Darrell Parsons, Russell Bright, and I travelled by car and train from Sarnia to Moosonee, then chartered a plane to Waskaganish, Quebec. We hired a 25' fibreglass 'freighter canoe' for bay travel along with two Cree boatmen, Richard Small and Bernard Diamond. Due to a cold spring, James Bay was still largely icebound, and we had to concentrate our efforts in the southeastern islands. We often had to pick our way slowly through icefloes. Three base camps were established (Strutton Island, Charlton Island, and Tent Island) from which we surveyed neighbouring isles and shoals with the boat, which proved to be extremely useful. In contrast to work in 1992 and 1993, where we surveyed one island after being dropped off by a floatplane, we were able to survey fourteen islands and shoals. The boat allowed us to completely walk around larger islands by dropping off and picking up different parties to maximize survey time.
Ninety-two species were seen including several birds not previously recorded from the James/Hudson Bay Islands region. New species included Horned Grebe, Spruce Grouse, Yellow Rail, Solitary Sandpiper, Great Black-backed Gull, Three-toed Woodpecker, Red-breasted Nuthatch, Pine Siskin, and American Goldfinch. On June 15, a male Wood Duck was seen on Strutton Island, the first confirmed record for the Northwest Territories. Four previously undocumented Common Eider colonies were found on shoals north of Strutton Island and a Double-crested Cormorant colony was discovered on McNab Island in Rupert Bay.
(Full report is published in Ontario Birds Volume 15, Number 3: pp.108-115
