DOI: 10.5061/dryad.34tmpg4wh
title: Data from: Aerial survey of sea ducks and whales in winter in eastern Canadian Arctic

description: In February of 2010, we conducted an exploratory aerial survey for sea
 ducks in the eastern Canadian Arctic along coastal waters of Ungava Bay,
 Hudson Strait, Frobisher Bay, and Labrador. Small numbers of eiders and
 long-tailed ducks were detected on the east and west coasts of Ungava Bay,
 Québec, Resolution Island, Nunavut and Labrador. A large concentration
 (~35 000 birds) of king and common eiders were detected in the waters
 around the Button Islands, Nunavut.  We also report on incidental
 observations of beluga and bowhead whales.
description: Follows is a description and some notes take during the
 survey. Aircraft:<br>Provincial Airlines Twin
 Otter equipped with a passenger bubble window on both sides in the front
 passenger compartment and a large bubble window in the rear emergency
 exit. Observers: <br>Scott G.
 Gilliland <br>Christine Lepage<br>Joseph Townley
 Recording and navigation:<br>We used PC Mapper AI and the
 USFWS RECORD/TRANSCRIBE software to geotag recordings. A Garmin GPSMAP276C
 GPS was loaded with waypoints identifying sites of interest and was
 provided to the pilots for navigation. Survey was
 conducted at an altitude of 425 to 550m ASL and an airspeed of 250 kph to
 search for open water.  Areas of shallow open water were searched at an
 altitude of ~450m at air speeds of ~180 kph. 22 Feb
 2010 Departed Goose Bay for Kuujjuaq, QC. In Kuujjuaq
 we refuelled and headed for Iqaluit, NU.  The planned route to follow the
 west coast of Ungava cross Hudson Strait via Salisbury Island and check
 some open water areas on the south coast of Baffin Island on route.
  However, the west coast of Ungava Bay was in snow showers and we
 travelled via the east coast of Ungava Bay.  Sky was clear, temperature
 was -6°C and winds were light.   The ice in the bottom
 of Ungava Bay was tight pack ice and very active.  There was little open
 water and looked as if any open water would not be persistent. There were
 several small areas of open water within the land fast ice but no
 concentrations of birds were observed using them.  Around the northern tip
 of the Ungava Bay we encountered snow showers and could not get to the
 Button Islands.  Weather in Iqaluit was good and we headed for Resolution
 Island when again ran into snow showers and we headed back to Kuujjuaq via
 Apitok Island and covered bit of western side of Ungava Bay on the return
 flight. There was construction in Kuujjuaq and court
 was in town and there were no accommodations and that night we moved to
 Iqaluit.   23 Feb 2010
 We planned fly from Iqaluit to Nain and explore the Loks Land
 area of Frobisher Bay and cross over Hudson Strait passing by Resolution
 Island and the Button Islands. Sky was mid-level broken clouds with some
 low clouds and 2°C when we departed Iqaluit. We encounter strong head
 winds in Frobisher Bay and our estimated time of arrival in Nain was
 approximately equivalent to our endurance, hence we had little time to
 explore.  When traveling down Frobisher we picked a path that was
 efficient and covered likely areas that may have birds along the way.
   Near the southeast tip of Frobisher Bay we encounter
 low ceilings and descended to 200m in low cloud. Winds had dropped by the
 time we got to Resolution Island but we still only had enough fuel to get
 to Nain with Kuujjuaq as an alternative.  The pilots recommended we fly
 direct to Nain and we only had time look at the best open-water areas
 identified from the Radarsat images.  We arrived at Button Islands in
 perfect weather conditions.  Did not have enough fuel to do a completely
 search or circle for pictures and headed for Nain. Although there was not
 a lot of sea ice, strong northeasterly winds had prevailed for the
 previous week and there was a narrow dense band of pack ice along the
 north coast of Labrador <br>24 Feb
 2010. We departed Nain for Blanc Sablon. Skys were
 clear, winds light and temperate was 5°C. There was some low cloud forming
 in inshore air flows over the ice edge to the south of Nain and this
 resulted in poor visibility between Voiseys Bay and Hopedale. South of
 Hopedale the sky was clear again and we encountered lots of loose melting
 pack ice around Smokey: there no sign of birds. There was some open water
 near Duck Is. and Snooks Cove in Groswater Bay, but no birds. There was
 heavy pack ice and no open water in the areas along the Porcupine Strand
 to Tumbledown Dick and Stag Islands. The Gannets Islands were just beyond
 ice edge and in open water. From Wolf Island to Black Tickle there was
 some low local cloud and coverage was incomplete, the area was covered in
 loose pack ice and unlikely birds could use the area.  Skys were clear to
 the south of Black Tickle to Bell Island and there was a narrow band of
 dense pack ice -- no birds really can be in the ice.  Around Bell Island
 there was some local low cloud and may have missed a few birds, but not
 too many.  Sky was clear from Henley Harbour to Blanc-Sablon.
  
description: # Data from: Aerial survey of sea ducks and whales in winter in eastern
 Canadian Arctic Dataset DOI:
 [10.5061/dryad.34tmpg4wh](10.5061/dryad.34tmpg4wh) ## Description of the
 data and file structure Date of data collection: 2010-02-22 to 2010-02-24
 Geographic location of data collection: Survey coverage for the east coast
 of Ungava Bay, parts of Frobisher Bay and the coast of Labrador, Canada.
 ### Files and variables #### File: 2010_02_22_Hudson_Strait_TrackFile.csv
 **Description:** CSV file containing the flight track of the flight track
 of the aircraft on February 22.  Data file contains time stamped
 coordinates collect at 1 s intervals. ##### Variables * Feature ID: Unique
 Identifier * Date: yyyy-mm-dd * Time: UTC * Latitude: * Longitude: ####
 File: 2010_02_23_Hudson_Strait_TrackFile.csv **Description:** CSV file
 containing the flight track of the flight track of the aircraft on
 February 23.  Data file contains time stamped coordinates collect at 1 s
 intervals. ##### Variables * Feature ID: Unique Identifier *
 Date: yyyy-mm-dd * Time: UTC * Latitude: * Longitude: #### File:
 2010_02_24_Hudson_Strait_TrackFile.csv **Description:**  CSV file
 containing the flight track of the flight track of the aircraft on
 February 24.  Data file contains time stamped coordinates collect at 1 s
 intervals. ##### Variables * Feature ID: Unique Identifier *
 Date: yyyy-mm-dd * Time: UTC * Latitude: * Longitude: #### File:
 2010_02_24_Hudson_Strait_observations.csv **Description:** CSV file
 containing time stamped coordinates and counts of all wildlife encountered
 on the survey. ##### Variables * Year: yyyy * Month: mm * Day: hh *
 Time_UTC: time of day in Coordinated Universal Time * Latitude: *
 Longitude: * Spp: 4 letter species code (codes defined in species .csv) *
 Male: count of male (white eiders) * Brown: count of brown birds (female
 and subadult males) * Unk: count of birds in flocks that sex and age could
 not be determined. * Comment: #### File:
 2010_02_24_Hudson_Strait_species.csv **Description:** CSV file containing
 a list of species codes along with the common and scientific names of all
 wildlife encountered on the survey. ##### Variables * Species_code: 4
 letter species code * Common_name: english * Scientific_name: #### File:
 Readme_Gilliland_Arctic_Eiders_2010.txt **Description:** Txt formatted
 README which includes methods and more detailed metadata.