We arrived at Lake Hazen in perfect time to
record flowering times this year. In 2013 I had to wait 2 weeks before anything
flowered and in 2014 the purple saxifrage (Saxifraga
oppositifolia) was already flowering when I arrived. This year the purple
saxifrage started flowering about 3 days after we arrived and now the arctic
willow (Salix arctica) and arctic bladder-pod
(Lesquerrella arctica) are just
beginning to flower. Interestingly the purple saxifrage at higher elevations
are now in peak flower while those near the lake at lower elevations are only
just starting to flower. Lake Hazen is still 100% ice covered (~1.5m thick ice)
which may explain why plants are flowering earlier further away from the cold
lake air. Camp Hazen by the lake is a little cold but if I walk 1/2km inland it
is much warmer.
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Arctic
bladder-pod (Lesquerella arctica) and
arctic willow (Salix arctica) are just coming in to flower at Lake Hazen in mid-June. |
There is a pair of rock ptarmigan that have taken up residence at Camp Hazen. The male keeps his white winter plumage all summer and is strutting around camp courting the female who has changed to a mottled brown summer plumage so she will be better camouflaged while sitting on the nest. I got quite a start one evening when I was entering our day’s data into my computer and heard the male on the roof of the research tent making a load cackling courting call.
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Camp Hazen’s resident rock ptarmigan. The female
changes
to a mottled summer plumage for camouflage while on the nest while the male retains his winter plumage all year at Lake Hazen. |
We had a surprise visit from some military folks
in a chinook helicopter! Apparently they are stationed at Alert and are
conducting some survey work and cleanup of old air fuel drums. It took a week
to fly the chinook from Petawawa to Alert. Alert is about 150km northeast of
our camp on Lake Hazen. One of the young Petawawa lads was surprised to see
people up here and asked if we had enough water and food!
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Surprise visit from a chinook helicopter with
the still frozen
Lake Hazen and Johns Island in the background. The lake ice
is
~1.5m thick this June. We collect our water through an
augered hole in the lake
ice.
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Thanks to Amy and Fred (chef extraordinaire and
awesome wildlife photographer respectively who were vising the Quttinirpaaq
National Park for 2 weeks) for taking this blog post ~2000km south to Iqaluit
where there is internet and to Chris
for posting on the blog.
