https://hakaimagazine.com/features/the-fleet-winged-ghosts-of-greenland/
"On a brisk August morning in Tasermiut Fjord, southern Greenland, I poke my
head from the hatch of my family’s 13-meter sailboat to find frost on the deck
and a cloudless sky. It’s weather that demands exploring. After my husband and
I haul our eight- and 10-year-old sons from bed and row the dinghy to the
beach, we begin our trek up Klosterdalen, also known as Monastery Valley, where
lichen-covered stone ruins of Viking-era structures rest among a jumble of
talus.
Sacrificing dry feet to a tapestry of muddy sloughs and clear pools, we watch
Arctic char flash their gunmetal backs while water beetles skim the surfaces.
As we hike, I mark our route by the birds we see: rock ptarmigan sitting sentry
on the tundra; snow buntings flashing distinctive white wing patches; flocks of
redpolls thick with downy-headed juveniles. It’s the season of abundance in the
North, the pregnant pause before autumn edges toward winter.
After lunch, my older son points out two mallard ducklings pressed against the
shore, all but disappearing into the overhanging mud bank. A moment later,
another bird swoops overhead, its shadow passing so close I can almost touch it
with my outstretched hiking pole.
“Look!” my younger son whisper-shouts. “It’s a peregrine!” For a split second,
beating wings blot out the sun.
And there it is: a Greenlandic peregrine falcon, a bird I’d sailed thousands of
ocean kilometers to find. Against the crisp sky and crimson-tinged heather, lit
by the low-angle afternoon light, the falcon’s sleek silhouette glows.
Unlike many of my other ventures as a field biologist searching for birds in
far-flung locations, this isn’t a scientific assignment. Over the previous
year, I’ve been sailing with my family from the Mediterranean to the Arctic,
slowly connecting the dots between Greece and Greenland. Somewhere along the
way, sparked by a passing comment from a colleague, I’d learned about a
population of peregrines that call Greenland home. My initial curiosity soon
evolved into a minor obsession, revealing as it did a tale of recovery,
resilience, and change that transcends this small polar population."
Via
Reasons to be Cheerful:
<
https://reasonstobecheerful.world/what-were-reading-cervical-cancer-deaths-drop/>
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
