The Cooper Island tarantula has nerves of steel.
For fifty years, Seattle resident George Divoky, 78, has made an annual solo pilgrimage to a hostile island off the coast of Alaska to study his beloved seabirds.
There, on Cooper Island, he witnessed firsthand climate change in action, as melting ice radically changes the Arctic landscape and, in turn, the habits of native wildlife.
Most devastatingly for Divoky, it led to a new threat: the polar bear.
These dangerous beasts are increasingly forced to look for food on land, which led to the massacre of the guillemot colony that he devoted his life to investigating, Daily News from Anchorage reported.
The growing bear invasion also put his life in danger, as Divoky was forced to set up trigger wires to scare them away, use motion sensors for warning, and always keep his shotgun within reach.
George Divoky, a 78-year-old ornithologist, has spent five decades studying guillemots on Cooper Island, Alaska
As sea ice melts and polar bears search for food, a colony of guillemots has been decimated by polar bears
Divoky, an experienced ornithologist, has been monitoring black guillemots on the remote Cooper Island in the US Alaska Arctic since 1972.
His research on the island documented how the warming climate affected breeding patterns and bird survival.
The colony, once thriving with 200 nests and 600 birds, now has only a few dozen left. Divoky's observations constitute one of the longest existing records of climate change's effects on wildlife.
Polar bears, which Divoky says began arriving on the island in 2002, are stranding more often as the sea ice where they hunt seals continues to shrink. Hunger took them to Cooper Island, where they became more adept at raiding guillemot nests.
In August, Divoky, 78, saw three bears – a mother and her two cubs – knock over his carefully placed plastic nesting boxes that he had set up to protect them.
After firing warning shots to scare away the bears, Divoky assessed the terrible damage. Half of the nests were destroyed and many birds died.
I experienced something like this and it was very special. And I regret not having done it,” Divoky told the Anchorage Daily News. “It was impossible to look away from the train wreck.”
The once vibrant colony of Divoky has now been devastated by the combined pressure of retreating sea ice, changing prey populations, and now bears.
“I don't want them (bears) to be here theoretically. But what am I? So much so that apparently fewer and fewer people are interested in what I do, why I do it and how I do it,” he said.
He continued, “Yes, we have created bear-proof enclosures so that the colony can survive, but there is no point in having a bear patrol to try to stop any bear disturbance now when bears on land are inevitable every year.”
Black guillemots, which spend most of their lives at sea, feed on Arctic cod, which depend on sea ice. But year by year the ice retreated earlier and further.
Once a bird advocate, Divoky is now focused on understanding and accepting the changing Arctic landscape
Divoky created the boxes by cutting holes in hard plastic suitcases that previously protected birds from bears. But they've already figured out how to infiltrate
Longer, ice-free summers initially helped the birds by giving them more time to breed. However, as the ice disappeared, food supplies dwindled and colony numbers continued to decline.
Divoky's 50th off-road season, which may be his last extended stay, was marked by significant losses.
“It's a climate change signal,” he told the Anchorage Daily News.
“Perhaps one of the least important in the context of all of global climate change, but we know the course of its history, from 1972, when this colony was nothing, to '89, when it was the largest colony in Alaska, to 2024, when The birds that remain here, twenty pairs, will not be able to raise their young because of the polar bears and the melting of the sea ice,” he continued.
“And now I'm on the side of the polar bears. I have become a polar bear supporter. I say I want these polar bears to be well. They won't have ice anymore. Use the island however you wish, for rest or anything else.
– But you won't have any guillemots here in the future. And you will be able to move around more freely, because I won't be here very often,” he added.
Pictured: The plywood shack where Divoky conducts research on Cooper Island
Despite the bleak prospects, he continues to be drawn to the island and the birds he has observed for so long
Despite the bleak outlook, Divoky remains connected to the birds he has studied for half a century. Some live longer than 25 years and he recognizes them by the colorful bands he put on their legs when they were chicks. But with more bears raiding nests and a lack of sea ice, the colony's future looks bleak.
As he packed up his camp, Divoky reflected on the changing Arctic landscape and the grim reality facing both loons and polar bears.
“One of the most important things in life is knowing when to walk away,” he said. “It's kind of like a logical ending, so to speak.”
However, Divoky may not be ready to completely close this chapter. After returning to Seattle, Washington, he began planning a return trip to Cooper Island next year.
Despite the outcome of this year's trip, he still wants to see what comes next.
