Submitted by Anonymous on Fri, 07/30/2010 - 07:26
Forums
High Arctic Change 2010

Hi! I'm Michael! My question is: What is the most interesting thing that you found out about the arctic? Thank You!

Sat, 07/31/2010 - 14:02

Cheryl Forster

Hi Michael,The most interesting thing I have found out about the arctic is that
there are really quite a few bird species that live or visit the area to
nest in the summer and there are quite a few different flowering tundra
plants. Before I came here, I expected to find very few species because
when we study the arctic tundra from textbooks, we learn that the number
of different species is low.
The most interesting arctic bird of course is the arctic tern, it
travels 20,000 miles plus in the course of the year when it travels from
the north pole to the south pole. It is living in a bird preserve just
outside our cabin. They have their nests on the ground because there
are so few predators. When we walk past the terns, they dive bomb us
and have a very jerky flying motion.
Tonight we went out to the cliffs and watched the northern fulmar sea
birds fly. You can hardly see them move their wings, they are so
graceful. They are quite large birds and we stood on the edge of the
cliffs and the birds flew past us in a pattern, getting very close to
us. It was really exciting.
I will take some pictures of the birds and the plants I am seeing and
will put them on the blog for you to see. It has been very hard for me
to capture the birds in pictures but I will keep trying.
Thanks for your question.
Cheryl Forster
PolarTrec Teacher, 2010