The House & other Arctic musings

I and the Bird #50

I and the Bird #50, is up at Bora's A Blog around the Clock.  While it would have been nice to have fifty posts for this fiftieth un-themed edition, I'm sure you'll find many you'll enjoy in the thirty-eight or so there are. Of course, while they are all worth your time, might I suggest Pamela's Thomasburg Walks for a strange story of birdsong, and James' exotic tale of an expedition through wild Tanzania by Camel, in the always exotic Birding in Tanzania.

Time's a wastin'

Celebrity Nunavumiut

Nashville Predator's Jordin Tootoo visited Arctic Bay yesterday. Jordin is the first Inuk in the NHL, and is immensely popular in Nunavut.  This is, I believe, his second tour around Nunavut communities (but his first to Arctic Bay) promoting a "Stay in School" message. Jordin only spoke briefly, and then answered some questions and gave out swag.  Then he patiently posed for photos and signed autographs.  The gym was filled to capacity and he had to have signed his name hundreds of time.  Not to mention face retinal damage from the constant camera flashes going off.

Afterwards we got to spend a little extra time with Jordin, as he, along with some of the group he was travelling with, stayed at the B&B.  He was a very personable young man, quiet and polite.  He had a hankering for some country food so we managed to track down some caribou and fish for him and the others. It was an enjoyable visit and despite the time he spent in the gym he still took the time to pose for a couple of pictures with us.

And seeing as I was on the topic of Nunavut celebrites, here is a picture of Susan Aglukark and I at Vimy. She is another excellent ambassador for Nunavumiut everywhere.

Gulls of the Americas

Nicely timed with the arrival of gulls in Arctic Bay has been the arrival of a new guide on gulls, Gulls of the Americas.  This large (515 pgs) volume is the first book in the Peterson Reference Guides series, written by Steve N.G. Howell and Jon Dunn. It would make a nice addition to any bird watcher's library, especially those vexed by the challenges of gull identification.

The guide is generously illustrated with over 1,100 photographs, and covers some thirty-six species of gulls found in North and South America (out of the fifty odd species found world wide). The book is organized with the photo plates at the beginning of the book (after the "How to Use This Book" and the Introduction), followed by the species accounts including range maps.  The introduction is an excellent primer on gulls and the various elements of gull identification that one needs to sort through this group of birds.  The species accounts are well organized and detailed, and include a section on similar species in all the various plumages. The similar species section is essential for proper identification. It also includes information (and photos) of various hybrids.

The beauty of gull identification is that you can take it as far as you'd like.  You can start by identifying only adult plumage birds if you so like, ignoring some of the confusing intermediate plumages. If you feel up to it you can delve further and further into the identification challenges, but I'm willing to bet that no matter how skilled you become you will never reach 100% success in identifying the gulls out there.  There will always be individuals you come across that defy identification. All part of the beauty of nature. This is a book that can assist you in expanding your skills and enjoyment of gulls.

But while this book is a welcome addition to my library I do have to say that it will not be my primary reference when it comes to gull identification.  That will remain Seabirds: An Identification Guide by Peter Harrison.  The Harrison book is slightly more portable, and thus is easier to take out in the field, but more importantly for me (and I realize this is a personal thing) has illustrations rather than photographs.  The photographs in Howell and Dunn's book are excellent but I much prefer illustrations. Illustrations (to my mind) are better able to convey the "idea" of characteristics, rather than a particular individual's characteristics.

I've already made good use of this excellent book, the day of it's arrival. I look forward to expanding my gull identification abilities with it.

Nauja - The difference a day makes

Early last week the gulls started arriving in Arctic Bay.  Standing on our deck I could hear their cries, and saw the odd one flying near the powerhouse.  One of my spies (thanks Adam) let me know that there were several down by the ocean at his end of town.  But it took me until this week before I got out to have a look.

You most commonly hear most of our common gulls (Glaucous, Thayers and Iceland) called Nauja in Inuktitut with little distinction between the different species.  That is really no different than most people who lump all gulls into the ubiquitous "sea gulls".  But we do have several distinct species here and I decided I had better go have a look to see just what had arrived.

So Friday, Ms Hilary and I hopped in the truck and took a drive to see what we could see.  Driving through town I could see several Glaucous Gulls out on the sea ice but as I expected I found the bulk of the gulls down by the shore below the area of the dump.  There were a couple of hundred gulls there, so I spent some time glassing them.  Glaucous Gulls are generally the first to arrive here in town and try as I might to pick out another species I couldn't all of these gulls were Glaucous.

Oh, it's not like I didn't try to turn a couple of the smaller Glaucous Gulls into Iceland Gulls. I had pretty much convinced myself that one was.  But at the end of the day I pretty much had to admit that although the bird itself was somewhat smaller than average (likely a female), there was no difference in bill proportion and that all the birds (or at least all I could pick out) were Glaucous Gulls.

The next day, however, I returned with the whole family to look at the growing throng of gulls.  And there were definitely several Iceland Gulls amongst them.  I wish that I had a better camera as there was a very co-operative Iceland Gull standing next to a Glaucous Gull perfectly illustrating the differences between the two.  And just what are those differences? In general the Iceland Gull is a smaller bird, but that isn't that apparent unless the two are together.  The bill of the Iceland Gull is smaller in proportion to the head, and its wing tips project slightly farther past the tail.  The orbital ring on the Iceland gull tends to be redder than that of the Glaucous Gull.  Other than that they are pretty much identically coloured.

Gulls are always challenging to identify and that is further complicated by hybrids and the many plumages that they transition through, in addition there can be much variation amongst individuals.  Recent DNA evidence has shown that several species are actually genetically identical and that many of the birds that we think of as being seperate should perhaps be thought of more as subspecies, even though they are superficially quite different.

That is one of the things I love about gulls, the identification challenges they pose (and I tend to restrict myself to adult birds).  But whatever those challenges are, their arrival here marks another sign that spring is progressing.  Soon Thayer's Gulls will arrive, and then it will be more small passerines and shorebirds.  Ah Spring.

May long weekend Fishing Derby

Every year on the May long weekend, Arctic Bay empties as everyone heads out on the land for the annual fishing derby, and of course this year was no exception.  The fish derby was greatly scaled down this year. Normally there are four "lakes" where fishing takes place, plus a small lake near town that has land locked Char that is open for those who can not get out of town.  Each of these lakes would have their own prizes. As it happens, this year there was only one lake (plus the town) that was open this year.  That didn't stop everyone from heading out of town.

Ikpikitarjuaq (Not sure if I have the spelling right) is a traditional fishing and spring camping area, about four to five hours snowmobile ride from town.  Strangely enough I've never been there, and alas this year was no exception, for although Leah and Travis went to the derby, Hilary and I stayed in town and looked after the place.  So I don't have anything to report on the derby, however I will post some of Leah's pictures that she took this weekend. Unfortunately Leah's cameras ended up being set on  "night" mode and the pictures are all washed out.  I've tried to salvage them as best I could on Photoshop.

Tea Break

Here, on long trips one stops at regular intervals to gas up the snowmobiles, have some tea and a snack, and give those travelling in the iglutaq a respite from the pounding.  You can see the Coleman stove with snow melting for tea.  The sled is called a qamutik, the little shelter on the sled is an Iglutaq.

Tea Break Too

Hot Chocolate is very popular amongst a certain segment.  That is Travis on the right with the Maple Leaf cap and Leah's sister on the left.

Intrepid Explorer

What can I say, he loves being outdoors.

Fishing

Leah's father with a medium sized char.  The ice on the lakes is about eight feet thick this time of year.

Fishing Too

While Leah's mom jigs, Travis and his Aunt Sipporah await their turn at the hole.

Toasty Warm

Travis' cousin, Cameron, is pretty toasty in traditional clothing.  Note the caribou seal skin pants (silapat)

Lunch Time

Leah's parents sit down for some traditional country food, Char and Igunaq (aged meat)

Camp

Just a few of the tents at Ikpikitarjuq. Again, a poor picture but you'll get the idea.

Square Hooks

This isn't just a fish derby, it is also an opportunity to stock up on fish.  The fish caught in the net do not count towards the derby.

Fishing is hard work

Um, I don't really need to add anything to this photo.

A year with Statcounter

A little bit of navel gazing today.  I added Statcounter to the blog a year ago, so I was looking at what transpired over the last year.  I had just shy of 62,000 hits in the past year (my second year at this blogging thing) with a high of 6,500 hits in February. That translated into a little more than 40,000 visitors.

Who knew my family spent that much time on the internet.

Curse you, Donald Kroodsma - a Review of Raven 1.0

One of the utilities recommended by Donald Kroodsma in his book The Singing Life of Birds is a free software program offered up by Cornell for generating sonograms.  I took some time last night to download the program, Raven Lite 1.0. 

The full Raven Lite program is being offered free (there is also a demo version but Cornell is offering free registration) on their site.  It is available for both Mac and for that other platform.  It was a cinch to download and easy to use.  I've only played with a couple of hours (that I really didn't have to spare) but I like what I see.  Using Stokes Field Guide to Bird Songs (Eastern) I've been exploring different birdsong and following along, learning to listen with my eyes as well as my ears.

The controls are simple to use, and it is easy to expand the sonograms on both planes, to make it easier to follow them.  You can set the playback speed to whatever speed you would like. A Song Sparrow sounds positively alien at 1/10 speed, but it soooo easy to follow along with what the bird is actually singing.

The drawback?  Well, I really really didn't need another interest and I feel one growing.  All the time I was playing with Raven Lite  I couldn't help but think "I've GOT to figure out a way to record a Ringed Seal and check out its sonogram."  Ringed seal are the most otherworldly sounding animals I've ever heard. I'd love to see what it looks like on paper.  Well, I do have the hydrophone, perhaps I really should have a recorder.  But if I get a recorder I really should get a parabolic microphone, otherwise it would only have a limited use with just the hydrophone. 

See.  See what you've done.

Poetry in every blog.

Dave Bonta has such a wide ranging blog, Via Negativa. His interests run to practically all the world around him, the world he approaches in his own intelligent, literate style.  I'm always proud when a post of mine pops up on his incomparable Smorgasblog. For it means that I have crafted my words well, that no matter what the post is about, I've captured the essance of it, and managed to convey it.

He is the host of the current edition of I and The Bird (#49) the wonderfilled bird carnival. In his inimitable style Dave has crafted a line from each of this editions entries into a poem.  Each line a link to the post, a mystery waiting to be discovered.

Suicide

Once again Arctic Bay has lost one of it's young people to the scourge of suicide. A young man took his life late last night.  Suicide is always a tragedy, and unfortunately it is a tragedy that repeats itself over and over and over again in the Arctic. I feel for the young man who felt that the problems of his life were so overwhelming that he felt no other way out. But suicide was a choice that he made, my heart really goes out to the people he hurt by making that choice, the people who loved him the most are the people who are most hurt by this, and they had no choice in what he did.

Nunavut has the highest rate of suicide in Canada (by far).  While I'm trying to find more up to date statistics a study in 1996 showed an over all rate in Nunavut of 151 per 100,000.  That works out to about 40 people every year in Nunavut. Conversely, the average rate in Canada for 1996 was 13 per 100,000, which means that someone from Nunavut is 10 times as likely to take his or her life as someone from the rest of Canada. Of course the vast majority of those taking their own lives in Nunavut are Inuit.

All of this of course begs the question why, and just as there is no real satisfactory answer why that young man chose to end his life last night, there is no really good answer as to why the rate is so high here. You hear reasons bandied about, such as the rapid change in culture, over crowded housing, lack of opportunities.  None seem to offer an adequate explanation, and perhaps it is a combination of many factors. Perhaps there is a higher rate of clinical depression here, with of course the accompanying lack of resources for treatment. The threat of suicide is often used here to manipulate ("If you leave me I'll kill myself.""If you charge me I'll kill myself"."I don't want to go camping, if you make me I'll kill myself") I'm not sure if this is one of the causes, or one of the results of the high suicide rate. I do know that often someone will follow through with that threat.

Often relationship problems seem to be the trigger of suicides, last night was no exception. Someone once pointed out to me that perhaps people up here despair more when relationships fall apart, there being less opportunity to find someone else because of the small population. It made sense to me.  But ultimately any one explanation falls short of answering "why?".

I don't know why so many people make the choice to take their own lives, but I do know this. Suicide devastates communities, plunges people in to despair, spawns other suicides or attempts. There is not a person in this community that has not been touched by this devastation. Not one person who has escaped the pain of losing someone they love. More needs to be done to slow this down, our communities are drowning in pain.

Um, but I've already been "it"

Man, I can not believe how far behind I am in reading blogs.  I've just spent the better part of the afternoon trying, without success I should add, to catch up. I really should have been doing other things but...Kara and Matt of The Adventures of Kara and Matt in Kugluktuk tagged me with a meme back on the 10th of May.  Unfortunately I was already tagged with this meme (or a very similar one) way back in September 2005.  So... rather than re-do the meme I'll just link to my original one, and add any categories left unanswered.

I'm not tagging anyone though, but if you are feeling left out "have at 'er".

My post from September 2005.

5 Bad Habits
1) I'm the worlds worst procrastinator.
2-5) I'll get to these later.

5 Things I Like Doing
1) Spending time with Leah, Travis and Hilary.  Part of the reason it took all afternoon to read blogs was that Hilary and I had a great time playing, laughing and hanging out.  She was almost always hanging off me if I ignored her for any length of time.
2) Reading.  I don't do near enough anymore, curse trying to make a living and this computer.
3) Writing.  Its been a rough slog of late, I think that once I came to think of myself as a writer I doomed myself to never writing well again.
4) Travel.  Sigh. Sigh. Sigh.
5) Spending time in the natural world.  As one of my favourite philosphers says "The world isn't so bad if you can just get out in it".