Love. And the art of nest searching

Love is in the air. Literally. I have been here for 12 days and have bore witness to the progression of the shorebird breeding season from a few enthusiastic individuals to an eruption of vocalizations, courtship displays, and egg laying. If you were to walk in to a dimly lit room full of divorcees, tipsy on wine, listening to the amorous songs of Marvin Gaye...the sexual charge wouldn't hold a candle to these little buggers.

It's for the birds. Caught in the act.

Over the past week I have had to refresh myself on the breeding behavior of Dunlin and have often found myself smiling at their aerial displays accompanied by low buzzing, wing waves to the ladies, and the males' attempts to create the 'perfect' nests for their mates. They may not find their behavior humorous but at least one shorebird biologist out there does. And I find it funny not only because they are so determined but also because these codes of sexual conduct reverberate throughout the animal kingdom (humans included).

By my third day here I was cueing in to all of these behaviors in the attempt to locate the end result of all of this excited behavior, a nest containing four small eggs. Now-every peep, buzz, or mouse-like movement in the grass brings me to an immediate halt in the hopes that it will lead me to a Dunlin nest.  Sure, finding tiny camouflaged nests amongst kilometers of flat grassland may make me feel like a super-sleuth, but it does have its reasons beyond self gratification. My research is focused on the return rates of individuals to nesting sites so confirming new nests of previously captured birds is an integral component of the data I will be collecting during this breeding season.


The Fen-home to many shorebird nests

It took three days of seemingly aimless walking for me to finally find my first Dunlin nest. I had many empty nest cups, birds disappearing into the grass never to be seen again, and phantom sounds leading me nowhere before I finally found this beauty:

I'm not too proud to use a tired cliché yet again...finding shorebird nests is kind of like finding a needle in a haystack. The search offers many miles of walking with very little reward. However, since this first nest I have had great success and we are now up to a whopping 14 nests found. Hold the applause audience, there will be more to come. At this point you may be worried that I am working too hard, but fear not, I still find time to eat, sleep, and take a few pictures along the way.

 



Sunday Gun-Day

Churchill has been dubbed the "Polar Bear Capital of the World". Whether or not this is a self appointed claim, the fact of the matter remains that while here chances are good you will encounter a polar bear. As the sea ice on the Hudson Bay melts in the summer sun polar bears are forced to evacuate their winter hunting grounds far out on the sea and head towards dry land. Awaiting their arrival are hordes of northern tourists riding around in tundra buggies expecting close up encounters they can photograph and throw up on the wall next to their children's' graduation pictures.


The fourth picture to come up from a google search of 'Churchill, Manitoba'

It goes without saying that the polar bears in the Churchill area are habituated to humans and all of the sounds, smells, and activities that surround them. It is for this reason the research centre sagaciously issues shot guns to researchers headed out into the field. Providing firearms to mostly binocular toting, glasses wearing, 'academically inclined' sorts may seem like an unwise decision likely to result in something akin to the Dick Cheney hunting incident. But after a morning of gun training if you can't shoot a gun you can at least point it away from your companions and use it as bludgeoning object against an overly curious bear.

On Sunday our shorebird crew got the full run down of polar bear and gun safety by the centre's resident scientific coordinator,  LeeAnn Fishback. Afterwards we headed out to realize our inexperience, inaccuracy, and general bad shooting form at the gun range. Thanks to arctic field work I have carried a shot gun around for much longer than my experience should warrant. I figured that by having toted one for so long I would have absorbed the perfect aim and accuracy through the heavy metal strapped across my back.


Bullseye Koloski

It turns out I was wrong. While I did manage to hit the paper with the majority of my shots lets just say I did create quite the spread. After witnessing my flaws LeeAnn stepped in and readjusted my form and made me a 100% bullseye shooter 100% of the time....yeah right. In all seriousness, practicing at the gun range is a great way to become more comfortable and prepare yourself in case you need to deter a bear that has every intention of getting a little too close for comfort. Ideally a bear would turn and run away when encountering a human, but reality sometimes neglects to provide the idyll. If there was ever a time to use a tired cliché this is it: "its better to be safe than sorry". However, just because we were practicing our safe gun handling doesn't mean we didn't have fun with it!

 

 

 

 

The 2013 Field Season Begins!

Today marks the beginning of my first field season studying arctic nesting shorebirds in Churchill, Manitoba. Early this morning I left the sweltering heat of Peterborough, Ontario and traveled to latitude 58 degrees north to find...snow. As I sit looking out over the seemingly endless subarctic terrain that surrounds me, temperamental spurts of snow flurries pass by my window. I feel like I have been thrown back into the month of March and as crazy as it may sound, this excites me! It holds the promise of shorebirds yet to arrive, vibrant wildflowers still wrapped in winter dormancy, and lets me know I've arrived just in time to experience the brief yet extraordinarily beautiful arctic summer.


The view as we touched down on the Churchill airstrip.

For the next two months I will be living at and working from the Churchill Northern Studies Centre which lies about 13 km outside of Churchill. The duration of my time spent here will be focused on studying the breeding site fidelity and return rates of Dunlin (Calidris alpine hudsonia) by capturing, banding, and resighting as many adults and chicks as possible. In layman's terms this basically means I will be entertaining myself by hunting for nests, exploring the area, playing with birds, and having amazing wildlife encounters.


Churchill exhibits a very interesting geographical phenomenon. As previously mentioned it lies at 58 degrees N, a latitude that generally wouldn't create arctic conditions in a coastal environment. Juneau, AK, for example, lies at the same latitude along the pacific coastline and is classified as temperate rainforest. Churchill, however, is a subarctic zone that harbors three distinct biomes: boreal, arctic, and marine. Situated along the shoreline of the Hudson Bay, it is heavily influenced by strong North winds and the yearly freeze-up of the shallow bay waters.

 

The long and short of it is that thanks to these characteristics I am able to spend my summer frolicking around the Churchill area studying birds generally found at higher latitudes. I can't promise that this blog will bring you satisfaction but at times it may bring you joy, enlightenment, tears, or fear as I chronicle my scientific, humorous, thoughtful, and potentially inappropriate endeavors during the summer. Enjoy!