At the Gate to Hell: Studying Fulmars in Northern Nunavut 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 Arctic 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 Cape Vera, 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 Cardigan Strait are narrow adapted to these extremes is unknown. northern Devon Island 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 Norwegian Bay to Jones Sound. 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 Lancaster Sound, 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.