Last Sunday I took part in the Great Backyard Bird Count here in Arctic Bay. I birded by truck (what can I say, I've got a BIG backyard, it was COLD, and I had Leah, Travis and Hilary with me). The results were pretty predictable for me, I didn't add any species to my 2006 bird list. I did get a species count of 113 Ravens in two locations. I made a half-hearted attempt for ptarmigan but let's face it, I was only hoping that they'd show up at the road the same time as me.
The highlight of the trip, however, was not a bird, but a mammal. We saw a Red Fox (Vulpes vulpes) on the hills above the dump. We watched it with the binoculars for several minutes before it worked it's way over the crest of the ridge.
Now while the Arctic Fox (Alopex lagopus) is by far the more common species of fox here, we do have a healthy population in the Baffin. We are pretty much at the Northern limit of their distribution but I've seen them since I first arrived up here. The first time I saw a Red Fox here (a Cross phase fox) I did a classic double take. Driving back to Arctic Bay from Nanisivik I saw a pair of foxes a little way off the road. Cool, I thought, Arctic Fox and then snapped my head back, when I realized that they could not be Arctic Fox. Like most people I was surprised to learn that Red Fox lived this far north, I've always thought of them as creatures of woodlands, and we are a long way from any woodlands here. They are not the only mammal species that I was surprised to learn live in the High Arctic. Two mustalids, the Wolverine (Gulo gulo) and Ermine (Mustela erminea) also make their home here.
All told there are about 19 species of mammal that one could expect to see around Arctic Bay, more than half of which are marine mammals (and I include the Polar Bear <Ursus maritimus> on the marine mammal side). There is also an arctic mammal that you will not see on Baffin Island, the Muskox. Surprisingly no Muskox live here, the nearest ones being on Devon Island, north of us.
But we do have Red Fox, and I was happy to see this one, as it has been a couple of years. And this was the first red phase one I've seen here, the others were all cross foxes.
Recent Comments