iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Julia Baak, Ph.D. ❄️🦆🧪 @juliaellenbaak.bsky.social · 28/04/2026

I thought that the #seabird world may appreciate my new office slippers. Custom-made wool felted slippers with black #guillemots, because there is never enough black #guillemot themed items out there but there should be! 😂❤️ So in love with these.

Custom wool-felted slippers with a black guillemot on each slipper. The left slipper has a black guillemot standing on a rock and right slipper has a black guillemot on a rock with its red gape showing.

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Julia Baak, Ph.D. ❄️🦆🧪 @juliaellenbaak.bsky.social · 19/04/2026

The most exciting mail to arrive this week! As a result of the Pacific #Seabird Group charity auction, I was fortunate enough to take home Maria Mudd Ruth’s latest book on Pigeon #Guillemots, her book on Marbled #Murrelets, and an adorable trinket dish with those bright red #guillemot feet! ❤️

Maria Mudd Ruth’s latest book on Pigeon Guillemots, “The Bird with the Flaming Red Feet: Seasons with an Uncommonly Common Seabird”, her book on Marbled Murrelets, “Rare Bird: Pursuing the Mystery of the Marbled Murrelet”, and an adorable trinket dish with those bright red guillemot feet!

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Julia Baak, Ph.D. ❄️🦆🧪 @juliaellenbaak.bsky.social · 19/04/2026

10 years ago today, I accepted my first #research job in an #entomology lab, focusing on #bee research. That summer, I knew I wanted a career in #science. Past Julia couldn’t have imagined where that opportunity would eventually lead her, but present Julia is so happy that she took that chance. 🥰❤️

A young Julia with two coworkers, putting insects in ethanol in a hotel bathroom.

Three people wearing bee suits examining a hive frame, standing amongst a row of beehives.

Three beetles in a Tupperware container.

A close up of a beehive frame, including a few uncovered pupae, with honeybees crawling all over the honeycomb.

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Julia Baak, Ph.D. ❄️🦆🧪 @juliaellenbaak.bsky.social · 11/03/2026

After accounting for dietary discrimination, #δ13C and #δ15N #isotope values in kittiwake livers were at a lower #trophiclevel than Arctic cod. What does this mean? While kittiwakes do consume Arctic cod (as seen in stomachs), stomach analysis may underestimate soft tissue prey, such as #inverts.

Plot with stable carbon on the X-axis and stable nitrogen on the Y-axis, showing the difference in isotope values between predator (black-legged kittiwake) and prey (fish and invertebrates). Black-legged kittiwakes are in the middle of the plot, below Arctic cod.

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Julia Baak, Ph.D. ❄️🦆🧪 @juliaellenbaak.bsky.social · 11/03/2026

Based on #StomachContents alone, #prey did not differ between regions, where the dominant prey was Arctic #cod. However, only two soft-bodied #invertebrates were identified in stomachs, as most prey items were heavily digested. So what are we missing? #StableIsotopes can help answer this.

Bar graph showing Arctic cod as the dominant prey type, where Arctic char, Northern prawn, and Euphasiidae species only have one occurrence each.

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Julia Baak, Ph.D. ❄️🦆🧪 @juliaellenbaak.bsky.social · 11/03/2026

My favourite part about #blizzards in the #north: lighting a candle, cuddling up with a blanket and a good book, and listening to the winds as they rock these buildings on stilts. Nature is beautiful.

The evening of the blizzard. A house, barely visible through the haze from blowing snow, has a faint glow from the lights on inside. A streetlight glows in the background, shining light on blowing snow.

The morning after the blizzard. A window with snow blown onto the window ledges outside, covering 1/4 of the window, with more snow dotting the rest of the window.

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Julia Baak, Ph.D. ❄️🦆🧪 @juliaellenbaak.bsky.social · 08/03/2026

Happy #InternationalWomensDay to all the #women in my life. I’ve been so fortunate to have had incredible female role models throughout my career, from having a female supervisor in my undergrad, my masters, and my PhD, to now being surrounded by incredible women at work. I am so grateful. 👩‍🔬💪

Alyssa Eby and Samantha Smuk, helping with Eastern Canada Seabirds at Sea surveys on a boat in Frobisher Bay.

Jennifer Provencher, teaching the Environment and Technology Program at the Nunavut Arctic College how to look for parasites in intestines.

Sarah Gutowsky, helping a small snow bunting get unstuck from some twigs and line.

Carina Gjerdrum and I, teaching Eastern Canada Seabirds at Sea surveys on a boat in Frobisher Bay.

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Julia Baak, Ph.D. ❄️🦆🧪 @juliaellenbaak.bsky.social · 25/02/2026

Living and working in the #Arctic means lots of frozen eyelashes as I walk around town. I am so grateful to work in both #Nunavut and the #NorthwestTerritories, visiting the most beautiful places and meeting incredible people in every community. I wouldn’t have it any other way! 🧊❄️

Close up of my eye, with frozen eyelashes, where the rest of my face is covered by a qiviut wool hat and buff, and a fox fur hood.

Close up of my eye, with frozen eyelashes, where the rest of my face is covered by a qiviut wool headband.

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Julia Baak, Ph.D. ❄️🦆🧪 @juliaellenbaak.bsky.social · 24/02/2026

We are in #Ulukhaktok, #NorthwestTerritories this week to conduct #InuitKnowledge workshops on the distribution of #KingEiders and #CommonEiders, supporting ongoing community-led initiatives to use #Inuvialuit knowledge on #eiders to inform the development of a #MarineProtectedArea in the region.

Two brightly-coloured houses on sunny day in Ulukhaktok, Northwest Territories.

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Julia Baak, Ph.D. ❄️🦆🧪 @juliaellenbaak.bsky.social · 23/02/2026

#Seabirds are so important for #oceans, #islands, and #people! Check out this great #NatureReviews article (@natrevbiodiv.nature.com) to read more about why these #birds are important and what we should focus on in future research.

Seabird impacts on adjacent marine ecosystems. Impacts on
temperate (left) and tropical (right) ecosystems. Screenshot from the article.

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Julia Baak, Ph.D. ❄️🦆🧪 @juliaellenbaak.bsky.social · 19/03/2025

A great presentation from Dr. Oliver Love from the #Integrative #Ecgology #Lab at @uwindsor.bsky.social on #SnowBunting projects in #Iqaluit, #Nunavut last night. If you’re in town and would like to host a Snow #Bunting #NestBox, reach out to the Love Lab! ❄️🐦

Dr. Olive Love giving a presentation on snow buntings in Iqlauit, Nunavut.

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Julia Baak, Ph.D. ❄️🦆🧪 @juliaellenbaak.bsky.social · 12/03/2025

The days are getting longer and brighter here in #Iqaluit, #Nunavut! #Spring is coming! ☀️❄️💛

Golden hour sunset over a residential part of Iqaluit, Nunavut, with the frozen bay and mountains in the background.

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Julia Baak, Ph.D. ❄️🦆🧪 @juliaellenbaak.bsky.social · 04/03/2025

Heading to #Inuvik, #NorthwestTerritories today for the #Inuvialuit Game Council meeting to share some preliminary results of our #aerial #SeaDuck surveys in the #CapeBathurst #Polynya! Looking forward to sharing results and chatting about plans opportunities for 2025!

Zoomed in aerial photo of a beluga whale next to the ice edge, taken in the northern Northwest Territories during sea duck surveys in 2024.

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Julia Baak, Ph.D. ❄️🦆🧪 @juliaellenbaak.bsky.social · 12/02/2025

Happy International Day of #Women in #Science! I am so grateful for all the incredible #female mentors that I had throughout my #academic career, as well as the inspiring women I work with today! 👩‍🔬🔬🧪🧫 #WomenInSTEM #WomenInScience #InternationalDayofWomenInScience

Three women in science, equipped with binoculars, notebooks and other gear, seated on a boat after conducting marine bird surveys in a National Wildlife Area.

Four women on a boat on their way to collect eggs as a part of a national research project.

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Julia Baak, Ph.D. ❄️🦆🧪 @juliaellenbaak.bsky.social · 30/12/2024

That's all folks! Thanks for reading along to my #2024ResearchWrapped. I hope you enjoyed viewing this as much as I enjoyed making it! 🦆 Looking forward to 2025! 🎉

Thanks for reading along. Looking forward to 2025!

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Julia Baak, Ph.D. ❄️🦆🧪 @juliaellenbaak.bsky.social · 30/12/2024

Let's break down the #BirdSpecies I ringed by category. Fun fact: Despite being a #Seabird #Biologist, I spent more time ringing #passerines this year. This was a nice change for me!

Birds ringed by category: 19 passerines, 7 seabirds, 5 shorebirds, and 1 raptor.

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Julia Baak, Ph.D. ❄️🦆🧪 @juliaellenbaak.bsky.social · 30/12/2024

Now how many species did I band (or ring if you're in Europe)... Fun fact: All 31 of these species were ringed outside of the country that I live and work in. I spend my vacations wisely! 😂

Julia ringed 31 bird species in two countries

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Julia Baak, Ph.D. ❄️🦆🧪 @juliaellenbaak.bsky.social · 30/12/2024

For the #birders on here... this year was a year of #lifers! Fun fact: Most of the #birds on this list are common in Europe and North America, but I had not seen them before because of where I live and have/have not travelled!

Julia got around 100 lifers this year. Clearly this was her first time visiting South America and some parts of Europe

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Julia Baak, Ph.D. ❄️🦆🧪 @juliaellenbaak.bsky.social · 30/12/2024

Now to the fun part... #fieldwork! I conducted four different types of #bird #surveys, including aerial surveys, boat surveys, ground surveys and drone surveys! Fun fact: In May 2024, I led my first field season as a #Conservation #Biologist and not a student! 👩‍🔬

Julia conducted 4 types of bird surveys, including twin-engine surveys, boat-based surveys, ground surveys, and drone surveys

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Julia Baak, Ph.D. ❄️🦆🧪 @juliaellenbaak.bsky.social · 30/12/2024

This one hurts... I cannot tell you how many papers I have read this year, but I promise it is less than those that I have saved. 😅 Fun fact: This mostly includes one new folder I added to #Zotero, so this number is likely an underestimate...

Julia saved over 350 items to her Zotero library, and definitely didn't read all of those...

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Julia Baak, Ph.D. ❄️🦆🧪 @juliaellenbaak.bsky.social · 30/12/2024

I published 4 papers in 2024. Fun fact: my #publishing record has gone down over the past few years, from 10 in 2021 according to #GoogleScholar! I blame working a full-time job and doing a PhD at the same time... 🤭

Julia published 4 papers in 2024, 2 of which were first-author papers. This was less than the 8 in 2023, but she was working full-time while finishing her PhD, so we can cut her some slack...

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Julia Baak, Ph.D. ❄️🦆🧪 @juliaellenbaak.bsky.social · 30/12/2024

I attended multiple #conferences, where I presented four #presentations! Fun fact: No international conferences this year. These conferences were either #virtual or located in #Canada.

Julia had 4 conference presentations, including 1 poster presentation and 3 oral presentations

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Julia Baak, Ph.D. ❄️🦆🧪 @juliaellenbaak.bsky.social · 28/12/2024

Can you identify this print in the snow? Hint: This photo was taken in Iqaluit, Nunavut in mid-December for the #ChristmasBirdCount #CBC. #AnimalTracks #WildlifeTracks

Animal tracks in snow, including small feet that are one in front of the other, and long wingtip imprints in either side.

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Julia Baak, Ph.D. ❄️🦆🧪 @juliaellenbaak.bsky.social · 27/12/2024

We have some! Here are some photos from the Iqaluit Christmas Bird in mid-December!

Sun rising over the ice-covered rocks I Iqaluit, Nunavut

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Julia Baak, Ph.D. ❄️🦆🧪 @juliaellenbaak.bsky.social · 27/12/2024

I made it to Bluesky! My name is Julia Baak and I am a #Conservation #Biologist with #Environment and #ClimateChange Canada, based in #Iqaluit, #Nunavut. I focus on #Arctic #seabird #ecology, specifically monitoring the abundance and distribution of seabirds and #seaducks in the #Canadian Arctic!

A photo of Julia Baak holding a black guillemot. All birds were handled with the proper permits, training, and care.

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