BREEDING BIOLOGY
Between the end of May and Early September most Brent are between 70 and 83 degrees North and our understanding of much of their breeding biology is very poor indeed. Most information was gathered by biologists from the Canadian Wildlife Service (Boyd and Maltby 1979, 1980) and Canadian Museum of Nature during the 70s and 80s and notably by Michael O'Briain and co-workers during the mid-1980s.The primary source of information on aspects of breeding biology are thus contained in his thesis (O'Briain 1989) and the published paper entitled Breeding, Moulting and Site Fidelity of Brant (Branta bernicla) on Bathurst and Seymour Islands in the Canadian Arctic (O'Briain et al. 1998) which summarised data over the period between 1968 and 1989. Without doubt this is the least studied breeding population of Brent.Recent expeditions have confirmed previous authors' assessments that the core range of this population is the central and eastern Queen Elizabeth Islands (Ellesmere, Axel Heiberg, Devon and Bathurst). The only detailed studies of nesting have taken place on Bathurst and Seymour Islands and incidental records have been reported from a variety of other widely dispersed locations.
Bathurst and Devon Island Expeditions: August 2005
In August 2005 Kendrew Colhoun with a team from BBC NI joined an expedition led by Dr W Sean Boyd (CWS, Delta BC) with Garry Grigg (CWS, Delta BC), Dr David Ward (USGS Anchorage) and Dr Malcolm McAdie (Vancouver Marmot Project) which was focussing on the ecology of Western High Arctic (Grey-bellied) Brant on Melville Island.
We conducted searches of southern Bathurst Island (staying at the Canadian Museum field station at Polar Bear Pass) for Eastern High Arctic Brant and also of the NW coastline of Devon Island (Grinnell Peninsula) in early August. In addition to filming 'Resolute' (a telemetred goose which was carrying a GPS backpack) we caught adult and juvenile Brant at Reindeer Bay in NE Bathurst. Three of these geese were fitted with abdominally implanted PTTs.
Ellesmere, Axel Heiberg and Bathurst Island Expeditions: July/August 2007
Working with a CWS team (Dr Austin Reed, Dr Josee Lefevbre, Francis St Pierre and Dr Louis Lesage) members of the core IBGRG from Ireland, the UK and Iceland conducted studies on Brent in the eastern High Arctic, focussing on Ellesmere, Axel Heiberg and Bathurst Islands in two separate expeditions in summer 2007.In late June Gudmundur Gudmundsson and Kendrew Colhoun searched for Brant, carrying out surveys of Ellesmere and Axel Heiberg Island centring on Eureka at 80 deg N, Ellesmere Island. Brant were scarce on the ground but where we did find them we really did strike Brant mecca! In the vicinity of the Schei Peninsula we found unprecedented high densities and numbers of breeding Brent. Prior to our findings the number of Brent nests for which data is available is a mere 24!! Statistics were recorded on 33 nests and we found an average of 4 eggs/nest.
Stuart Bearhop and Alyn Walsh worked with the Canadian team in early August, catching just under 200 adult and juvenile Brent at two sites on the Schei Peninsula (Axel Heiberg Island) and De La Beche Bay, Bathurst Island. This success compares to total captures of 554 birds by Michael O'Briain and co-workers in the four-year period 1984-1987. We have serious future plans to study this population at a few breeding sites!
Our work in Canada has been primarily supported by Polar Continental Shelf (part of Natural Resources Canada), the Canadian Wildlife Service and BBC Northern Ireland - to which we are most grateful. Our Canadian collaborators, the Nunavut Wildlife Management Board, John Deering, Mike Kristjanson, Barry Hough, the Defence Forces at Operation Hurricane (Fort Eureka) and our pilots made the seemingly impossible happen!
Arctic wildlife
The arrival of spring in the high Arctic affords the opportunity for a number of species to avail of the relative abundance of food (albeit widely dispersed) and make the most of the 24 hours daylight. On our trips we have observed an amazing array of Arctic wildlife including: Polar Bears, Arctic Wolf, Musk Ox, Caribou Arctic Hare, Lemming, Arctic Fox, Walrus, Narwhal, Beluga Whale, Ringed Seal and Bearded Seal. Birds have included Ross's Gull, Glaucous Gull, Baird's Sandpiper, Long-tailed Skua, Arctic Skua, Turnstone, red Knot, Sanderling, Purple Sanpiper, Rough-legged Buzzard, Snowy Owl, Lapland Longspur, Snow Bunting. A selection of pictures are available in the Photo Gallery.
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