Raincoast Education Society is excited to host their 2026 Speaker Series, Incredible Journeys, featuring guest speakers exploring the science behind some of the planet’s most remarkable migrations.
Register for this FREE online session HERE.
Breeding biology and annual movements of Arctic Terns from Nunavut, Canada
Arctic terns (Sterna paradisaea) are a small seabird with a circumpolar distribution. Scientists and northern Indigenous Peoples have reported declines in numbers of Arctic terns in the 21st Century, but in Canada, very little was known about their breeding or movements. To that end, Dr. Mallory's team undertook a multiyear study of tern breeding, diet, and movement from a colony at Nasaruvaalik Island in the high Arctic. In this presentation, he will summarize some of what we found about the challenges they face during nesting, the incredible information they documented on their year-round movements, and how these data continue to give us benefits in considering issues like marine protection in Canada and on the open oceans.
About the speaker: Dr. Mark Mallory is a Canada Research Chair at Acadia University, Nova Scotia, where he studies effects of climate change, pollution, and human activity on coastal environments (especially seabirds) in the Canadian Maritimes and Arctic.
He has worked in Nunavut for 25 years, and lived in Iqaluit, Nunavut from 1999-2011. Although focused on birds in Canada’s high Arctic, Mark’s collaborations stretch from Alaska to Norway, and he has extensive work underway in Labrador and Nova Scotia.
He has written > 400 scientific papers, as well as the book Common Birds of Nunavut, and has led >25 Arctic research expeditions. His research led to the creation of Akpait and Qaqulluit National Wildlife Areas on eastern Baffin Island, and the uplisting of ivory gulls to Endangered status.
Mark has been appointed to two Arctic Council international expert groups, the College of the Royal Society of Canada, was made a Fellow of the Royal Canadian Geographical Society, and was awarded a Fulbright Canada Chair in Arctic Studies at the University of Washington. Mostly, though, he just likes watching birds.
Photo Credits: Raincoast Education Society
