NUNAVUT - In Sanikiluaq, hunter Moses Appaqaq said he remembers 15 to 20 years ago when a lot of eider birds froze to death. He said he thinks this is due to climate change.

Field assistant Joe Nakoolak and seabird researcher Dr. Tony Gaston with Environment Canada band thick-billed murres on Coats Island in northern Hudson Bay in 2002. - photo courtesy of Mark Mallory, Environment Canada

Now a recent study by scientists working in Canada's Arctic reports warmer weather is one of the factors that is leading to the deaths of Arctic seabirds.

"The study focused on looking at how Arctic seabirds die and how the factors differ from birds in more temperate tropic oceans," said Mark Mallory, a seabird biologist with the Canadian Wildlife Service.

Mallory and two other scientists compiled more than 30 years of research and wrote a paper that appeared in Arctic, the journal of the Arctic Institute of North America.

He said the three more common birds looked at in the study were thick-billed murres, found in Northern Hudson Bay to the High Arctic near Grise Fiord, common eiders, which inhabit the southern part of Nunavut from James Bay to Ellesmere Island and Northern fulmars, which have colonized the High Arctic but are also found in the low Arctic.

Heavy snowfall, very wet conditions, and high winds causing birds to be blown into cliffs, and birds being crushed by ice are all examples of weather contributing to the death of Arctic seabirds, Mallory said.

"It is these types of events that lead to higher mortality of adult birds or situations where birds are blown off their nests," said Mallory who describes the High Arctic as a "polar desert."

Elder Abraham Keenainak in Pangnirtung said he feels there seems to be more eider ducks in his area than usual.

In one isolated case, due to warmer temperatures, Mallory said the ice melted on a cliff where birds were nesting and gave way resulting in the death of 800 birds. He said this type of incident is rare.

Approximately 2,000 adult bird deaths have been recorded over the past 30 years, according to the study.

"That's pretty small when you think of the number of birds in the Arctic and the overall numbers of birds that we observed dying is actually very small," said Mallory.

The causes of death for seabirds in a more temperate climate are quite different. These include birds getting caught in fishing nets or contracting a disease or parasites.

Seabirds generally live long lives, with murres living up to 29 years and fulmars reaching 50 based on studies in the United Kingdom, said Mallory. Eider and fulmar eggs, depending on the region, are part of local diets in places such as Pond Inlet, Sanikiluaq, Cape Dorset and Pangnirtung.

Mallory said even though the number of bird deaths is small, one cannot be sure where the birds being affected are as there are only a few scientists working in the region. This means they can only study a couple colonies each year.

"There seems to be the same amount of fulmars in the Pond Inlet area," said elder Jayko Peterloosie.

He said fulmars seem to stick around the region. Peterloosie said in the 1920s, fulmars laid their eggs on Button Point on Bylot Island which is different than their migration route.

Whether there are more birds in one particular area or not, Mallory said the more immediate concern regarding the warmer weather is how safe it will be for Inuit to travel to areas where they traditionally hunt birds and collect eggs.

- With files from Christine Ootova