The Great Melting North

Gyrfalcons soar at the lonely top of the world, residing mainly in the Arctic circle.

Because of their relative isolation, they are mostly undisturbed by the typical threats to species like habitat loss or human actions. The Gyrfalcon (jeer-falcon) spends its days peacefully existing as it was meant to: wild and free.

While human hands may not have yet been able to directly touch these birds, they still cannot escape the impact that climate change has on the planet as a whole. The warming climate reconstructs the world these birds have evolved to thrive in, disrupting the delicate balance of predator, prey, and habitat relationships while leaving the future of all life--even relatively isolated species--more uncertain by the day.

Despite the looming threat of a dismal future, this young Gyrfalcon learns to fly. Her fresh and tender wings carry her up up up toward the dazzling sunshine that pours across this great and melting North.