A gentle piece exploring the relationship between the people of the Vega Archipelago and the eider ducks who nest there. Mixing between the ecology and history of these islands, this is lovingly reported, and—for once—humans are portrayed as protectors rather than destroyers.
I visited Vega hoping to understand what drives someone like Stensholm to spend up to six months each year living mostly alone, without running water or electricity, on a sliver of ice-scoured strandflat at the top of the world. In a time when so many stories about humans and wild animals are about harm, habitat loss, or extinction, I wanted to witness an example of the ways humans and wild animals can not only coexist but benefit from one another. I wanted to see how a grown man’s heart could break over a duckling, not because he hoped to turn a profit but because he had inherited a legacy of love.
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