At the Gate to Hell: Studying Fulmars in Northern

Special Report by Mark L. Mallory

Photo: Mark Mallory ne tough bird. After two seasons of fieldwork studying the Northern OFulmar in northern Nunavut, this observation rings clear. The Northern Fulmar is an seabird that seemingly thrives under some of the harshest conditions on earth. Whether it is howling wind with low wind chills, blinding snow, glowing sunshine (oh, so rare), or emollient fog, thousands of fulmars are always circling off of the cliffs at , calling to each other during the 24-hour daylight of the breeding season. In excess of 10 million seabirds inhabit the Canadian Arctic archipelago and surrounding marine zone, representing nationally and globally significant populations of many species. In fact, colonial seabirds are a ubiquitous feature of the Arctic marine environment and are sensitive indicators of the condition of marine ecosystems. Because environmental conditions in the Arctic are changing, mostly due to climate change, the long-term management of seabird Photos: Wayne Lynch populations requires a thorough That's where our research on fulmars understanding of the ecology of these fits in. My colleagues and I are species in their breeding and feeding investigating the ecology of Northern As Cold as Hell grounds. Fulmars, a medium-sized fulmarine petrel Most Arctic seabirds nest in remote, found across the North Atlantic and into The research site is a fulmar colony at immense colonies, and the extreme nature Arctic regions. Most information on this Cape Vera, originally named and variability of the climate inherently seabird has come from research in Alaska “Havhestberget” by Otto Sverdrup during constrains breeding in seabirds in this and Britain, locations where sea-ice has his explorations of the high Arctic in the late region. The patterns and timing of sea-ice little influence on breeding. We initiated 19th century. The site is located on the Colin break-up and weather conditions studies on these birds in 2003 and Archer Peninsula, and is situated at the throughout the breeding season can continued this work in 2004, examining the southern end of the Hell Gate – Cardigan markedly affect annual reproduction in breeding behaviour, breeding condition, Strait polynya. It is the most northerly and some species (e.g., Thick-billed Murres). incubation rhythms, contaminants, and remote fulmar colony in North America. The extent to which Arctic seabirds are movements of fulmars at a colony on Hell Gate and are narrow adapted to these extremes is unknown. northern in Nunavut. passages between North Kent, northern

8 BIRDWATCH CANADA Otter into Cape Vera, a total one-way E

travel time of about nine hours in the air. R If the weather doesn't cooperate (and it U often fails to do so), it can take a week. It T is usually with an immense sense of relief A that we see the cliffs as we buzz into the site! E The weather is, frankly, quite F challenging at Cape Vera. After experiencing it, you really start to appreciate just how tough these birds are.

In 2004, there were only 9 days where Y temperatures reached more than 10°C, Photos: Mark Mallory D and over 20 centimetres of snow fell from

14-16 July. Because there is an ice cap U

nearby, Cape Vera is susceptible to T “katabatak” winds – sudden, extreme winds that flow down off of the glaciers. S We experience winds in excess of 100

kilometres/hour every month; staff are D instructed to make sure everything at the site is “rocked down” at all times. Canvas L tents are buried into the ground with E hundreds of kilograms of rock and gravel I to ensure that they stick around during the F next blow. In the past two field seasons, we have landed at snow-covered Cape Vera in May, prior to the arrival of most birds (except the fulmars), and we leave snow- covered Cape Vera in late August. The fulmars probably arrive in late April. The colony supports nearly 10,000 pairs of breeding fulmars, according to a census we conducted in 2004.

Fulmar Research

So that's where we are. What are we doing? The work at Cape Vera is laying the foundation for long-term monitoring of fulmars (and other birds) at this site, and conducting focal research on how fulmars “make a go of it” in what appears to be such a harsh environment. Birds on selected plots are counted daily with a spotting The monitoring work is consistent scope. Dans certaines parcelles, on dénombre les oiseaux chaque jour à l'aide de télescopes. A fulmar is released with a transmitter. Lâcher d'un fulmar muni d'un émetteur. with the approaches originally set up by Photo: Mark Mallory Photo: Mark Mallory David Nettleship, Tim Birkhead, and Devon, and southwestern Ellesmere islands and must be accessed by rope – requiring Tony Gaston (all of whom were through which strong currents flow from skilled and experienced climbers.) This conducting similar work on Arctic to . A recurring marine area is located in the High Arctic seabirds while the current Cape Vera field polynya (an area of open water surrounded oceanographic zone. Freeze-up in the bays crew were still watching “Hinterland by ice, reappearing predictably each year at and fjords normally occurs in September, Who's Who” vignettes in between the same location) occurs here because of but the polynya stays open from December cartoons on Saturday mornings) in the these strong currents. The coastline at Cape through to October, and then has a brief 1970s. To monitor how the colony is Vera features prominent cliffs that rise 245 period of mobile ice cover … there is a lot doing through time, we conduct a coarse metres above sea level, and a massive ice of ice around from May through August! census of the entire colony, noting areas cap on Devon Island rests a couple If this expedition doesn't sound where there are concentrations of birds kilometres to the west of the colony. The appealing enough already, getting to the and areas where they are absent. Then we rock of the cliffs is sedimentary, fractured, site can add to the adventure. Travel to the select sections or “plots” along the cliff and relatively unstable. (This poses a real site is on a Boeing 727 from Ottawa to where we can clearly count 50-200 birds. problem, because the birds nest on the cliff Iqaluit to Resolute Bay, and then by Twin We count numbers of birds on those plots

SUMMER 2005, NUMBER 32 9 fulmar colonies in , NU and Alaska. On our plots, we have also identified (through photographs and/or banding) individual birds and pairs, whose reproductive success we hope to track for many years. The research on fulmar ecology has been quite varied to date, and the project is providing important information on parasites, diet, condition and contaminants in the birds. Evidence to date suggests that these fulmars carry remarkably light parasite loads. We found three species of lice on a subset of birds, but no ticks, fleas, or mites. No blood parasites have been found. While some birds carry intestinal flukes or tapeworms, the infestation rates seem low compared to other species. We think that the low incidence of parasitic infestation is related to living at such a remote site, where there are relatively few intermediate hosts or vectors (e.g., Lunch break in July. Pause déjeuner en juillet. Photo: Mark Mallory mosquitoes) to transmit them. One of the early surprises in 2003 was that the birds, or at least the breeding birds, did not seem to feed in the nearby polynya. When we flew around the polynya on surveys, the only fulmars we saw were within 1 km of the colony, and were assumed to be non-breeders feeding mostly on zooplankton near the shore. Our study supports this notion, with many non- breeders near the colony shoreline feeding on various crustaceans, while the breeders often fed on squid and fish, suggesting they were foraging elsewhere. On a much more disturbing note, we also found that about 20% of the fulmars were ingesting plastic garbage. Presumably they were picking this up on their wintering grounds in the North Atlantic, or perhaps wherever they were feeding far offshore during the breeding season. We know that fulmars don't feed on land (i.e., at garbage dumps), so the source of this pollution is definitely marine. Nesting fulmars will travel up to 1000 kilometres to feed prior to egg-laying. Au moment de la reproduction, les fulmars peuvent parcourir Fulmars (and certain other seabirds) are jusqu'à 1 000 kilomètres pour s'alimenter avant de pondre leurs œufs. Photo: Wayne Lynch notorious for ingesting garbage, which can daily, usually in late afternoon. Some of for long-term monitoring, and the number be life-threatening. The observation of this those birds are non-breeders, but most are of fulmars attending the plots clearly ingested garbage in such an incredibly breeding pairs. Through a season we can changed a lot through the season. For remote site was a sad reminder of how observe how the number of birds at the example, on 19 May the entire “Z” plot polluted our marine environment has colony changes. Some pairs abandon nests supported only 40 birds, but this increased become. due to loss of their egg or chick, while to more than 500 birds on 28 June. Overall, Some tissue samples were analyzed by many of the non-breeders simply give up available data indicate the following the Avian Energetics Lab at Bird Studies and leave the colony until the following pattern for fulmars at the site: few birds Canada to look at how the proportions of season. Because it is so difficult to attend the colony during late May (the fat, ash, and protein in the birds change accurately census the entire colony, our “exodus,” when fulmars leave to gather through the breeding season. This type of best method for tracking changes in colony nutrients to form their eggs), then numbers analysis provides important insights into size is by counting birds on the plots rapidly rise and peak in late June, followed when birds require different types of through time. by a gradual decline through August. This nutrients, and when they face the greatest At Cape Vera, we established 11 plots is similar to the pattern established at energetic stress. One of the key questions

10 BIRDWATCH CANADA we hope to address with this work is why fulmars come to the colony in April, spend about three weeks at the nest, and then leave on the exodus (up to two weeks) before laying an egg. To date, most biologists have assumed that the exodus takes place so the female can gather sufficient nutrients for egg production, and so the male similarly can put on enough fat to take the first incubation shift. Surprisingly, no one has actually tested this hypothesis, but we should have analyses completed in 2005 that will help provide some answers. Finally, we examined levels of contaminants in fulmars. Fulmars feed near the top of the Arctic marine food chain, and are known to have relatively high contaminant burdens (particularly for persistent organic pollutants). In 2003, we looked at how certain biomarkers (chemical or physiological indicators in their tissues) are related to contaminant loads. Lab studies are continuing, but preliminary results indicated that there is a relationship between some of these biomarkers and contaminants, suggesting that there may be a health effect on the fulmars, even if it is sub-lethal. Getting a Photo: Wayne Lynch Garbage ingested by one fulmar. Déchets en plastique definitive result will come as much relief to ingérés par un fulmar. Photo: Mark Mallory the 2003 field crew, who had to lug a very heavy container of liquid nitrogen back Perhaps the most interesting finding So, to come full circle, why are we and forth between the sampling site and the this year has been from information we doing this? Climate change is expected to camp. It's not all glamorous bird-watching! have received from satellite transmitters have some of its greatest impacts in the attached to the birds. In 2004, we captured Arctic, where sea-ice distribution and sea A Day in the Life 6 fulmars and used a novel “fanny pack” surface temperatures are already changing. of a Fulmar attachment technique to secure the tiny, 20- These physical changes in the environment gram, Microwave Telemetry transmitter will affect how much food oceans produce, What else are we doing with fulmars at near their pelvis. Once the birds were where birds will find their food, how far Cape Vera? Well, in fact, we have released and the satellite started sending they will have to fly to find that food, and conducted a lot of “glamorous” bird- location data to our computers, we found how frequently they will experience storms watching. We have made detailed that the breeding fulmars at Cape Vera fly at at their nest site. We aim to figure out how observations on the amount of time birds least 250 kilometres to the east to feed in flexible fulmars are in dealing with spend in various activities while at the nest northern . In fact, many of them variation in their environment, and during site, to examine how different nest sites fly to the northwestern coast of Greenland, what stages of breeding they are most may influence activities. For example, meaning that a round-trip feeding bout may sensitive, so we can model what changing birds nesting with many other fulmars entail more than 1000 kilometres of flying! climates may mean for their immense around them spend a lot of time calling to This explained why we saw so few fulmars colonies. each other and defending their nest site in the polynya. Moreover, in the winter, the from competitors (which often involves birds migrate south between Greenland and As you can imagine, fieldwork in the Arctic projectile-vomiting an oily, green to purple Newfoundland, but then appear to spread is very expensive, and we could not conduct regurgitate at other birds - or at student across the North Atlantic from the Grand our studies without the support of the assistants). In contrast, birds nesting in Banks east to Northern Ireland. Although Canadian Wildlife Service, the Polar small caves appear to have more peaceful many petrels are known to fly tremendous Continental Shelf Project, the Northern lives. The big question is “Does this distances (think of the albatrosses), the Ecosystem Initiative, the Nunavut Wildlife translate into differences in reproductive latter finding was nonetheless a complete Management Board, and the Northern success?” At this point, we cannot say. surprise. We had previously thought that Contaminants Program. Many thanks also However, it does appear that birds nesting most of the Canadian fulmars wintered in to the many collaborators and field in caves receive much less attention from the Labrador Sea. It now seems that assistants involved in the project. avian predators, notably Glaucous Gulls, fulmars from both Europe and Canada so loss of eggs to predation may indeed be spread across the extent of the North Mark Mallory is a seabird biologist with lower in caves. Atlantic during winter. Environment Canada's Canadian Wildlife Service, stationed in Nunavut.

SUMMER 2005, NUMBER 32 11 Aux portes de l'enfer : étude des fulmars dans le nord du Nunavut

n oiseau robuste. Cette affirmation est clairement Udémontrée par deux saisons de travaux sur le terrain consacrés à l'étude du Fulmar boréal dans le nord du Nunavut. Le Fulmar boréal est un oiseau de mer de l'Arctique qui prospère dans certaines des conditions les plus rigoureuses sur terre. Quelle que soit la température, sifflements de vent avec faible refroidissement éolien, neige aveuglante, soleil éclatant (si rare) ou brouillard adoucissant, il y a toujours des milliers de fulmars qui tournent en rond au large des falaises de Cape Vera, s'interpellant les uns les autres pendant les 24 heures de jour de la saison de reproduction. Mes collègues et moi étudions l'écologie du Fulmar boréal, un Procellariidé de taille moyenne présent dans tout l'Atlantique Nord et dans les régions arctiques. En 2003 et en 2004, lors de travaux effectués sur le terrain du mois de mai au mois d'août, nous avons étudié le comportement reproducteur, Photo: Wayne Lynch les conditions de reproduction, le pendant la saison de reproduction. Nous volent sur d'énormes distances (pensez rythme de l'incubation, les contaminants savons que les fulmars ne se nourrissent pas aux albatros), cette découverte est et les déplacements des fulmars dans sur terre, de sorte que la source de cette néanmoins surprenante, parce que l'on une colonie établie à Cape Vera, dans le pollution se trouve certainement en mer, un pensait auparavant que la majorité des nord de l'île Devon, située dans le triste rappel de l'importance de la fulmars du Canada hivernait dans la mer Nunavut, au Canada. Cette colonie de contamination dans le milieu marin. du Labrador. fulmars, la plus éloignée et la plus Pour l'année 2004, nous avons effectué Par ailleurs, qu'est-ce qui motive nos nordique de l'Amérique du Nord, notre découverte la plus intéressante grâce études? D'après les prévisions, les effets accueille un peu moins de 10 000 aux émetteurs par satellite attachés aux les plus importants du changement couples reproducteurs. oiseaux. En 2004, nous avons capturé 6 climatique se produiront dans l'Arctique, Nos activités de recherche fulmars et nous avons installé un émetteur où la répartition de la glace de surface et comprenaient notamment un de télémétrie à hyperfréquence de 20 les températures à la surface de la mer recensement de toute la colonie ainsi gammes à l'avant du bassin de chaque changent déjà. Ces modifications que des dénombrements quotidiens à oiseau en le fixant à l'aide d'une nouvelle physiques de l'environnement auront une certains endroits choisis. Dans technique de type « sac banane ». Une fois incidence sur la quantité de nourriture l'ensemble, les données disponibles les oiseaux relâchés, le satellite a produite dans l'océan, sur les endroits où indiquent que peu d'oiseaux sont commencé à faire parvenir de l'information les oiseaux trouveront leur nourriture, sur présents dans la colonie à la fin du mois à nos ordinateurs et nous avons découvert la distance qu'ils devront parcourir pour de mai (période d'exode où les fulmars que les fulmars qui se reproduisent à Cape s'alimenter et sur la fréquence à laquelle partent à la recherche des nutriments Vera volent jusqu'à au moins 250 ils seront exposés à des tempêtes sur leurs nécessaires à la formation des œufs); kilomètres vers l'est pour aller s'alimenter lieux de reproduction. Nous espérons ensuite, les effectifs augmentent dans le nord de la baie de Baffin. De fait, un arriver à comprendre dans quelle mesure rapidement, atteignant un pic à la fin de bon nombre d'entre eux se rendent jusqu'à la les fulmars peuvent s'adapter aux juin, puis ils recommencent à diminuer côte nord-ouest du Groenland, ce qui variations qui surviennent dans leur graduellement jusqu'en août. signifie qu'un voyage aller-retour pour environnement et à quelles étapes de la Nous avons également effectué une s'alimenter peut représenter un vol de plus reproduction ils sont le plus vulnérable, analyse sommaire de la diète et trouvé de 1000 kilomètres! De plus, en hiver, ces de façon à être en mesure de modéliser les de très nombreuses preuves indiquant oiseaux migrent vers le sud entre le effets du changement climatique sur ces que 20 % des fulmars ingéreraient des Groenland et Terre-Neuve, où ils peuvent se immenses colonies. déchets en plastique. Il est probable disperser dans l'Atlantique Nord à partir des qu'ils trouvent ces déchets dans leur aire Grands Bancs et vers l'est jusqu'à l'Irlande Mark Mallory est un biologiste des d'hivernage de l'Atlantique Nord, ou du Nord. Bien que l'on sache que de oiseaux de mer au Service canadien de la peut-être partout où ils vont s'alimenter nombreuses espèces de Procellariiformes faune.

12 BIRDWATCH CANADA