Weekly walks in Iqaluit focus on snow bunting education
A group of university researchers is trying to learn more about a special group of residents in Iqaluit and their relationship to the city: snow buntings.
Snow buntings are the little grey songbirds often seen flying around Iqaluit.
At this time of year, they are mating and nesting in natural crevices, as well as human-made structures like pipes and sheds.
Patricia Rokitnicki, a PhD student and researcher with the University of Windsor’s avian ecology lab, is working with her colleagues to find out how Arctic city life is affecting the birds.
“Snow buntings are Arctic breeders whose populations are experiencing drastic decline,” she said in an interview.
“The goal of my project is to understand the impact of city life on the survival and the overall bunting population within Iqaluit.”
Snow buntings seem to be drawn to urban Iqaluit more than the tundra, Rokitnicki said, but it’s not clear why.
She suggested there may be advantages the buntings find nesting in the city, especially with warmer temperatures which would give them more time to breed.
“There’s quicker snow melt, so they might be able to nest earlier,” she said.
“We’re not 100 per cent sure if this is happening, but if their nest was to fail it would give them a second opportunity to re-nest again.”
Throughout the summer, Rokitnicki and her colleagues are locating nests and observing the buntings’ behaviour and mating success.
As the researchers continue doing that, they’re allowing the community to be part of their work.
They held their first weekly bird walk on June 8 with members of the public.
Rokitnicki and the other snow bunting researchers are inviting residents to meet outside Valupharm Drugs at 8:30 a.m. every Saturday until July 20 to tour some of the nesting sites and learn about the buntings.
A dozen people came out to the first walk, she said.
“We’ve kind of wanted to take initiative and really reach out to the community because they’re here all year round,” Rokitnicki said.
“The people that we’ve interacted with seem to have this really strong relationship with the birds in the area and they get so excited when we talk to them about it.”
Jeff Pelletier, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Nunatsiaq News
