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SITE NAME
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Coats Island, Nunavut, Canada
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| Contact details
(phone/fax//e-mail//address): |
| (613)990-2384/(613)998-0458(fax) // paulallen.smith@ec.gc.ca // National Wildlife Research Centre, Carleton University, Ottawa, ON, K1A 0H3, Canada
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PROJECT DETAILS |
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Project name:
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Shorebirds of Coats Island
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Start of survey:
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End
of survey: |
Team
size: |
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02.06
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22.07
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4
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WEATHER
CONDITIONS
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Weather conditions: |
| There was moderate snow cover upon our arrival to the camp, but warm June weather made the snow melt very quickly: to 50% cover by 5 June and completely by 9 June. In general, June was very warm and dry, however, there was a snow fall of 5 - 10 cm on 18 June. This snow melted within 12 h. Another storm on June 23rd brought 0øC temperatures, 72km/h winds and snow. On July 7th, there were extreme winds (high of 98km/h), and light rain; as this coincided roughly with peak hatch, I expect that this may have caused problems for some birds. Overall, there was very little rain throughout June and early July, and the flow of small rivers in the area was much lower than in 2004 or 2005. The weather in late July was cooler than average with an average amount of rainfall.
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| Date of 50%
snow-cover: |
05.06
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| Date of ice-break on
rivers: |
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| Date of final loss of
snow: |
09.06
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BIOTIC
CONDITIONS
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| Rodents abundance evaluation: |
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Breeding conditions:
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Arctic Foxes were common, and we observed 2 pups at one den.
With the exception of the extreme weather events noted above, 2006 offered favourable conditions for breeding birds. Hatch success of shorebirds appeared higher in 2006 than in 2004 or 2005, but more detailed analyses are not yet complete. Red Phalaropes, White-rumped Sandpipers and Pectoral Sandpipers bred at this site in much higher abundance in 2006 than in 2004 or 2005, and had atypically high success. Mayfield estimate of hatch success in shorebirds was 0.34.
Snow Geese continue to nest in the Northern portion of this study plot, and the colony appears to have expanded even since 2005. Hatch success of Snow Geese at this site was low, however, due to unique circumstances. The landfast sea ice went out in mid June, about 2 weeks earlier than usual for this area. A strong north wind packed drifting ice against the coast at our study site (on the north side of the island), bringing many bears into the area. These bears (up to 5 at a time) made their way through the goose colony in a matter of days and consumed the vast majority of the eggs. We did not observe bears consuming eggs at this colony in previous years, presumably because most bears were out on the ice until the goslings had hatched.
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Rodent dynamics:
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| No lemmings exist on Coats Island.
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Rodent species recorded:
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Summary
of fauna studies: |
| We monitored the nests of shorebirds for success, and to a lesser extent, followed the nests of other birds such as gulls, jaegers and geese. This was the third year of an ongoing study at Coats Island to document the breeding ecology of the shorebirds. This work is the basis of a PhD thesis (Paul Smith). More information is available upon request.
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