observed was frozen this winter. He added weather was a problem this year, making it difficult to plan for the count in advance.

In Arviat, Beauregard spotted 26 common ravens in the hamlet and at the dump, three rock ptarmigans north of the hamlet and three willow ptarmigans south of the hamlet on count day Dec. 17.

He added there were no active birdfeeders in Arviat this winter and the flow edge was unsafe to access, so he couldn't go out and count any waterfowl over-wintering in open water of the Hudson Bay.

We welcome your opinions. Click here to e-mail a letter to the editor.