Duck Eggs

October 3, 2025

Carisa Grove, AVC 2026, travelled to Hopedale and Sheshatshiu as one of the student participants on the Chinook Project. As part of the experience, the students craft various pieces of writing.

This photo was taken on our last day in Hopedale. We split ourselves up between two boats and toured around some of the islands in the area. This day really stood out to me on our trip because it was when we learned the most about the history and culture of Hopedale. I would share a hundred photos from this day if I could. We visited a spot with old tent rings, an island to collect Eider duck eggs, looked for gull eggs, collected ice from an iceberg, and finally stopped at a beach for lunch. This photo is from was on a small, rocky island, that as we approached were told that the fishy smell (duck poop) was a good sign that we would be able to find some eggs. There was a small strip of greenery running through this island where all the nests were lined up. Each nest had a variable number of eggs in it, many had 3-5 eggs, but some had many more than that, with the most being 12 eggs in a single nest. We learned that typically the nests with fewer eggs are the ones that you want to collect from, since they are less likely to have a duckling formed inside! We learned how they test all the eggs before collecting them by placing them in water. If they lay flat and sink to the bottom, they are safe to collect, whereas if they float or stand up on one end they are seeded, meaning the air-sac has already formed inside the egg for the duckling. Those with an air-sac are returned to the same nest they were collected from. From the photo you can also see the grey down from which the nests are made, it was so soft and quite warm to the touch. After the breeding season when the ducklings have hatched and moved on, even the down is collected to be used for insulation. There was so much shared with us on this day, I only wish that we had more time to explore Hopedale, its culture, and history.