The 1997 expedition of the on-going James Bay Islands Bird Survey examined some of the remote islands in the northeast sector of James Bay off the Quebec coast. Darrell Parsons, Mattthew Parsons, and I drove some 2000 km from Sarnia, Ontario, to Chisasibi, Quebec, at the mouth of the La Grande River, site of the huge Hydro Quebec power project. On July 2, we hired a 23' freighter canoe with Cree guides Sherman Herodier and Robbie Umiak and set out to survey several islands. Originally we had planned to survey Spencer, Walter, and Grey Goose Islands. Unfortunately, the pack ice was unseasonably late in breaking up and while awaiting the melt, we looked at islands closer to shore. This gave us a good opportunity to obtain data on bird populations on near-shore islands for future comparisons with islands further out in the bay. In contrast to islands explored on previous expeditions in the south end of James Bay, these islands were totally treeless.
We advanced further out into the bay as the ice slowly broke up and melted. On July 13, ice had opened up enough to weave our way through ice floes and fog (using the Cree's innate sense of direction with GPS for a backup) to Grey Goose Island, 70 km west of Chisasibi. Voyaging on the bay is always adventurous as we had to contend with everything from unpredictable ice-pack movements, frequent fog, hot buggy days or cold and windy days. Being trapped on an island for a few days by the unpredictable ice pack is 'par for the course.'
Highlights included Purple Sandpipers on territory, three species of loons (Common, Red-throated, and Pacific) and a Gyrfalcon well south of its normal summer range. Many nests were found including those of Common Eider, Semipalmated Plover, Red-necked Phalarope, and American Pipit. We visited a number of Black Guillemot, Herring Gull, and Arctic Tern colonies. Mammal sightings included Arctic Fox, Ringed Seal, and Beluga Whale. Several Polar Bear dens were found on Grey Goose Island but fortunately the bears themselves were still on the ice. We were astounded by the numbers of Great Black-backed Gulls, a bird not even on the official islands checklist. At least 14 individuals were seen with strong evidence of nesting. We surveyed 15 rocks, shoals, and islands in all, generating data for a total of 51 species of birds (breeding evidence was found for 27 species).
Our presence on this expedition and discussions with our boatmen and the Chisasibi Ecotourism Agency (Chisasibi Mandow), reinforced the potential of the pristine coast and islands as ecotourism destinations.
