Energy Constraints on Incubating Common Eiders in the Canadian Arctic (East Bay, Southampton Island, Nunavut)

• Main Author: E. Bottitta
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Subjects: Arctic; East Bay; Nunavut; Southampton Island; Arctic Fox; Prudhoe Bay; Rangifer tarandus; Tundra; Alaska
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.499.3807; http://pubs.aina.ucalgary.ca/arctic/Arctic52-4-425.pdf

IN 1994, I began to search for fieldwork in Alaska, butfound it difficult having worked exclusively in temperateclimates. I took a chance and moved north. Fortu-nately, I attained employment within the first few days of my arrival in April 1995. I took my first steps on the tundra within the Prudhoe Bay oilfield, monitoring bird activity and locating nests for Troy Ecological Research Associ-ates. During my first Arctic summer, I observed birds in glorious breeding plumage and demonstrating nesting be-haviours, arctic fox (Alopex lapogus), and herds of caribou (Rangifer tarandus-granti). Dehydration, sore ankles from trudging across soggy tundra in hip waders, fields of wild flowers, tundra naps, swarms of mosquitoes, unlimited sunshine, and cutting cold winds were common occur-rences. Towards the end of the season, my duties expanded to include searching for waterfowl nests and radio-track-ing female spectacled eiders (Somateria fischeri). Al-though I returned to the same area the following season, my primary duties shifted to eider work, with sporadic walks on the tundra thrown in.