Dr. Anderson, his colleagues and their assistants, members of both the Northern and Southern Parties, collected about 600 specimens of birds, mostly skulls and skins, but also numbers of eggs and nests. The collections represent at least seventy-three different species.

	Rock ptarmigan, Sverdrup Pass. Late winter 1981. Source: David Gray

	Male long-tailed jaeger shot by Palaiyak at Bernard Harbour, Nunavut, on June 30, 1916. 3-D model: Paul Bloskie, © Canadian Museum of Nature. - Pointstream Version (490 Kb) - Quicktime Version (240 Kb)
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	Video: Tundra swans flying over Coppermine River

Yellow-billed Loon

This is the loon of the treeless tundra of the western Arctic. Once considered the same species as the very similar common loon of southern Canada, the yellow-billed loon is now recognized as a closely related but different species. The yellow-billed loon is generally more robust than the common loon, with differences in the shape and colour of the bill, and in the feather pattern of the "necklace." The upper edge of the bill of the yellow-billed loon is straight and the lower bill is angled upward. This angle is emphasized by the normal upward tilt of the head. Loons feed on smaller fish, which they pursue underwater, and they are sometimes caught in fishermen's nets.

	Dr. R. M. Anderson with yellow-billed loon on ground, Bernard Harbour, Nunavut. July 14, 1915. GHW 51614. Source: Canadian Museum of Civilization

	Yellow-billed loon (Gavia adamsii), held by Captain Peter Bernard, Collinson Point, northern Alaska. July 22, 1914. RMA 39075. Source: Canadian Museum of Civilization

	A male Pacific eider duck. GHW 50985. Source: Canadian Museum of Civilization

	Three female Pacific eider on an ice flow near rookery, on an island near Cockburn Point, Dolphin and Union Strait, Nunavut. July 15, 1916. RMA 39103. Source: Canadian Museum of Civilization

Although there was no biologist attached to the Northern Party, a large number of mammals and birds were collected by Peter Bernard and George Wilkins at the Kellett Base camp ("Cape Kellett"), Banks Island. Some did not survive the confusion of packing and travel.

	Three young snowy owls, collected for the National Museum of Canada, on the ground at base camp near Cape Kellett, Banks Island. September 8, 1914. GHW 50863. Source: Canadian Museum of Civilization

Ivory Gull

Although he didn't recognize the species, Stefansson's collection of the eggs of a pair of ivory gulls documented the breeding of one of the rarest and most inaccessible species that nest in Canada's north.
"Weather overcast, fogy, snowing wind S.B.S. temp. 32 [F]... We pased a small island about 1 mile of the beach [on north side of Meighen Island, Nunavut]. The sice [size] of the island is 4m. long 2 m. wide... Mr. Stefansson found a neast with 2 egs of the white sea gulls that we have seen here, this gull is about the sice of a pigeon and has a greanish bill with a yellow tip, and black feet, it is snow white" (Karsten Andersen Diary, June 18, 1916).

	Ivory gull eggs collected from "Egg Reef" off north coast of Meighen Island, Nunavut, June 18, 1916. 3-D model: Paul Bloskie, © Canadian Museum of Nature, specimen no.16081. - Pointstream Version (591 Kb) - Quicktime Version (182 Kb)
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