Ecology of common eider ducks wintering in association with sea ice, Belcher Islands, Nunavut

Project Number: 29

Year Funded: 2003

Lead Institution(s): Canadian Wildlife Service

Project Lead: Grant Gilchrist

Email:

Collaborator(s): Greg Robertson (CWS), Keith Hobson (CWS), Jon Grant (Dalhousie U), Lucassie Arragutainaq, SHTA, CWS, SFU, DU

Location: Nunavut

Focal Species: Common Eider (Somateria mollissima)

Project Description: Several circumpolar sea duck species spend part of their year wintering in association with sea ice. Limited information suggests that this makes them vulnerable to mass starvation events during winter and migration. The frequency and magnitude of these die-offs, and their impact on sea duck population dynamics are unknown. The Hudson Bay Common Eider duck population winters in the Belcher Islands of Hudson Bay, and experienced a population decline of 75% during a heavy ice year in 1991-92. The Belcher Islands is perhaps the only location in the world where detailed studies of sea duck wintering ecology can be conducted in association with polar sea ice, and these studies are the focus of this research proposal.