Mike W. Bryant
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Sep 25/02) - In some ways, birds are like sunbathers. A little chill in the air and they vacate the scene en masse.

According to Mike Fournier of the Canadian Wildlife Service, more than 75 per cent of the bird species native to the Yellowknife area over the summer months head south in fall.

Ravens, grey jays and house sparrows are the few birds that remain behind through winter.

"Fall migration here basically begins in the middle of August, and it drags through probably until the end of October," says Fournier.

"Although there are always a few stragglers that stay around for one reason or another, probably longer than is good for them."

It was a tough summer for birds all around, says Fournier. This year's unseasonably late spring seemed to have put a lot of bird species off when it came time to nest.

"Fall migration this year is nothing like it should be," says Fournier. "A lot of (birds) were late breeding this year."

And a few species that normally wouldn't even consider trying to eke out a living here, apparently have.

Avid birder John McKay says his highlight this summer was seeing a nesting long-eared owl on Joliffe Island, more common to warmer Fort Simpson than here.

"I think certainly in Yellowknife it (long-eared owl) was the first one," says Mckay.

One species that rarely ever called Yellowknife home are black-billed magpies.

But they now live on Joliffe Island year-round, and are apparently here to stay as long as global warming trends continue.