Come See us: Arctic Bay in Canada’s High Arctic

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  • A long time coming

    I had been waiting for this moment for thirteen months. On the first days of July of last year two Pacific Loons appeared on a pond by the outflow of our water lake, Marcil Lake. It wasn't the first time I'd seen Pacific Loons, and when they established a nest a couple of days later…

  • How TO photograph an Ermine (kind of)

    First of all, travel with someone more observant than you, like my wife. Walk quietly until she points out the Ermine to you, mere feet away. Avoid crowds of screaming children. As the Ermine starts to flee "squeak", its curiousity will get the better of it and it will come to try and choose you.…

  • How NOT to photograph an Ermine

    First of all, find the Ermine by watching a scrum of kids chasing something around. Position yourself in a place where you can watch the action, but where you are in no way hidden from the Ermine. Next, pay no attention to your camera settings, or if you do make sure it is set on…

  • Ursus

    We have been barbequing almost nightly here. Well not here really, over in Victor Bay, where everyone goes to get away from the hustle and bustle of Arctic Bay. A tank of propane is expensive here, $150. So when they are available, and when you lay down that cash (when the mine was here a…

  • Cotton Eye Candy

    From last night's drive, a favourite little pond this time of year, surrounded by Cotton Grass.

  • Tuitui

    If you could see this photo in higher resolution, you might notice something strange about it. The bird is a Tuitui, in Inuktitut. A Baird's Sandpiper, one of our more common summer breeding birds, and by far the most common shorebird around here.  They are long distant migrants, some travelling as far as the southern…

  • Lapland Longspur

    These colourful little birds never cease to bring a smile to my face. The males sing their songs while parachuting down from a height, their wings held stiffly out to the side. The females, while more cryptic, are every bit as beautiful.

  • Qurlurniq

    Leah used to spend part of her summers camping with her grandparents on the beach near this waterfall. This is a bit of an unconventional composition for me, but it seems to work. And for another view of this waterfall, check out my contribution to Poop Week, at 10,000 Birds: Whitewashing the truth.

  • Crossing the Void

    This time of year there are many cracks in the ice that must be navigated. This was a particularily narrow bridge, not more than the width of a couple of komatiqs.

  • Solstice

    I always find the Summer Solstice vaguely depressing. Yes, we still have another 6 weeks before the Sun sets, but we have started that slide towards dark. Foiled by the tilting earth yet again.