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Tourist's guide to Churchill, Manitoba, Canada includes hotels, tours, trip planning and some survival tips.

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Polar Bear Blog - November 24, 2008 - So Much for That...

I never was one for graceful exits. I mean I'm okay at exits but they're mostly falling on my face or inadvertently and deeply offending a wide variety of people; stylish, yes, graceful, no. And, of course, this is no different. Today, I tuned into www.polarbearshd.com to check on the bears - its a wonderful infomercial for a dvd and completely undermines whatever agreement there was with National Geographic for a polar bear cam so its also kind of amusing...

There's some nifty video on there but I've gotta say the entries are a little suspect. Today's was a mini-drama about a starving mother bear protecting her cub from two sparring males. They write that she's stressed because of aggressive males (who are unfortunately ignoring her...) and the fact that if she doesn't find a seal in three weeks she will starve. Plus, apparently she is no longer able to nurse her cub. Pretty over the top, I hope she makes it.

Admittedly, I do not have access to the study that says that polar bears stop lactating if they do not make it out onto the ice on time. I mean she's pretty lean but not starving. I suppose it could make sense, although I have read the study that suggests that over 80% of their diet comes from seals under one year of age, most of which are caught in the spring and early summer. Add to this fact that the bears had a few extra weeks on the ice this summer and I'm just not too sure about 'the lactating panic' (actually, that would be a great name for a band). But I could be wrong...

The problem is, if she is really stressed she could probably walk the eight miles west and get on the landfast ice near Churchill or walk south and hop on the ice that is socked in along the southern coast of Hudson Bay. One cub suggests that this is likely a young mother or very old female - the cameramen could probably tell you... - judging from her behaviour, I would say a first or second time mother. She's nervous, one cub, not out on the ice yet, hanging around buggy camp, maybe not producing milk right now - its a legitimate argument. The bad news is an inexperienced mother means a tough winter for the cub.

The November 18th entry is also a good one. The entry talks about the ice freezing up three weeks later than twenty years ago and breaking up three weeks earlier. Now, I definitely have not seen this study; true, the ice freezes about three weeks later than 1991 (or 1992... one of those...) when the ice froze on October 31 because of Mount Pinatubo's eruption but this was a pure anomaly. The ice has always frozen enough for the bears to leave around mid-November, so right now it is about a week or so later, not three weeks later.

Statisically, the ice breaks-up about ten days to two weeks earlier than it did in the mid-1980s but it does not seem to be melting progressively earlier each year. There are indications that the early break-up has kind of stabilized, at least for now.

But the best one, after all the ice is disappearing scaremongering, they finish with a link to a satellite image of western Hudson Bay stating that ice now covers nearly all of western Hudson Bay. What?!? That would be great for the bears except its COMPLETELY wrong!!! Those are CLOUDS. Ice does not completely cover Hudson Bay until late December or January if memory serves me right. Clouds, however, come and go.

Now, if this is from lack of knowledge or interest that's fine, I mean I'm pretty good at both of those too, but if this is information that is coming from onboard scientists then its being used completely out of context verging on lies. There is definitely a lot less ice than there should be right now and this could be critical for the western Hudson Bay's peripheral population (very young and very old) if it drags on.

But, the fact of the matter is that there is ice locked in all along the coastline from Churchill northward. Its not as far out as usual but its still there. And, if you really look at it from a logical perspective, why would we not consider that the western Hudson Bay population is shifting its distribution further north, closer to Inuit communities. Its taking longer for the ice to form along Wapusk National Park but there's ice waiting at Button Bay, Seal River and Arviat. As we've seen from the closure of the garbage dump, it doesn't take long for word to spread in the polar bear world. At the very least, this theory should be investigated and not huffy and puffedly dismissed.

Finally, maybe they should consider the whole reason that the Cape Churchill trip was started - because once the ice has locked in near Churchill and the bears have left, there is still open water and broken ice and big bears at Cape Churchill.

Here's the real sea ice maps if you're interested... this one shows the ice build up and this one shows the departure from normal years (red means a lot less ice...) So far, its a good year for some bears and getting critical for some others. I know its still -7C there right now and that's a really bad sign for bears not out on the ice, however, its not time to panic for the greater population just yet.

But, hey, whatever, the DVD is now available!!! No narration though... that would take too much time, but we do have subtitles. If you call now and say 'I heard about you on Polar Bear Alley!', you can get a Save the Polar Bears Ab Cruncher included for only three easy payments of $29.95...

Polar Bear Blog - November 14, 2008 - Polar Bear Awards

So, that was a bit of a cliff hanger there - but not to be unexpected by Polar Bear Alley readers, especially when it gets down to my last couple days in Churchill...

Once again, the south winds saved Churchill's bear season, this time at the absolute last minute possible - Mother Nature must have a soft spot for polar bear tourists... resetting the freezeup by about a week or so. Some bears did make it over to Button Bay up to Seal River where the ice was locked in so a few have a head start and that's good. (Click here for the sea ice map) As for the rest, hopefully, everyone is still happy and the polar bears shouldn't get into too much trouble, although there have been a few reports of frustrated, troublesome bears... a later freezeup means more bears in town and more potential encounters - up until now that has mostly been with Gypsy Bakery's bear proof garbage container.

As for me, I'm done, back in southern Manitoba for a couple days before Inuvik, working through bear season burnout by playing video games and having some dental work. I think it only really hit me that bear season was over when I got up to 110km on the highway heading home with a Tim Horton's coffee and Milo perched beside me gobbing on the dashboard. I'm okay with it this year - well, bear season being over not necessarily leaving Churchill, a little conflicted about that one...

When I was shutting down the cabin yesterday, it was still mild but a strong north wind had picked up again. The forecast is for highs of -10C and lower with continuing north winds that bodes well for the bears despite the warmer than average season. Instead of a perfect storm for bears, maybe its a perfect storm for tourists and bears. I can live with that.

So bears and tourism turned out pretty well this year and so did the ongoing marketing and donation campaigns of everyone saving bears so we're all happy. In fact, in honour of the Year of the Polar Bear, Polar Bears International and the Province of Manitoba will be honouring Manitobans who have made a difference for polar bears or something such as that. Not to be outdone, Polar Bear Alley might as well jump into the fray of meaningless awards that have more to do with marketing my website than anything substantial. Nonetheless, here are the recipients of the first and maybe only annual Polar Bear Alley Awards of Amazingness aka 'The Scrappies' - in tribute to the Scrappy brothers, two sparring polar bears who saved bear season 2006 and also in reference to the Churchill dump and finally, a subtle tip as to just how much this award is worth...

Scrappy Award for Most Excellently Helping the Bears - Kerry Lee Morris, North Star Tours

Kerry Lee is one of Churchill's top guides, has a genuine passion for bears and for Churchill and is a bright spot in our bear season. Aside from her informative bus tours and general commitment to environmental issues, this year, she singlehandedly organized a semi-trailer shipment of recycling from Churchill to Thompson. She used her own money upfront and organized a drive to get seasonal guides, drivers and service industry workers to contribute $20-30 each towards this cause.

Natural Habitat Adventures committed to an additional trailer of recycling once Kerry Lee had organized the first one. Frontiers North has also been shipping out recycling this year through a cooperative effort with Winnipeg Recycles, PBI et al and they defnitely deserve credit for that but a singlehanded effort not looking for recognition, sponsors or anything is pretty impressive.

Scrappy Award for Saving Bears from People - Edgar Botelho, Town of Churchill

While Edgar is a bit of an unlikely candidate for a polar bear award, his efforts over the last few years to secure the L5 building, Churchill's recycling and waste storage depot have directly contributed to the reduction in polar bear encounters in and around the Town of Churchill. He has been in a battle of wits with polar bears over L5 - which is a feat in itself once you realize that bears never ever stop thinking. Edgar builds cages, doors, bars, reinforces walls, etc while the bears keep coming up with new and ingenious ways to invade the building. This year, has seen the fewest bears in L5 resulting in minimal food stimulus associated with Churchill's garbage.

Scrappy Award for Polar Bear Hospitality - Fred daSilva, Gypsy Bakery

There are two things people remember from their Churchill bear season visit - polar bears and Fred daSilva. Fred is the host at Gypsy Bakery and is a born maitre d'. For I think around ten years now, he has done more than any organization, tour company or individual to promote a positive experience for Churchill tourists and served much more wine than all of them combined.

Scrappy Lightning Rod Award - Markus Dyck, Nunavut College

This year, Markus along with several other researchers published an opinion paper that suggested air temperatures might not be the main factor in the decline of western Hudson Bay's polar bears. This, of course, brought a quick rebuttal from Ian Stirling et al who dismissed many of his ideas. Unfortunately, much of this rebuttal was based on opinion as well but was stated as fact. After that, Greenpeace jumped on board to label Dyck et al as 'climate change deniers' (but hey, what's in a word) and linked one of their funding sources to Exxon Oil (evil alert!). We are however waiting for Greenpeace to expose polar bear researchers Ian Stirling and Steve Amstrup's much more direct link to British Petroleum (must just be a temporary oversight...). So, while we are still getting over the astonishing expose that oil companies fund scientific research, we award Markus for his efforts to include questions, theories and new ideas in polar bear research.

Scrappy Lifetime Polar Bear Achievement Award - Dancer, Western Hudson Bay Bears

I was going to award this to Polar Bear Alert's Jack Batstone but I was worried he would punch me in the gut the next time he saw me so it goes to an equally deserving and dangerous character, Dancer. Dancer must be closing in on twenty years old now (maybe late fifties in human years?) and is a perennial and recognizable visitor to Churchill's bear season and Cape Churchill when he was younger. Over the years, he has fathered his share of cubs, taught a few young bears some lessons and kept the Hudson Bay seal population from getting out of hand. This year, he showed up in great shape, pretty much around the usual time, probably a good indicator of the health of the western Hudson Bay population.

Scrappy Hall of Shame Award - Polar Bear Cam, National Geographic

You may have read my rant but I was going to leave them out of this one until I clicked on the website today. Not only, was the permit for BuggyOne used for tours instead of the live feed but it is now November 14th and they are still showing highlights from 2007. But wait it gets better, before you get to see what happened a year ago, you have to sit through a commercial for IBM! That in itself is a bit entertaining, considering that Apple is one of the main sponsors of the cam this year...

So, that's that. The awards are done, the bears may or may not be on the ice, this may or may not be one of the best years for our polar bears in the last decade and my cabin may or may not be getting broken into by a bear right now. But, this is the end of Polar Bear Alley for this year (maybe more, we'll see... tune in around February-ish...). So, thanks for the emails and good luck to the bears.

Polar Bear Blog - November 10, 2008 - Southern Man

Well, the south winds arrived. I am not sure if it is enough, but they are here. Today, there was ice out to the horizon east of Churchill yet near town, the pancake ice had broken up and floated out to sea. There are still about twenty bears being seen in buggyland but some are close and some are far out on the ice. Its all up in the air now, folks. We'll see tomorrow...

Today, though was pretty awesome. It was the film crew's last day and I guess mine too (I'll probably hang out at the cabin with my dogs rather than chase bears...). We went in search of polar bears and found a few. There was a young mother and two two year old cubs walking down the road. They meandered for a while, checking out a house, knocking over a few roadside markers and eventually walking right up to our van. Emboldened by the cold (and our silence), the female stood up against the van, paws on the driver's door and her nose against the window, looking down at me. I must say it was pretty wild, the closest I've been to a bear, one pump and she could have knocked the driver's window out. Close enough to see her nostrils flaring and blood shot eyes thinking about what to do.

I kicked the starter over and she stepped back, only for the male cub to walk up and try his luck. He stood up, stepped back as his mom investigated the back wheels. Confident and fat, she moved back up to the driver's window, stood up and looked again. Once more, I turned the starter but this time, she only stepped down, not back. We looked at each other for a bit and then paused, I waited for her stutter step (a sign that she's about to jump back up and pump the window with her paws). She stuttered her step and I started the van, enough for her to huff and chuff at her cubs and shuffle away. That's a pretty good day.

After that, it took about half an hour for the adrenaline to work through my system and the film crew's, (after all that's pretty good footage...), we filmed another bear, the coast and an 'aerial' view of Churchill from the port. Pretty good for a film shoot that started two days behind schedule...

But, now I'm done, back to Inuvik on Sunday, maybe I'll go see Brian's bears tomorrow but nothing to stressful, I'm homebound - Camp Nanuq that is... - now we just have to wait and see if the bears are homebound as well...

Polar Bear Blog - November 9, 2008 - Ice and More Ice

Northwest winds are still the order of the day and the ice is stretching pretty far out onto the bay. Only two days ago, there was relatively no shore ice and the Churchill River was showing little signs of freezing. Today, the river is locked in, frozen up for good and the grease ice along the shore of Hudson Bay has already changed to pancake ice and that pancake has frozen together. In english, that means freeze-up is very close, folks...

Today, we filmed the shore ice and filmed polar bears walking out on the ice, testing its strength and looking for seals. We probably saw about eight bears walking west, into the wind, towards town or maybe Button Bay (the very first place to freeze in this area). So, if we're lucky, there might be another week of bears (since the ice is still a little woozy) but probably not in the numbers seen this weekend, thirty to forty bears the last few days. Brians' bears stay a little longer, he'll be a popular guy for the next couple weeks, I would think...

If nothing changes and this is an early freeze-up then this could be the best year for polar bears in at least a decade, maybe even the best since the early nineties and the Mount Pinatubo bears. Two to three weeks extra on the ice in summer and a week early on the ice in the fall, this is a good thing for bears. Of course, it is warmer than normal, freezing rain today, a possible sign of global warming just to complicate things - but here's a little twist on that, cold burns fat and a warmer fall should mean less energetic demands on bears that are already in very good shape - the bears are fat this year, even now. So, provided that next summer is not an insanely early breakup, this could be the perfect storm for bears. I predict high cub survival (there are many two year old cubs with moms this year), high sub-adult survival and probably high birth rate, likely with more than a few occurrences of triplets. Oh and the polar bears' penises will be very large this year as well. So there.

I don't know what to say to tourists coming up late in the season, other than pray for south winds but the ice is packed in pretty good right now. For me, this is a pretty nice thing, watching the bears, way out there, walking on the ice is a pretty awesome feeling, even better than seeing on close up beside a buggy. Its hard to explain why I really even care whether the bears have a good year or not but it feels good to see it happen.

I guess the poor Buggy One driver will have to work pretty hard this year, I hope he knows what he's doing. I mean, I know the last little hiding spots in bear season - Dennis, Mark, Rob and Everett showed them to me - and I still have a trick or two up my sleeve but they have 90 bazillion dollars worth of camera gear so I'm sure that will work just as well.

There's still around 30 bears in buggyland (some close, some far) but the weather forecast is northwest winds for the rest of the week. Now, I'm not going to say the bears are on their way out and I'm not going to say I told you so but sometimes this is kind of thing happens when you take mother nature for granted. We've extended the season by a week (now ending November 21 instead of 15th... my first buggy driving contract in 1999 ended on November 5th...) and this year, the first Cape Churchill trip was cancelled (by the way, it would have been spectacular... probably more bears than ever - hopefully, there's still bears around for Cape II...). We only talk about climate change and saving the bears not the bears themselves. But maybe I'm wrong and the bears will stick around until late November, maybe. After all, it is the 'Year of the Polar Bear'.

Polar Bear Blog - November 9, 2008 - Plight of the Polar Bear

Pray for a south wind.

Polar Bear Blog - November 6, 2008 - The Jokes On You

This could be just as good as Pat Broe's honourary degree... Looks like there's no polar bear cam this year, it was bad enough that it was going to start on November 10th (???) but now the swindle is complete folks... This is from the National Geographic site...

Unfortunately, we will not be able to bring you WildCam Polar Bears live this year. Our partners at Polar Bears International and Wildlife HD, who provided the live stream in the past, wanted to try something new to get the word out about the plight of the polar bears: by conducting more TV broadcasts and live interviews with the scientists. You may have read about this in the newsletter sent out on Monday November 3, 2008.

While we will all certainly miss our live bear video, Polar Bear International and Tundra Buggy Adventures are hosting two live Q&A sessions for National Geographic polar bear viewers with the experts.

They will be conducted in Tundra Buggy 1 and if we're lucky we will get to see some polar bears live!Thank you for your dedication to WildCam polar bears. Join us for the Q&A session and interact with the people who work to keep our beloved polar bears safe!

WHHAT?!?!? Thank you for your dedication?!? I mean this sounds like something I would make up to make fun of giant corporations!!! Except better!!! It was kind of National Geographic to announce the cancellation in a November 3rd newsletter, though... that's only a month after bear season began. Does anyone else feel like they just bought a zero interest mortgage?!? But wait folks it gets better...

Hi Everyone,

You may not have realized it, but in order to bring you live views for WildCam Polar Bears, our partners at Polar Bears International (PBI) and Tundra Buggy Adventures had to drive all over the tundra just to find polar bears to broadcast. The polar bears became so few and far between that it took hours and hours to simply find the bears to show us.

This year, our partners informed us that they did not have enough personnel or time to devote to this level of searching. (This may in part be due to the later-than-usual season.) Rather, they made the decision that the best way of helping the bears would be to devote more time to research and public outreach. While we at National Geographic are also disappointed not to be seeing the daily live views, we ourselves do not have the sophisticated equipment required to make these broadcasts possible. Broadcasting live video from the far reaches of Manitoba is not a trivial endeavor, and we've always depended on our partner experts for bringing those wonderful images to us. However, as a conservation program, WildCam also respects the decision our partners have made this year. Whatever will best help the polar bears is in all of our best interests.

Ooohhh the poor driver... having to work so hard driving all over the tundra to find bears. The horror, the horror...

This is a good year for Churchill's bears (Dancer is in great condition) and should have been a great year for the polar bear cam. We have more snow than ever, there were decent bear numbers early and it is very easy to find polar bears out there, after all, Manitoba Conservation's 2008 aerial surveys recorded the HIGHEST numbers of polar bears in the history of their research - I wonder if the online discussions will mention that.

This decision just seems like the new polar bear cam team wants to come in, gather as much HD footage as they can (while spending as little time in Churchill as possible) to sell as stock. But you'll see the highlights folks, along with a short advertisement and website address and if you call within the next thirty minutes, you can save a bear for 60% off the retail price!!! Nice!

It is NOT a later than usual season - this is the earliest we have had snow in years!!! This is the most snow ever, this is peak polar bear photography season!!! The level of searching?!?!? The polar bears are so few and far between?!?! Hey, I've got an idea, how about I take Milo, my wolf-dog, out there, duct tape his paws to the wheel of Buggy One and we'll find a polar bear in about... hmmm... a minute. Or if that doesn't work... I just had drinks with Dennis, I don't think he's doing anything tomorrow. Plus, I would gladly be a relief polar bear cam driver to relieve his 'stress' of living on Buggy One. (Feel free to post that idea on the Nat Geo blog...)

Dennis is my friend and Dancer is on the cover of my book so, of course, I'm biased. But it should be pointed out that it was his idea to run live streaming video of Churchill's polar bears and that Dancer was the star of it all and everyone liked it. Unfortunately, he did not realize that watching balding scientists weigh in on a community that they visit for a couple weeks a year is much more interesting, and hey, if you're lucky, you might see a bear!!! Funny how a whisky drinking buggy driver ran a more professional show than National Geographic...

This is a tough post because I really like the idea of a Polar Bears International and I think they're good people. When I first met up with them, I thought I would be one of their champions but now I feel like they've completely missed the point of Churchill, polar bears and everything up here.

So, if we're all in a big marketing campaign now anyways, then let's at least get back to basics: the medium is the message and the medium is Churchill's polar bears; not scientists, not sponsors, not donations and marketing strategies...

Note: And please, don't email me nasty vigilante emails about taping my dogs paws to the steering wheel of a monster truck, its merely literary license...

Polar Bear Blog - November 6, 2008 - Stars are Born

Driving around filming today, chasing Polar Bear Alert as usual. This morning turned out great, we drove through back alleys and side roads full of snow, checked polar bear traps and finally found a bear in one trap by L5 our recycling centre. This was a bonus because Manitoba Conservation has only handled 22 or 23 bears this year, only 12 are in the jail right now, usually the jail would be full and bears would be flown out every few days. This is only about a quarter of the usual encounters, could be that the bears are further south or just fat and happy this year.

We did what all good film crews do and interviewed Andrew, the conservation officer, too long until his nose and ears turned red from the cold and then we interviewed him a little longer. Then we set up the camera and just the wrong spot so that the Conservation truck couldn't quite get out of the Polar Bear Jail after unloading the bear and, then, realized we were running out of gas and coasted back into town, likely pulling into the gas station on fumes. Perfect!

Of course, everything is perfect now that our camera gear is finally in town - not to mention, the locations manager slash translator. That helps considering my Japanese is just a tad 'rusty'. Right now, they are interviewing a polar bear researcher studying bear behaviour. I got to play the guide, walking the host into the CNSC and introducing her to the researcher - pretty much ready for the big time now, probably put the call out for an agent tomorrow, maybe pectoral implants in December.

The Roots on Rails tour arrived in Churchill this week and both Fred Eaglesmith and Washboard Hank played a show at the Churchill gymnasium. It was pretty good, would have probably been better in the Royal Canadian Legion, since they are kind of more redneck roots country bluegrass something (incidentally roots music has a whole different meaning when you mention it to Aussies and Kiwis... just keep that in mind). Nonetheless, a pretty great night.

Of course, it just sort of continued my non-bear season season - I think all of my best days in Churchill this fall have been at Camp Nanuq or on Greg's bus at The Flats, with my two buggy days being the longest... Not to say that there are not good bears this year, there are - its just I might be beared out right now.

This could change, only the first waves of grease ice are sticking to the shore and while there is a bunch of new pan ice floating around, it still should be a while before the bay freezes - yay, for late season tourists... It still relatively mild for this time of year and we just keep getting more and more snow, more snow than technically we should have all winter.

Polar Bear Blog - November 3, 2008 - The Non-Bear Season

Back in the saddle again, the film crew is in and just (almost) in time for a 'polar bear lift', not so much a local strongman contest as a relocation of polar bears north of Churchill by helicopter. In the hopes of continuing the bears natural northern 'migration', some bears get flown north to the area around North Knife River or Seal River and released. Its a pretty expensive project with the sole intention of preventing polar bear mortalities (and humans too, I suppose) around Churchill.

This year continues to be pretty quiet in town, no more bear lifts scheduled until November 10th and then maybe that could be the last one for this year but I kind of doubt it. There's usually a last wave of bear activity in the week or two leading up to freezeup. Then again, this could be different. A few people are saying they haven't seen snow this deep this early for years and never heavy snow like this... as usual its a strange year up here.

Polar Bear Blog - November 2, 2008 - More Bears and More Snow

While its a beautiful sunny day right now, probably hovering around -2 or so, there's another blizzard headed our way, more north winds and unbelievably more snow. This is a good and a bad thing. The north winds should push the ice back onto the coast, bringing the bears a little closer but hopefully not too close to their seal hunting season. More snow means that it will take a little longer for the tundra to freeze up, meaning a tougher time for snowmobile and tundra buggy travel but probably better insulation for arctic plants.

More bears have come back including Dancer, the closest thing we have to a bear celebrity up here. There are a couple old bruisers out there that everyone keeps thinking are a little too past their prime but keep showing up looking better than ever. Most of the bears this year are in great shape.

And, yesterday saw the first bear to visit my cabin. I just missed him, pulling up probably only a few minutes after he explored my yard and several other buildings. Of course, everything was fine since the cabin is under Milo, my bear chasing dog's, protection. What I had failed to consider is that Milo doesn't work on Sundays instead choosing to sleep in my neighbours yard while she cut wood instead of chasing away the bear. I suppose we are all a little slack this year, what are you going to do...

The film crew gets back in today, theoretically. Air Canada managed to lose all their luggage, including most of the cold weather and camera gear. It should show up in Winnipeg today but it means rescheduling a couple of the crew and trying to get everything shipped up to Churchill later today. Anyone who has been to Churchill in bear season should understand that complications of trying to rebook flights in the middle of the torrent of tourists. Thanks again Air Canada...

Polar Bear Blog - October 30, 2008 - Good Ol' Blizzard

Two ful days of snow - something like 17cm in 24 hours... and still going, except that now the wind has switched to the northwest and we have a full-on blizzard - a pre-Halloween blizzard no less... There's really only one bear season in the past ten years that I remember more snow than this one, maybe 2001 or 02 or something like that... I could be wrong...

More bears coming in, three sets of mothers with this year's cubs added to the three or four families already around. Sounds like five big males are hanging out along the coastal trail, sparring now that the weather is colder. Add to that, red and arctic foxes, snowy owls and gyrfalcons and you could say that the wildlife has definitely stepped up to the plate this season. On the other hand, the train just came in - its around 9pm right now... Oh yeah, and if anyone was wondering, it sounds like you're entitled to a 50% train credit from VIA because of the extended train ride but I think you have to ask for it...

Its a bit of a strange bear season though, somehow it feels like it hasn't started. Its still fun but there just does not seem to be the crowds that I remember. It could be that group travel has really taken over and with Natural Habitat Adventures taking care of their own meals, and the two tundra lodge camps running, there just might not be as many people around town - plus with the train schedule so erratic, there's no predictable pre-departure rush for dinner or post-train wave of tourists. Add to that the lack of independent travellers - most tourists appear in battalions of matching, decaled parkas now - I don't know its hard to say, its different though...

Polar Bear Blog - October 29, 2008 - Snow Job

Winter's settling in, Camp Nanuq is frozen now, both my lake and my shower drain, a true sign of winter. Plus, my van is already busted, along with me, another sign that bear season is chugging along. They say we've got 5 or 6 inches and high winds coming tomorrow, then -10 to -14 on Friday, which means perfect polar bear conditions... just in time for Halloween of course.

The snow is like a little sigh of relief, taking us from the confusingly dismal days of wind, ragged willows and sort of sleet to frozen lakes and fluffy snowbanks. Its even inspired me to limp my van along long enough to go out and film bears on Friday, provided I have ample battery chargers and tow ropes just in case.

But, I should go, there's live music in the lounge, I have only 19 minutes of completely pointless footage for my documentary and I think there's pumpkins being carved somewhere.

Polar Bear Blog - October 27, 2008 - Winter Daze

Another day of wind and coffee and woodstoves. Not bad, not much progress since everything including me was hunkered down but not bad. I think I'm on day four or five of 'starting' my documentary... But, there's not much better than a good fire and a rattling house; not sure why windy nights make you feel more at home but they do, must be our innate quest for shelter... and fire I suppose. And maybe Johnny Cash.

Polar Bear Blog - October 26, 2008 - Northwest Winds

Big winds are coming from the Northwest today, probably gusting to 80km an hour or so, swirling up the Hudson Bay, shaking houses, rattling buggies and bringing winter hurtling down to Churchill. After a few days of warmer weather, there's a nice dusting of snow on the ground again and the permafrost at least feels frozen now.

There's a few more bears around, and probably more will show up after this wind; a not-so-subtle signal that the ice is on its way. Once again, the bears are well spread out, some in buggyland, some along the coast near the Ithaca shipwreck and the usual behemoths at Brian Ladoon's dogs. Another year of proof that closing the Churchill garbage dump was a good thing or, I suppose, ending the policy of burning garbage during 'bear season' was a good thing. For a second year in a row, the Polar Bear Alert's bear encounters are way down.

This is not to say that bears aren't around, there were two family units by L5, our garbage storage building but one of the mothers was caught in a polar bear culvert trap there, a sign that there was no other food accessible than the seal bait in the trap itself. As for the garbage, it sounds like Tundra Buggy has decided to fly out some of the recyclable materials generated by their tours. This is definitely an idea whose time has come, considering the inflated amount of garbage generated by our tourist season. Natural Habitat is also looking at flying out recycling but I'm trying to find a source in Winnipeg to pick it up for them...

And, what would bear season be without a good bear in town story. On Thursday night (I think...), a polar bear walked right down Kelsey Boulevard, the main drag in Churchill. People watched it from the deck at the Seaport Bar until Polar Bear Alert caught up with it. Its a good thing most bears are tolerant because there's a lot of parkas stuffed with tourists walking around right now...

As for Camp Nanuq, no bears yet, knock on wood. I've seen them across the lake, across the road but not at my place, the word must be out about Milo and MoonUnit...

Polar Bear Blog - October 22, 2008 - Honourary Enjoyment

Please note, the departure time has been adjusted to leave Winnipeg at 1920 hrs, which is approximately 1 hour earlier than your ticket shows.

Also we have been notified by the operating railway that they will not be able to meet the contracted times published in the timetable. We anticipate a delay into Churchill and an approximate arrival time of 1800 hrs, instead of 1130 hrs.

On the return, the train will depart Churchill late, possibly as late as 0200 hrs on November **, with arrival into Winnipeg expected at 2100 hrs on November **. Please call our toll-free number to obtain accurate arrival and departure times prior to going to the station. The number is 888-842-7245.

Now, I don't want to come down on VIA too hard - they have accommodated people whose vacations have been upheaved, shall we say, and extended their departure date. All in all, throughout this train service gong show, VIA has done more than their fair share of juggling.

On a completely unrelated subject, Pat Broe, owner of Omnitrax and the Hudson Bay Railway, just received an honourary degree from the University of Winnipeg for his 'contributions' to northern Manitoba and his single-handed support of Churchill's sustainable future study. There is a link here to the Winnipeg Free Press - Pat Broe Receives Honourary Degree- please feel free to comment about Mr. Broe's generosity towards Churchill, even if your train is ten hours late... Actually, let me save you the trouble, here are the highlights of the article...

Broe is a Denver-based entrepreneur whose company, OmniTRAX Canada, Inc., rescued 1,300 kilometres of rail line in northern Manitoba from abandonment. He also acquired the economically precarious and long-neglected Port of Churchill, spending considerable time and effort along the way in establishing the port as a vital trade link between Canada and Europe, the Middle East, Africa and South America, U of W pointed out.

Broe has made significant personal contributions to Churchill and the University of Winnipeg. He is the leading donor with the Town of Churchill and the university in the development of a sustainability plan designed to enhance the quality of life and ensure the future of Churchill by improving the ecological, economic and social conditions of the community.

Broe and his company now serve as the leading transportation enterprise focused on the increasing importance of the north in conjunction with supporting the University of Winnipeg’s efforts headed by Dr. Jino Distasio to establish Churchill as a leading northern sustainable community.

As well, Broe’s generosity and progressive thinking were vital in the creation of the OmniTRAX Broe Quest series of free public international conferences launched by the University of Winnipeg in 2004 to explore important topics such as global citizenship, war-affected children and transformative education, lauded university officials.

Sorry, I just puked on my keyboard... it was a puke of joy but nonetheless, it still needed to be cleaned up. Its an interesting article, well-written... especially when it points out that the 'economically precarious' rail line that was 'long-neglected' - good thing an American company took over or we would be in real trouble - the western Canadian farmers would just keep coming to the government for money... you know how farmers are.

If you like, you could read the Hudson Bay Post, Bear Season Bruises section...

Enjoy your train trip. And on another completely unrelated note, here are some email addresses:

Omnitrax Corporate Headquarters
50 S. Steele Street, Suite 250
Denver, CO 80209
Phone: 303.398.4500
Fax: 303.398.4540
General E-mail: info@omnitrax.com

Eric Robinson, Province of Manitoba Minister's Office, Culture, Heritage, Tourism
118 Legislative Building
450 Broadway
Winnipeg, MB R3C 0V8

T: 204-945-3729
F: 204-945-5223
E-mail: mincht@leg.gov.mb.ca

Polar Bear Blog - October 20, 2008 - Bears Abound, Just Not Here... Yet

When Polar Bears International declared 2008 to be the Year of the Polar Bear (shamelessly usurping the International Year of the Potato), I predicted that Churchill's 'endangered' bears would have a fantastic year. So, I won't say I told you so but i told you so, so far.

Manitoba Conservation does an annual aerial survey from the Churchill area to the Manitoba/Ontario border, roughly the inland range of the polar bears of western Hudson Bay. In late July (the 22nd I believe), they flew the range and counted around 34 bears. Most were still out on the bay feasting on seals. In fact, there were still two little bits of ice floe in southwestern Hudson Bay on August 22nd...! This means that many of the bears stayed out on the ice until mid-August, almost a month later than usual (or at least, earlier than usual for the last decade, but simply similar to the 'glory days' of the early eighties).

So, almost all of the bears visiting Churchill are in really good shape (around ten to twelve in buggyland right now). This seems to have translated through the larger population with 266 polar bears being counted on the fall aerial survey in September. This is the largest number of bears recorded in the history of this survey. Isn't that crazy?!? Life is good for the bears!

Of course, this also leads to the cut in quota for Nunavut's Inuit. Arviat, an economically challenged traditional Inuit town just north of Churchill (and when I say just north, I mean 250 miles) has had their quota wiped out. From 23 polar bears harvested last year, political pressure (not research) has led the government of Nunavut to cut it to three bears. All three bear 'tags' have now been used in self-defence kills (partially because we relocate bears north from Churchill... but that's another story). So, no commercial hunt, no income, no community pride for Arviat... hmmm...

Now, I'm not what you'd call a big hunter but my friend, Uli is pretty big on it. Every weekend this summer, Uli, now twelve years old, goes out caribou hunting, goose hunting, hunting, hunting with his father. Its a traditional town and Inuit tradition is hunting (of course, to make things a little more complicated, polar bear hunting is a relatively new things in Arviat but whatever...) still the point is that Uli probably won't get to hunt a polar bear with his father, probably one of those moments that you take with you for the rest of your life.

And while the polar bears are doing fine, the Hudson Bay Railway is a complete disaster. The train is coming in 12 hours late on the already adjusted schedule that added 12 hours to the trip... Plus, it sounds like no one - VIA or HBR - is really letting travellers on to this fact until they are on the train! This is a crime. Omnitrax promised the community that tourism would not be affected by the track upgrades (required due to Omnitrax's lack of maintenance over ten years - not climate change...). Train travel is down this year and, naturally will continue on a downward spiral for the foreseeable future.

Let me put it this way... my japanese film crew was showing me a DVD of the show we're working on (which is quite good by the way... its kind of a Lonely Planet Japan...), anyways, the show featured Khazakstan. Now, Khazakstan is a truly remote country with little infrastructure and what infrastructure there is, is naturally fading soviet era whatever. One of the funny moments in the show was when the train was thirty minutes late - the local guide joked that its never on time. Then, they hopped aboard this old and slow train for a twenty hour trip. Twenty hours?!? My lord! And twenty hours to travel only 1000 kilometres or about 600 miles.

Then, there's Churchill... the train is consistently 12 hours late on a schedule already based on an 18 hour ride from Thompson, Manitoba... maybe 300 kilometres or 200 miles away... wow. (I just looked at my 'Travel to Churchill' page on polar bear alley and I am SO sorry for slacking off on the updates... will work on that)

Now, I have been accused, now and then, of being a bit cynical so here's a bright note to end this entry. This year, the polar bears are saved so we can now all stop recycling! And next year, once our $60 million of repairs and upgrades to the Hudson Bay railway are completed, we should once again be on par with Khazakstan. Huzzah!!!

October Hudson Bay Post is now online! Click here...

Polar Bear Blog - October 19, 2008 - Buggy Day

Today, we headed out to scout buggyland for the upcoming shoot (film, not bears). After a quick breakfast at Gypsy's, we drove out to Tundra Buggy launch and wobbled out on Buggy #13.

I cannot deny that I have a bit of a hard time not being the driver aboard a buggy but it was a nice day. We saw about ten bears out there, a mix of families, lone females and males. One older bear, probably 20-25 judging by the massive size of her head, was absently nursing her two year old cub. Laying on her side, she was more sleeping than nursing, only the cub nudging and bugging her. Its not easy nursing a 300lb child.

There is a fair bit of wildlife out there, gyrfalcon, two snowy owls, arctic hare, ptarmigan... and a clump of nine caribou in the midst of a soap operatic afternoon. One lager male in full rutting regalia was chasing off a younger male intent on usurping this harem-holder. It went on for a bit, back and forth until the helicopter flew by, distracting all and enough to scatter.

Its nice being out there again, always beautiful skies this time of year, changing over and again, blue, gold, grey, red. Its a neat place. Can't wait to head out there on the Unicorn aka 'North America's coolest van...'

What else? The newspaper is slowly winning over 'cheers' versus jeers and its getting a little hard to realize that its not my main gig anymore... hmm. Other than that it was a usual Churchill weekend, except for the fact that there's live music in Churchill now! Almost every night! Where am I?!?!

The Sea Flats are playing at the Seaport Hotel every Saturday, a funky mix of Johnny Cash, Neil Young, Metallica, randomness and varied hairstyles. A great little band for Churchill and a really awesome time.

Polar Bear Blog - October 18, 2008 - Rainy Day Bears

First Saturday of bear season and day two of Japanese Film Crew Part II. Its a good start, temperatures a still a bit above normal and its raining today but there's a north wind and an occasional flurry. Of course, everyone is hoping for flurries as opposed to flurry.

The usual fallout from the Hudson Bay Post is here although usually I manage to show up in town a few days after the maelstrom. So far, I've gone from 'Your paper's brutal' to a hug accompanied by 'Great paper!' to 'Its too negative, we shouldn't talk about these things in tourist season' to 'Great rant, its your best work yet.' Its a very schizophrenic time of year - and naturally, I vacillate between loving Churchill and wanting to crawl into hole.

But enough about the paper - I'll post it soon enough and you can decide for yourself... AND don't read the end of 'Confessions of a Buggy Driver' before you read the article! Of course, I may not get around to posting it either so, well... not sure what my point is.

Today we stopped by Hudson Bay Helicopters to book our flight for the film crew and Tony Bembridge, owner of HBH or father of the owner, I can't remember, he's an ex-newspaper editor and a fairly congenial yet intimidating fellow with high blood pressure and a good vocabulary, but he gave us the scoop on what the sky pilots are seeing.

Anyways, here's what I know about the bears so far... this is the year of mothers and cubs, or possibly will be. They are seeing mothers and cubs, mostly twins, along the coast and slightly inland, and there's lots of them out there - poised to head this way once the temperatures drop. Twins are a good sign, over the last years single cubs have been seen a little more commonly but this is just a little more proof that the bears had a good winter. Another sign that its been a good year is that maternity dens that have been unoccupied for ten years are now getting scoped out by preganant sows.

What else? Pilots have seen wolves harassing a mother and two cubs - a sign that the wolf population is high as well (likely due to the fact that caribou have been numerous for the past year and this year too, about 5000 a roaming around Seal River area). A polar bear has made another caribou kill, this time at Knights Hill - two caribou kills over two years now - a sign that polar bears are at least adapting to some of the changes... (long-term or not...) Plus there have been two seal kills already at Prince of Wales Fort just across the Churchill River.

There's not too many bears in town but at least a couple roaming around, one subadult, one big ol' bruiser, who sneak in at nights and wreak havoc when they choose. The big guy has been seen walking out of the water, right past Sea North tours boats up the road and then cutting back to the ocean before reaching town and Polar Bear Alert's hotline...

Polar Bear Blog - October 16, 2008 - Bear Season Begins

Well, its just my bear season beginning... I guess bear season has officially been underway for a couple weeks but both myself and the bears are a little slow this year.

My triumphant return to Churchill got off to a bit of a slow start. Upon entering the Inuvik airport, MoonUnit promptly barfed all over the floor. Then Milo started how-yowling loud enough to echo through the building and get everyone's attention. So, I passed the dogs off to some unlucky stranger standing beside me and borrowed a mop from the janitor.

Our next hurdle came with our next layover in Edmonton on the way to Winnipeg. It turns out that Milo may not be quite as svelt as I thought and we were bumped off the plane for exceeding the maximum possible weight for dog passengers. Luckily, there was another plane around 9:30 that was less full and WestJet was kind enough to let us fly. Still, six hours trying to entertain two huskies in an airport is a little challenging. (No comment on my experience with Air Canada leading up to the trip...).

Finally, we had an early morning flight from Winnipeg this morning in which again Milo was almost bumped, we had a huge delay trying to load Milo into his kennel and, once I realized that my flight was leaving at 7:15 and not 7:30 turned the corner to find the longest security line up in the history of the Winnipeg airport.

But, we're here and its a beautiful day in Churchill's bear season. There's a sprinkling of snow on the ground, a crispness in the air and tourists ambling down the street, stomping snow in hotel lobbies and filling generic seating in restaurants. Its good to be here.

The bears are a little slow this year with temperatures are a bit above normal. Polar Bear Alert encounters are down from 126 at this time last year to 76 this year, bears in jail are about half of what they were last year. It seems that the bears have had a good winter and are just not too motivated to come into Churchill in mass numbers yet, with maybe 10 bears in buggyland right now, still a respectable number. Of course, there's about 100+ mingling along the coast near Cape Churchill and Thompson Point. The point is, a slow start to bear season means good things for polar bears.

Maybe a slow start for my van too. Arriving in Churchill around 11am this morning, it took a good two hours to get it running after sitting around waiting for me to come back. Now, things look pretty good, just have to gather up some vegetable oil and process it. Of course, I've picked a nice spot along the coast, with good vantage points, to do this - best not to 'cook' vegetable oil in your yard during 'bear season' - I like bears, just not in my windows...

Polar Bear Blog - September 28, 2008 - Mackenzie Mud

We must be going on about 12+ hours of snow now - more like 36+ if you ignore a brief lapse of cloud yesterday afternoon. Its going to take more than one or two sunny days to shake this blanket of snow into the mud; we must be closing in on 4+ inches by now. Pretty safe to say, the snow is here to stay.

Still, its not unwelcome. The mud and garbage of the Mackenzie's ugly fall mood have been transformed into snow covered trees, layered in the snow and mist. The nice uniform beauty of early winter, a time when winter's quiet has yet to become disquieting, overwhelming.

Flew into Tuktoyaktuk on Friday, just for the day - there's not much for accommodations right now. The Hotel Tuk Inn shut down last year, sadly, the Courtney Love room is no longer offered for rent. When Molson held the series of Polar Party concerts, Metallica and Courtney Love blasted through Tuk. Needless to say, there's a common consensus in the community that Courtney does not remember much of the visit.

Similar to Churchill, in population - around 1000 and the lack of a year-round road. Where Churchill has a rail line, Tuk gets an ice road up the MacKenzie, usually from December until late April. When you consider its about $300 to fly to the nearest community, I'm not completely sure which is more remote...

The big difference is that Tuk is excited about tourism growing in their community. They received over 1700 visitors last year, Churchill is concerned about stagnating around 12000. In Tuk, they're hoping to build a hotel and visitor centre, talking about dredging the harbour for bigger ships and there's a fairly steady stream of oil and gas money drifting through the community.

But where Churchill lies on the treeline, Tuk is far enough north that treeless tundra and thermokarst ponds are only broken up by the pingoes, like frozen volcanoes confusing the otherwise flat horizon. And of course, with no tree for more than a hundred miles, the community is awash in driftwood.

Everywhere you drive (Tuk is pretty much built on a spit sticking into the ocean - the curling rink washed away a few years ago), everywhere you go, there is a confused and crowded mass of driftwood, dumped out of the Mackenzie and swept eastward. So much wood, that the first people in this area built driftwood and sod houses using igloos only as a last resort. There's a couple built down by the Northern Store, pretty impressive, and probably more roomy than my apartment!

Polar Bear Blog - September 23, 2008 - Mackenzie Mud

There was an NTCL tug pulling into Inuvik tonight, trudging its way up the mud, sweat and spit of the Mackenzie. The slow moving tug seemed a fitting match for the dusk, watching with gray and heavy-set eyebrows. Dusk creeps slow here, aging the trees, mud and water equally as it passes, eventually forcing the yellow grasses and red willows into submissive gray contortions. Only Inuvik's blue tanks of diesel and randomly colourful apartments attempt to stand up to the gloom. Valiant effort.

Its a captivating sight, but hardly comprehensible; only three weeks after my drive along the Dempster Highway. In full fall bloom, its bearberry and tamarack shrieked plum red, apricot orange and banana yellow. The mountains moved with caribou, willows shrugged out well-fed grizzly bears. Only three weeks after a pair of merlins perched just outside my window, blue, red and white; twitching then taking flight. Kingfishers down by the river then, snowshoe hares in the willows.

But, along with the grizzlies and caribou, they've already been stowed away for the predicted early and cold winter. Tonight, there's voles and shrews (a few less so thanks to Milo) and, of course, ravens. When the light flattens out it kind of takes reality along with it, perspective gets a little skewed. I watched a raven flying towards us tonight, a black speck in a dirty sky. I stood watching this rare contrast until somehow it was impossibly close, somehow too close too fast, close enough for him to squawk and me to duck, then look around to see if anyone saw me, which of course no one did.

The Mackenzie's ravens have their moments. This Sunday, it must have snowed ten hours or more, thick muddy flakes - trust me, snow can be muddy while still falling; I wouldn't be surprised if there was a Stonehenge II up here, slowly reclaimed by the river's mud, to busy ebbing and flowing to care about history. But back to the snow and the river and Sunday.

The snow was thick enough and the ceiling low enough for all the flights to get cancelled (and subsequently Monday's mail...) and low enough to shroud both Inuvik and the abandoned coastguard ship that serve as my rusty metal landmarks along the Mackenzie's shores. And, of course, shroud the ever-present ravens, turning their clicks and calls into something eerily human - the ravens definitely have a different dialect up here - something that brings to mind the last thing you might hear before a Gwich'in war party jumps out of the trees. Disembodied calls flung from various trees and clouds. A threat unseen. Pretty cool.

And, of course, walking home, two ravens appear out of nowhere but we were unable to tell if they were teasing us or scolding us, disappointed that we could not discover their secrets.

Polar Bear Blog - September 22, 2008 - This Monday

What is the sign of a truly great writer? Erratic behaviour. So... it took me a while to get Dreamweaver set up on my new Mac - I finaly switched - four dead PC laptops later (well, actually one lost and one stolen - but I still consider them dead). Writing from my new little shack, well not my shack per se since I seem to be paying $950 a month for a place half the size of my ol' cabin at Camp nanuq - but we can call it my shack for literary purposes. Regardless, its a good place to careen from 'wow the western arctic is beautiful' to 'I'm 36 and living in half an ATCO trailer with two smelly dogs'. I think I'm still 36.

Inuvik is different. Its pretty far north on the Canadian mainland. Its only one day past the Autumnal equinox and you can feel darkness looming, peering out through the willows. I think the timezone is a little messed up here - we're technically further west than Vancouver yet share Calgary's timezone - the sun rises late and sets late. But less late everyday now... enjoy my sanity while you can.

Where Churchill is sort of content to drift along - no offense to Arctic Bridge - Inuvik drifts along a lot faster. Very similar places except instead of seven or eight independent hotels, Inuvik has seven or eight multimillion dollar buildings owned by variously the Inuvialuit and Gwich'in. All of this with a tiny Royal Canadian Legion, silver-domed church, crack-dealing cafe and grubby local bar - the Mad Trapper aka the trap - sandwiched in between. Inuvik is all about money, everything about 20-30% more than Churchill, except, of course, gas! That's about $0.25/L cheaper... actually $0.40/L cheaper when I first got here... no comment.

There's a lot to catch up on - settling into Inuvik, visiting Ulukhaktok, Akavik and Tuktoyaktuk, drove the Dempster, plus there's been a polar bear attack in Churchill, Greenpeace is slandering my favourite researcher (not Markus Dyck... Tim Ball although I have nothing against Markus and he's getting slandered too) and Knut's trainer died today - maybe heartsick about the disaster that is Knut. We'll see what I catch up on, i do still have a newspaper to write too so hopefully this goes better than my still under construction dog kennel.

Polar Bear Blog - August 17, 2008 - Last Sunday

Well, I guess this is the last Sunday morning coffee at Camp Nanuq for a while. One rainy day after a week of 30C, the hottest stretch I've seen in Churchill; a week too hot even for bugs, way too hot for bears to do anything other than lay on the beach. Two days to go in Churchill and still trying to tie up loose ends - plus update Polar Bear Alley if and when my internet and laptop decide to work at the same time - which as you can see, is about once every ten days.

Swimming with beluga whales was unbelievable; something else to add to the 'why didn't I do this five years ago list?!?'. We've been twice and both times were great but its truly amazing on a nice sunny day. When the light penetrates the green salt water, you can see layers and layers and layers of beluga whales swimming beside and beneath you. A few times, the pod would swim right up and among us, probably nine or ten whales within ten or twenty feet - which of course feels like four or five feet underwater. You see ghostly apparitions of belugas, rays of sunshine in the water, florescent blinking jellyfish and even the shadows of rocks (and an underwater camera or two) on the bottom of the river. It really feels like another world down there.

Some swim by you feet, just a shade behind you, trying to make sense of this new underwater intruder. Others glide under you, turning on their back and twisting their necks to look up and then at their friends, guessing at the origins of the gangly creature floating on top of the water. They appear and disappear with ease, sometimes approaching head-on, first appearing as a greenish white blur in the water; other times, they sneak up, suddenly swimming by, so close that you can see the ice and gravel scrapes and scratches, scars from close-calls, fatty folds of capelins past and maybe even a few smile lines.

The water's cold but in a wet suit you don't even feel it. I was in for about an hour and a half the first time we went - of course, Churchill has drastically skewed my cold-o-meter but even half an hour would have been enough to make it the experience of a lifetime. I love watching bears but swimming with belugas rank right up there if not above my best bear encounter.... If you are reading this and live in Canada (especially Manitoba!) start planning a beluga whale encounter for next summer, its probably one of the most unique and exciting experiences on the planet and its in your backyard...

Polar Bear Blog - August 6, 2008 - Swimming with the Whales

After six years and with only two weeks left, for the first time, I'm going to go snorkelling with the beluga whales. I've taken a bunch of people on tour who have gone swimming with the whales but somehow never got around to it; working might have had something to do with that... Its a little cliched but it just seems to be another one of those things that you don't end up doing because its right in your backyard. So, I guess we'll see if its everything its cracked up to be..

Today is our first blue sky in five or six days, or at least partially blue skies, okay one little squad of blue amidst the grey regmients marching to and from the bay. Its been a bit of a welcome rain (for the black flies anyways), coming after a long, dry summer, eating away at the lakes and exposing red goose sludge beaches everywhere.

Wildlife is doing pretty well this summer especially lemmings, they must be at the tail-end of their population peak, starting to drive each other a little crazy getting ready for their imaginary mass suicides. I think we've had about eight lemming sightings in the last few days, one of which was being carried away by a Northern Harrier, another carried into our wood pile by a Least Weasel, who seems to have heard rumours of vacancy at Camp Nanuq and appears to be trying claim the cabin before the squirrels do. His appearance also explains the two fresh scars on Milo's nose.

Bears can still be found pretty easily, a mother with two cubs appearing by the navy base a couple days ago and another mother with one large two year old cub settled near the Golf Balls. The large cub keeps bugging his mom to nurse which inevitably leads her to walk away, quietly grumbling that maybe its time for him to head out on his own, kind of the equivalent of 'You're thirty, don't you think its time to get a job?!?' In a two or three weeks, its pretty safe to say she'll chase him off, leaving him to fend for himself in the two toughest years of his life. He might follow her for a few days, leading to increasingly violent confrontations, but eventually he'll get the picture and try his luck at seal hunting.

Polar Bear Blog - August 1, 2008 - Oil and Gas Explorations

So, yes, I am moving to Inuvik - on my last trip out, during the van quest, I was waiting for a new alternator in Calgary and sitting on a patio thinking, you know, Churchill's a nice place and I'm pretty close to making a 'go of it' as a writer so I'll commit to five years and see what happens. Of course, once anyone decides to actually stay in Churchill, they are pretty much gone - as opposed to a few people I know that have been trying to leave for twenty years - and I was no exception.

I got an email about a Community Economic Development job in Inuvik and the five surrounding Invialuit communities - Aklavik, Paulatuk, Tuktoyaktuk, Sachs Harbour and Ulukhaktok - and it was a pretty enticing offer, after all, I have always been interested in the western arctic and I have yet to see a muskox up close and personal. Still, I was pretty committed to Churchill seeing as I was going to release the Polar Bear Alley book this fall... of course, then I lost my backpack, laptop and my backup hardrive which naturally I was carrying with my laptop and that sort of swayed the decision to the west - considering said book was now said gone.

So, Polar Bear Alley is sort of in limbo a bit, moreso than usual. I'll be back for 'bear season' and update it from October 15-November 15 but by the end of August, the blog will be reporting from Inuvik, however, I will maintain my network of industrious, charming yet devious sources operating out of both Churchill and Grunthal, Manitoba.

In the mean time, there are tons of bears around Churchill this summer. That last bear at my cabin came back the next day but we were much more prepared this time, a got her (yes, it turned out to be a her...) three cabins away from us, chased her through the lake one last time and she has since decided that Camp Nanuq is too much bother.

What else? A bowhead whale was spotted in Button Bay a couple days ago, maybe a sign that whale populations really are increasing...? The wildflowers are just about done although Fireweed is still out in full force. The bitterns, loons and whimbrels (and gray jays) go about their days at Camp Nanuq and so do I, although mostly thinking about how I am going to build a garage, move a shed, build a shack at the Flats, liquidate my personal assets and still get to drive my van out east in the next three weeks.

Right now, I'm just in town rounding up vegetable oil and diesel for the van before heading out to Halfway Point on this sunny afternoon. Oh, and a special thanks out to the person who called Mantioba Conservation to report my imaginary tours to Gordon Point, glad to see that someone else out there cares deeply about the tundra and provincial regulations.

Polar Bear Blog - July 28, 2008 - Just About...

The first bear of the year, actually any bear in the morning, kind of throws your day off a bit. This morning, of course, was no exception. Around 7am, a young bear, one that we had been watching last night at Bird Cove, showed up at the cabin. Naturally, I had left the shotgun in the van (mind you, the coolest van on the planet, but in the van nonetheless...) and the house was somewhat reorganized from my last known configuration so I could not locate the pen launcher/bear bangers anywhere.

In the mean time, Milo and MoonUnit (Zula had gracefully retreated under the house by this time - emerging about two hours later with a scratch at the door) were chasing the bear around and around the van, or possibly the bear was chasing them, the whole thing being a might convoluted, to say the least. Anyways, in my undying wisdom, I thought if I yelled at the bear, it might be enough to turn the tides, that is, spook him, get my dogs the upper hand and, consequently, the bear out of my yard.

Unfortunately, the bear ignored me and only Milo looked over when I yelled, at which point, the bear took his opportunity to lunge. I think we can safely say I was about the width of a dog's butthole away from shopping for a new dog this afternoon. By the time, Milo looked back, the bear was on top of him and probably only the bear's youth and inexperience and maybe Milo's eighth life allowed him to slip away. Tail between his legs, ears back and butthole a little more puckered than usual, Milo, of course, ran up the stairs towards me, still minus my favourite silver gun, not to mention, shoes.

Of course, close calls are quickly forgotten and the chase resumed, this time around the wood pile. By this time, having equipped myself with sensible yet stylish footwear, I took the opportunity to run over to the van, containing said gun and jumped in. Soon, Milo and the bear, with MoonUnit in tow, her stumpy tail wagging the whole time, enjoying the great fun that everyone was having, zipped past the van. Armed, I opened the van door loaded for, ahem, bear. These thoughts quickly collapsed, as the bear's attention shifted from dog to van and those thoughts promptly shifted from van to 'charge the van'. This, of course, led me to reconsider any thoughts of stepping out of the van. (The van, for its part, did nothing but still remained the coolest van in North America.)

Luckily, I'm pretty quick with a safety - green means good, red means dead - and one shotgun blast over his head, brought the bear to a skidding reconsideration of his plan. A second followed by a third, sent him plunging, if a 400lb bear can plunge into 14" of water, into the lake. The dogs calmed down after about half an hour and several entreaties to stop chasing the bear, who by this time was across the lake, reluctantly retreating amidst squawking goose gossip, bleating loons and the swoops and tumbles of our residents terns. We took our wounded egos and racing pulses to our respective corners.

Probably a good thing that I'm moving to Inuvik.

Oh right, I'm moving to Inuvik.

Polar Bear Blog - July 23, 2008 - Common Theme

So, I lost my laptop... again... this time with my external hard drive and all my photographs from five years in Churchill... but, that's a long sordid story... on the other hand, I finally bought my4x4 van that runs on vegetable oil which is an equally sordid story, but more positive sordid than otherwise. So far, so good, tomorrow I'm heading out east to see what I can break on it...

Its a pretty nice summer, with temperatures hitting 32C a couple days ago - still a beautiful day with a strong south wind, perfect for hiking and getting extraordinarily sunburnt. Thunderstorms have passed through the last two nights, lightning striking right across from the cabin - although not quite burning down the log cabin plunked in my scenic view... besides that, its been a really dry summer, in fact, I would be surprised if these recent storms didn't ignite a fire or two south of here.

Several bears returned to the Churchill around July 12th or so, a few still kicking around, not doing much except waiting out the heat, others just passing through. The sea ice is still hanging on, drifting far south this year, hanging in there between Port Nelson and James Bay - about 10% cover of Hudson Bay, slightly more than what is considered 'normal', maybe a sign of a late start to 'bear season' this fall.

The loons are feeding their babies on the lake and the bittern is still visible by the cabin, sneaking through the reeds yesterday afternoon. Tundra swans seem to be doing well this year, we spotted one family with four cygnets the other day and there are several resident families on our deeper lakes.

Fireweed and chamomile have taken over the yard (better them than willows) and mosquitoes, bulldogs and black flies have pretty much taken over everything else. It is summer after all...

Polar Bear Blog - June 23, 2008 - Uncommon Guests

Aside from the relative lull in mosquitoes, this summer has some welcome surprises at Camp Nanuq. Some Eider Ducks have taken up residence on the lake, much to the consternation of the Pacific Loons, especially so considering the Eiders are too big to bully. Of course, this is much to the relief of long-tailed ducks since the Pacific Loons spend their time plotting against the Eiders instead of harassing them.

A pair of American Bitterns, regular summer residents at Camp Nanuq, are uncommonly visible and vocal this year, flying between the creek draining into Hudson Bay and the little pond right across the road from the cabin. They are most active around 6pm, when they get off work which is primarily comprised of bug-catching and around 11pm, relocating or maybe even scouting under cover of dusk.

The Solitary Sandpiper is still here, flying over late last night, appearing a little more solitary than ever. The female must be on a nest somewhere, undisturbed by our dogs who have decided to focus on goose eggs this year as opposed to godwits, whimbrel and plovers. It seems that the daily beatings have worked...

The screened-in deck is working out pretty well, now the head office of the Hudson Bay Post/Polar Bear Alley; that screen cutting the sun just enough that I can see this screen. Why I didn't do this five years ago, I'm not sure but then again, there's a long list of that sort of thing...

Polar Bear Blog - June 21, 2008 - Summer Starts

Solstice is hear and so is summer, made official not just on the calendar but also by the final emergence of mosquitoes, still three bug free weeks in June is pretty good. Yesterday, I noticed the first arctic dryas, or white-mountain avens, another sign of summer and another sign of mosquitoey pollination. These little flowers are kind of the signature flower of the arctic, spreading across any spot of dry tundra. They are dominant, appearing en masse; white petals and yellow anthers standing at attention, following the daily pomp and circumstance of sunshine across the sky, holding their heads high as all good heliotropic communists should.

Its a big commitment to be a heliotrope these days with only three or four hours of real twilight. Its supposed to reach 20C today and already feels humid, relatively speaking, so thunderstorms must be on the way. That combination should kick our wildflowers, which already seem a bit early, into high gear.

Polar Bear Blog - June 20, 2008 - In Transport and Fog

Day three of the process of getting the Hudson Bay Post to Churchill... such is life when you have a rough collection of friends, family and favours instead of a trained network of distribution capitalists, definitely not complaining about that though, chalk it up to one of the charms of the Hudson Bay Post.

So, as I wait to inevitably scour the newspaper for spelling mistakes and hanging sentences, a fog has descended on Churchill mostly because the bay has really opened up these last two days. Driving into town yesterday, Hudson Bay actually looked open, only a few bergy bits floating in the tide. Of course, this illusion is shattered once you consult the sea ice maps but refreshing nonetheless.

Solstice is just around the corner and so is the quote unquote end of peak birding season. A lot of the male birds, ducks at least, have begun to head out, either onto Hudson Bay or onto greener pastures, leaving the females on the nest and a scribbled 'I'll call you' note.

While the ducks are thinning out, the bugs are waiting to fatten up. Yes, we are still drifting along on borrowed time up here, yet another cool morning holding the barbarians at the gates. One more day to build the summer defences - a screened in section of the red-neck deck... Looking out the window, I can see the sun already burning off the fog, time to get to work!

Polar Bear Blog - June 19, 2008 - Done! Sort of...

Well, the latest edition of the Hudson Bay Post is done with the usual foibles - I accidently printed my second last edit of my 'gas' editorial, didn't fully confirm everything and ended up just sticking a few pictures in at the last minute (god bless polar bears) - and, of course, its sitting at Gardewine in Winnipeg right now; the start of the semi-complicated process of shipping the newspaper to Churchill and points beyond.

And, of course, I have let the blog slide... not that there hasn't been anything to write about, its just that all my brain juices dried up writing about our bad, I mean 'premium', gas. Not to mention, that by my estimation we pay about $0.25/litre more than we should in Churchill and its hard to find a politically correct term for price gouging.

Summer is in full swing here even if evening lows still reach 1 or 2C and there was hoar frost on the willows yesterday morning. The river broke in early June and a few beluga whales showed up very early but have since disappeared, replaced by seals and more seals. Open water on the bay comes and goes with the wind but never fully disappears.

Purple Saxifrage appeared in the first week of June. Lapland Rosebay, another purple flower, and Bog Rosemary were in full bloom by June 9th. Each long day, the sun sets are 10:45 and rises somewhere around 3am, brings more flowers and stirs the bugs just a bit more, for we are living on borrowed time right now.

For the past three nights, I have seen the bugs rise and swarm above the willow-laden sloughs up here, their hunger stirring in their teeny-tiny guts. Once, the nights stay warm enough not to dull their senses, we will officially move from 'birding' season to 'Muskol' season - with a high of 17C today, that probably will happen tomorrow.

Polar Bear Blog - June 8, 2008 - Slow and Sunny Sunday

Its cool and sunny out, and I've spent about all the time I can on my computer today, time to head out and putter around the yard. A few new visitors have shown up, the family of Harris Sparrows are back, these rare birds mixing in with the resident White-crowned Sparrows. Of course, there's not that much difference, except that Harris' have black faces and white-crowns have skunk stripes on their head.

Canada Geese are lurking on the other side of the road, grubbing sedges across one of the ponds, enjoying a reprieve that the sun hs provided via overheating huskies glued to the porch. A green-winged teal, in fact it seems a few of them, are a nice treat this year. Their short, single, high pitched alarm signifying their presence. The males, complete with signature red head with green racing stripe over their eye, are testosterone filled, briefly swimming towards intruders in defiance before discretion and logic finally prevail.

Two blackpoll warblers can be f0und behind the Camp Nanuq boyscout camp, flittering fidgety and gathering twigs for this year's tiny nest. Yellow warblers speckle the willows two cabins down from us, their sweet songs occasionally heard over the breeze.

Evening walks and early mornings are accompanied by a variety of calls - Pacific Loons, Tundra Swans, Geese and Sandhil Cranes. Still pre-biting bug (the house flies and blue bottles are out in force), these days are precious indeed. Or maybe this afternoon is, tomorrow and the next day are mandatory Parks Canada tou operator business license training in a windowless room, tomorrow evening is the semi-annual gas complaints meeting (in which locals voice disjointed complaints, Omnitrax officials obfuscate the issues and everyone leaves fairly dissatsified) and Tuesday is a noon hour website contract meeting. So, needless to say, end of blog entry.

Polar Bear Blog - June 4, 2008 - River Opening Up

The Churchill River looks like it should break fairly soon, maybe with the next batch of strong south winds, of which, we have had our share this spring. (Yes,spring is considered the last two weeks of May in Churchill) There is a little stream of water down the channel and what looks like an open spot up river a bit, the sea ice has blown out a bit and there is a nice, big lead extending from the mouth of the river all the way out to the Ithaca shipwreck.

Temperatures are still cool, its breezy but sunny with occasional thunderstorms these days, no bugs yet which is the big thing and most birds have returned to Churchill, with the possible exception of Phalaropes and some of our sea-going species. Much too nice out to talk about polar bear politics... maybe next blog...

Polar Bear Blog - June 2, 2008 - Fan Mail Just Keeps Rolling In...

Date: Tue, 3 Jun 2008 11:55:24 +1000
Subject: Cruel and stupid
To: info@polarbearalley.com

What would you do if you were starving and your starvation and survival instinct took you to a place where you werent wanted, but all you wanted and needed is something to eat for yourself and your family?

It is very cruel and unjust the way you capture and lock up a polar bear for 31 days in isolation with no food as "punishment" to the bear for wandering into the township looking for food. Are you all mad? Yes I think you are! this is an animal that has instincts and doesnt not live by or follow stupid mans rules and laws. All the polar bear follows is its survival instinct and how to find food to stay alive.

How cruel of humans as yourselves to lock up these beautiful animals as if they were stupid, bad people breaking the law.

The polar bear is looking for food and because of that it is locked up for a month without food! How ludicrous and cruel are you. Dont you see what you are doing is wrong? You are all sick. Lock yourselves up for a month with no food, water, daylight or freedom and see how you like it.

Animal vigilante

Ms E. Cairns
Australia

--- end ---

As I do try and respond to most incoming email (funny though... I haven't heard back from Nigeria as of yet... plus my blue pills are taking suspiciously long to arrive in the mail), I penned a polite and mature response, representing as best I could the interests of Churchill. It reads as follows...

Why are you ranting at me about locking bears up? I didn't do it!

As per your next question, yes we are all mad.

And after this winter, I can say with confidence that I have been locked up for at least a month with no food, water, daylight or freedom... its called January and I didn't like it.

---- end ----

So... here, I was getting all uppity and almost feeling happy - Happy in Churchill?!? What audacity!! - one fan of Polar Bear Alley just gave me a T-bone steak and another offered to buy me a beer this summer. Sigh, we all must float back to earth at some point.

You see when I first started reading her email, I thought she was venting about trying to find a restaurant in Churchill after 9pm. Then, as I read further, I was dismayed that she hadn't read my blog entry about the air conditioning in the cells at the Polar Bear Alert - whose cruel and stupid now?!? Don't answer that...

Hmm, animal vigilante... come to think of it, I'm a bit of an animal vigilante - fighting for the rights of bears not to have their private parts discussed in public - its true, read the article, I sound like a madman - plus my friends occasionally and somewhat derogatorily refer to me as the Lion King. Although if it was up to me, I would choose the name Beario. 'who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of bears, Beario knows...'.

So to get to the point, which I seldom do... Cheers, Ms Cairns! I stand united in your fight for animal happiness! As long as they're not happy in my cabin! And as long as seagulls don't count! Or willows! Wait, willows are plants!

On the bright side, I now have a new and fitting epitaph...

R.I.P. Kelsey Eliasson

Ludicrous and cruel.

Polar Bear Blog - June 1, 2008 - Summer Snow

Well, the west wind ended up bringing snow, a brief squall this morning just short enough to still classify as entertaining and not undermining. Strong winds are eating away at the rotting ice at a record pace, not unlike watching the bay freeze in reverse. A good match for Sunday morning coffee...

New arrivals to Camp Nanuq; Dunlins and Solitary Sandpipers are invisible today, waiting the day out in the reeds and sedges of mudholes that pose as ponds. Even the seagulls are grounded this morning, one or two braving the breeze, only to set down at the nearest crooked lakeside roost.

Only the loons are out today, bobbing and diving in the choppy waters of the lake. Two of them came in from the lead (open water) out on the bay around 9am this morning, coasting low and fast, the wind stretching out their descent until they had crossed almost the entire lake before setting down and seeminginly nonchalantly turning to swim back to the decaying ice. Here, they patrol this mini-floe edge, occasionally diving under the ice and maybe grabbing some bugs or grubs from its underbelly.

Snow has turned to blue sky as quickly as mottled white clouds turned to snow this morning, all escorted along by the winds, jostled along in pursuit of the morning mist, pink sunrise, black clouds, late night rain, meager sunset and more blue skies.

Polar Bear Blog - May 31, 2008 - Aquatic Traffic Jam Building

The lake is starting to open up, only about half covered with ice (which half depending on the wind, naturally) and more migrants are showing up, competing for much coveted nesting territory. So far, nesting pairs of Lesser Scaups, Pintail Ducks, Long-tailed Ducks and Canada Geese have been spotted swimming amidst the ice floes. The geese and the pintails have taken up residence across the lake, only visible in the sedges through binoculars and only then occasionally.

Of course, the star attraction is the return of a pair of Pacific Loons last night, cruising sleek and slow, hopefully nesting somewhere along the lakeshore. Other non-lake notables include two pairs of Golden Plovers, a pair of Hudsonian Godwits and possibly a pair of Smith's Longspurs - I'll get back to you on that one. And frogs too, just about forgot them, they've been croaking, blurping and gurking for a couple days now...

The return of Arctic Terns, usually nesting on a shallow spit south of our cabin, and Bonaparte's Gulls, nesting generally too close to the cabin, is a mixed blessing. The buntings and sparrows are happy, as the terns and gulls harass passing predators - yesterday, the terns almost bit off more than they could chew, putting the chase on our resident Merlin and consequently getting chased back, by an equally agile bird. This is all entertain, of course, moreso if they didn't also harass cabin owners walking their dogs or cleaning their yard...

Its warm enough today, and a good west wind should keep it warm for the weekend, that the lake should be open by Monday or so. The river is showing, a bit, not much, signs of breaking and should open up in mid-June, depending whether it is assisted by south winds or not.

Sea-ice experts are predicting an early breakup of Hudson Bay, open July 15th instead of the long-term mean date of July 31 (I think averaged since 1979). I suppose it could be true although nothing anyone sees here indicates an early break-up but we'll wait and see when the bears show up, its usually a good indication of what's happening out there. I'll stick with July 28th for breakup this year, hopefully the Port of Churchill isn't banking on sea ice predictions for their shipping season... of course, that assumes that local gossip and opinion is more accurate than satellites and statistical analysis... which is probably a fairly safe assumption.

Polar Bear Blog - May 29, 2008 - Birdseed Truce at Camp Nanuq

After days of squabbling, chirping and flapping, the snow buntings and white-crowned sparrows have declared a truce in my yard. The chaos started as four white-crowned sparrows showed up on Sunday and threw the snow buntings daily routine of swoop around the house, land, eat some seed, sound the alarm, fly away, repeat as required.

Returning to last year's nesting site, a pair of White-crowned sparrows, now joined by two more, took charge of our willows and at least for a couple days, charge of the bird seed scattered in the yard. As with many things, appetite eventually overcame minor obstacles such as fear, dislike or even ego, and the buntings and sparrows worked out an easy truce... after all, the bird seed seems to be replenished each day and the resident huskies don't seem to move.. at all. Why complicate a good thing?

But we all know what happens to good things, and the end may have started yesterday. Two rough-legged hawks showed up after lunch, hovering, riding thermals, high above Camp Nanuq. The male slowly circling around the lighter, almost white female, seemingly as intent on her, as she was on scanning the tundra. As they passed over the cabin, she paused, catching site of our resident buntings, variously perched on hydro lines, dwindling snowbanks and the cabin itself.

You could kind of feel the group shudder, as the rough-leg stalled high above the cabin, her v-shaped tail flexing, expanding and contracting as she tried to figure out exactly what was going on below. It lasted only a few minutes - flex, hover, shudder, spin,flex, hover - not enough for me but probably much too long for my buntings, all trying not to stare at the black-tipped wings under white clouds.

Unsure, maybe of the dogs or the snowmobile or simply the masses of lumber and randomness melting out of my yard, she spun and slipped away, catching up to her admirer, whose attention span had long since wavered. A collective sigh ensued, as all things buntings do are collective, safe for today.

Polar Bear Blog - May 27, 2008 - Bayline Blues Revisited

So, on this, our first rainy day of spring, a day when I should be talking about the arrival of the first pair of Golden Plovers and the washout of the main road from I loving call 'Stickleback Rapids'. Instead I will announce the new train schedule for VIA Rail, yet another of Churchill's worst kept secrets - next to the new CNSC building project and the fact that the Port of Churchill will never ever ship a million tonnes in one season.

There have been rumors for quite a while that VIA Rail will announce a schedule change on June 1st for the Winnipeg-Churchill Bayline Railroad. This is primarily due to the work that Omnitrax and the Port are doing on the track this summer and also in respsonse to the train never ever being on time. So, it looks like the train will now leave Winnipeg at 9am twice a week (Sunday and Thursday) and arrive in Churchil at 6am (Tuesday and Saturdays). There will still be three trains departing from Churchill (Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday) but they will not leave at 4pm and the Thursday train will only go to The Pas and then back - its all a bit confusing. I have heard that VIA is talking about shuttling passengers to The Pas to catch the train, but we should probably wait for the official announcement before talking about that.

Its already hitting Churchill tour operators with cancellations starting to trickle in, most concerned about the now even longer trip to Churchill. So bad news for Churchill business but good news in the sense that now that they've added 12 hours to the scheduled times, they couldn't possibly be late... right? Right??? (insert sound of crickets chirping here...)

On another positive note, a friend of mine recently submitted Churchill's gas prices of $1.88 per litre to www.manitobagasprices.com and had them rejected because they didn't believe him! That was before prices jumped another three cents to $191.4 per litre. The quest for a waste vegetable oil vehicle has been renewed!

Polar Bear Blog - May 24, 2008 - Yes, We Have Snow Buntings Today

Not much is better than spending the afternoon on your deck watching the snow geese fly over, peppered with flocks of snow buntings circling the house, picking off bits of birdseed melting in the snow and, of course, the occasional raptor cruising past. Temperatures have kicked up a bit and a few days of south winds have brought their first waves of birds into Churchill.

So far, we've spotted Merlins, Rough-legged Hawks, Short-Eared Owls, Gyrfalcons and Northern Harriers, out in force, searching for birds and rodents with their guard down. Several Tundra Swans are flying over, returning to their chosen tundra ponds, ready to establish their summer nesting territories. Robins appeared yesterday, suddenly an abundant fixture in Camp Nanuq's willows and window sills.

Of course, I consider it a well deserved afternoon as I spent a good chunk of this week digging out our road (again) and finally opening it up to the cabin. This is a big thing! No more precarious snowmobile rides or boot-soaking walks across the lake, just trench digging to drain my yard and day-to-day care of our last remaining 'pet' snow banks.

Still, it looks like a bit of a late spring here, looking back at last year, it was around this time that the Churchill River broke, and while it did cool down in June, that was pretty early. We'll see what happens this year, we need some nice moderate day time temperatures but not too much too fast. With the amount of standing water, held back by snow bank stragglers, the bugs could get, to resurrect a solid eighties small town word, pretty 'savage'.

Polar Bear Blog - May 16, 2008 - Feeling Threatened... and Cold... but That's Normal

So, I thought it would be easier just to change the month on this entry instead of the date so I went to Iceland and that sort of thing and to make a long story short, I'm back. And its still winter. And really not much else has changed.

Its snowing today and while the road was opened up to the cabin in my absence, it has since blown back in with repeated snowstorms. There are confused Canada Geese now joined by confused Snow Geese milling about. Spring is taking its time in this Year of the Polar Bear.

Another bear ventured ashore for a bit this week, investigated a dog kennel (not the usual one) before heading back out. Maybe he came ashore overjoyed at now being listed as 'Threatened' by the United States Government and then realized that it is a completely meaningless listing (other than undermining a small aspect of the Inuit economy) and headed back out for business as usual.

Speaking of which, its about time to head into town for the Friday Meat Draw at the Royal Canadian Legion and then another going away party for some folks that did their time and had some fun in this strange little northern community. But first, a sloppy and slippery walk across the lake, maybe I'll leave the dress shoes at home.

Polar Bear Blog - April 16, 2008 - Unexpected Visitors

A European Starling, still in speckled in winter plumage, its beak just starting to change back to yellow for the summer, landed on my porch this morning. Its a mostly black, meadowlarkish bird thats about 800km north of its normal range. There has been the occasional sighting here before but I would have to say this bird is maybe in for a bit a tough haul if he's going to stay until summer... or even make it through the next couple days...

Another surprise, at least sort, was the first polar bear of the year, track anyways. Yesterday, there were fresh tracks wandering around Camp Nanuq, checking out the boyscout camp, cabins and eventually right through my yard before heading back out to the sea ice. There's been a big stretch of open water visible for a couple weeks now and I figured there had to be some bears gathered around there. I guess this one just decided to take a day trip to civilization, check things out and get back to seal hunting.

In the not so unexpected category, male ptarmigan have started staking their territories, landing on the highest remaining snowbanks and making their gurgling, rattling mating calls, their red eyebrow combs standing out in the sunlight. Ravens are cruising and tumbling in the air, fooling around in the time between winter scavenging and spring nest raiding. Ever present Gray Jays are ever more present, snow buntings have returned and I could swear I heard a goose yesterday but that may have just been the ravens messing with me.

Polar Bear Blog - April 15, 2008 - Stranded!

Well, its that time of year when the snowmobile trail has melted (due to above average temperatures for the last couple weeks) but the road to my house is still clogged with snow (due to below average temperatures for the rest of the winter). Time to get back into the swing of shovelling snow - now sticky, wet and heavy with spring sunshine - who am I kidding, there is no swing of shoveling snow, its more of a grind or a strain or a simple kick to the...

Its also time to save on dog food, as the snow recedes it exposes tundra, last year's berries and of course, dead things or at least pieces of dead things. Each spring, an orphaned caribou leg or moose bone mysteriously shows up on the deck, to be gnawed and crunched and carried from April until August. Milo for his part, doesn't come in for supper until maybe 8-8:30, in fact on sunny days, he doesn't even really move except to reposition for maximum shade.

Each day, talk inevitably drifts toward geese and when exactly they will return. One has been sighted, out on Button Bay, flying over a group of snowmobilers - I think that was on April 12th... the earliest record is April 10th, 1982 - at least according the gaffitied walls of the North River cabin, which is pretty much statistically significant enough for me.

And there is talk of wildlife as well. Our bears are out on the ice, raiding seals' snowy birthing lairs. Its probably a bit of a trade-off this year, warm April temperatures overheating the bears but also melting away seal ceilings leaving cute baby seals exposed to equally cute polar bear cubs. All in all, I'd say its a pretty average year for western Hudson Bay as it stands right now.

Of course, news from the Beaufort Sea sounds pretty disastrous, cannibalization - at least four cases of an adult male feeding upon another bear - and a female with starving cubs wandering 400km inland. Each of these individuallly could be explained as an errant, anti-social, homicidal old bear to an young, unexperienced female that just made the wrong choice. Then again, the more of these factors that keep getting reported up there, maybe that population is in real trouble. Considering that Manitoba Conservation rejected my 50'x75' eco-friendly arts centre along Hudson Bay to 'save' the bears, that probably means this news will halt future development of the Mackenzie pipeline too. Damn! I was hoping to go up there and work as a bus driver...

But then again, there's some good news too. Climate change seems to be saving Bowhead Whales and Belugas. Scientists with DFO just re-estimated the number of Bowheads in the eastern Arctic from 3,000 to 14,400 - it seems their research methods were not expansive enough to give a true sense of the population. I guess that means Hudson Bay now has 3,000 bowhead instead of 300. A similar thing happened a couple years ago when the beluga population was re-estimated from 15,000 (i think...) to 55,000 in western Hudson Bay. This is good for whales and nice to see that science still admits its subjectivity sometimes (let's hope their estimate is correct this time). Problem is I wouldn't expect the Inuit or northerners to give science anything more than a nod in future resource conservation planning, including polar bears.

Polar Bear Blog - April 11, 2008 - Springoween

Since it is National Poetry Month, here is the latest composition from the Poet Laureate of Churchill's Four-way Stop Intersection, George Power. It is an ode to Churchill's faltering spring.

(dis)Vernal Contemplation

Without ceremony, staving off
the pageantry of renewal,
indifferent to trees still stripped bare,
the hold Winter imposes on skin
lingers long and relentlessly twists
this sunny deception of a Spring day
into some naked late Autumn -
crisp, cold and colorless (unless
you consider browns and grays) -
leaves it leafless, in a doubtful
promise of an early green Summer;
muddied with that the snow concealed
now revealed in all its putrid honesty,
where there's a scent of something,
not love, in the air.

The levity of May, chilled and
Octoberized in Jack Frost's grip,
numbs thinking, freezes fertility
out of imagination's reach; induces
hallucinations where patterns on eggs
lose their colour and majestic designs
and assume the eerie stares and grins
of gleefully demented pumpkins,
and reveals the Easter Bunny as just some guy
namde Jack O. Lantern in drag,
dragging Spring down to the ground
where lofty allusions to lovers flutter
unnoticed behind raised collars and bowed heads
braced in the face of wind, and fall
settling into an asphalt crypt
with no more purpose than
dead fairies from forgotten myths.

Polar Bear Blog - April 9, 2008 - Bio-fuelled Snow Geese

So, here's one for the right wing bloggers, I've been thinking about the whole biofuels movement and how it is maybe another example of misguided government/bandwagon environmentalism - that is, more natural pastureland is converted into grain fields, more pesticides/fertilizer is used and more grain is moved from the global food market into use for cars and trucks, not that I really expected much else from George Bush's eco-policy.

But here's a little twist on it. I've been wondering if biofuels could spell the 'death' of Wapusk National Park. You see, on this blue sky morning, we are now counting the days until the first geese - first Canada then Snows - arrive, and they arrive en masse, scouts then troops then regiments, divisions, battalions of geese over only a week or two. In other words, there's a lot of them.

The Snow Geese nest around La Perouse Bay east of here but just in the northwest corner of Wapusk National Park. Starting from around 6000 geese in the early sixties, the population has ballooned to 60,000 nesting pairs or more. They are in a perpetual 'boom' phase, not unlike the Alberta oil industry, growing and growing each year. The geese fly south fatten up on farm fields and grain chaff in the southern states in the winter then come back to forage and nest in the arctic in the summer.

Unfortunately, when they forage in the arctic, the 'grub' plants, pulling them out by the root, turning the area into a salt marsh and effectively destroying an otherwise pristine landscape, again not unlike the Alberta oil industry.

This past season, Snow Geese were identified moving south through the park and establishing new nesting areas, a sign that their conquest of Wapusk is speeding up. Now, with more and more grain fields and the price of wheat and other grains expected to stay high, there should be more winter feeding sites available and, naturally, an expoential growth of Wapusk's snow goose population. Making Wapusk National Park a victim of climate change or at least our governments' solutions to climate change.

Polar Bear Blog - April 5, 2008 - No More Northern Fun

I suppose each newspaper editor faces some adversity in the continuing struggle for freedom of speech and the pursuit of truth, happiness and distribution outlets. And such is my plight, on this sunny subarctic weekend.

In my last issue of the Post, I did a two page spread under the News & Gossip section of the paper. It is a collection of snippets of life and such in Churchill and points north. Everything from bad gas to mines to light bulbs and the end of everything as we know it... you know, the usual.

Anyways, I put a paragraph in there about how the Northern Store was giving sub-par meat to the Royal Canadian Legion for their weekly meat draw. It was kind of a gag entry and its not like its not true, I mean bacon ends and frozen fried chicken is not exactly gourmet entree.

Now, due to my audacity of writing a true if unflattering paragraph about the Northern Store, they have pulled the Hudson Bay Post from their shelves! Yes, Churchill's newspaper is no longer available for free distribution at our grocery store. The Northern Store is safe once again - at least, until I write my price comparison article in the Summer Issue... I just hope that they don't ban me from the store after that one! I still need my $7 jug of milk and $5 red pepper!

Polar Bear Blog - March 30, 2008 - Hudson Bay Quest 5

Its the final day of the Hudson Bay Quest and it looks like David Ooolooyak of Rankin Inlet is running away with it. He has a 3.5 hour lead on Daryl Baker's second place team. Dave Daley and Ernest Azure of Churchill are another hour behind Baker. Local favourite, Charlie Lundie, has just dropped out of the race, despite running in the Top Five for most of the race... when your dogs don't want to run anymore then you don't have much choice either... Its too bad, he still had about four hours of leeway before the next grouping of mushers leaves the halfway point and mandatory six hour layover. Tune in to www.hudsonbayquest.com for race updates and standings. (That's what I'll be up to for the next couple days...)

Its a big event for Churchill, a pretty good thing too. Its was 'born' at the Churchill's BS table at Gypsy's five years ago and this year, the race hit its maximum number of participants and highest level of interest and sponsorship yet. Everyone kind of gets together to follow the race and cheer for local favourites. Not to mention this year's purse is $30,000 plus all the benefits to the community and you can't really go wrong...

Polar Bear Blog - March 26, 2008 - Ptons of Ptarmigan

Get it? The 'P' is silent... eh?... Help me... please.

Yes, winter is dragging on a bit but there are signs of reprieve. About fifty or sixty ptarmigan are flying around Camp Nanuq these days, the flock lifting and setting in non-quite unison movements across the snow and trees, some skittering, some lifting, some landing in willows, trees or on the ground, other nibbling on buds, twigs or not much of anything at all.

Still keeping occupied chopping ice for water, so far, I have chopped about 50 gallons of water I figure, enough to keep the water system going anyways, probably enough to give me 'beaver fever' (it could be said that I already have a bad case of that but then again that's another blog...) and even enough, to have the inaugural shower at Camp Nanuq! This would have been a much more relaxing and satisfying event if the shower drain would not have been pre-frozen, signalling another trip underneath the cabin, and into the ever deepening snowdrift that surrounds said cabin. Speaking of which, that's a good excuse to get off this computer!

Polar Bear Blog - March 21, 2008 - First Day of Spring

Spring is here, we're still mired in snowdrifts but officially spring is here. I can't complain its only -19C today, good weather for getting yard work done and digging out the lumber for this year's batch of cabin renovations. You can tell its warming up, there's more wildlife activity, arctic hares are more visible and yesterday, I saw a Gyrfalcon cruising fast, flying only one or two feet above the ground then lifting above the hydro poles, turning and diving back to continue his grid pattern over the tundra.

You can also tell its spring because its that time of year when cabin fever is... how to describe this... kind of here and there. Its a schizophrenic time of year, where you waffle between depression and excitement, inspiration and stagnation, where too many projects are still undone after the winter and more are piling up for the summer but anxiety still hangs about what this year will bring. Its a time where winter truly has gotten the better of you whether you admit it or not (unfortunately, our truck admitted it freely last week and my chequebook is soon to follow...) And then of course, everything ends up working out as it should and, by June, you shake your head at your late winter neuroses and say 'I'm not going to do that again' and you don't.. until next March.

Polar Bear Blog - March 19, 2008 - Paper Boy

Well, the papers out and this was my first time venturing into town after the latest issue slash mispelled articles slash misinformation. Of course, this is no different from any paper, except that its my paper and as soon as I open it, my brain heads straight for the most glaring error - at least to my brain, that is.

But, doing a small newspaper in a small town is kind of nice (once its done), lots of people give complements or grab the paper and say 'thanks' or point out errors in articles - of course, this all means that people are actually reading the paper and that's all any editor/writer ever wants really.

It also points out what pride Churchillians place on this place and its history, its an unspoken, casual and sort of sarcastic patriotism but patriotism nonetheless and that's something that is maybe a little lacking in the greater Canada. I doubt you would ever find anyone in Churchill who is apologetic for anything good or bad in this community, its pretty much take it or leave it, its a hard and tolerant town and if you don't like it, that's okay, just don't ask anyone to change.

Polar Bear Blog - March 18, 2008 - Back to...

So, I just re-read my last entry and I seemed so hopeful about the van. Of course, this one didn't work out but that's business and its a beautiful day at Camp Nanuq, the land of foxes and hares and ptarmigan and not-so-much strip malls and asphalt.

The latest issue of the Hudson Bay Post is finally online here. It spotlights the upcoming Hudson Bay Quest, trapping history, ravens, gossip and that sort of thing...

Of course, some of the news and gossip covered is already old. The bad gas in town has been replaced by a new shipment and vehicles seem to be running better, although I think a grand total of seven gas tanks exploded, yes exploded, in town, likely thanks to this latest epic of octane-deficient gas. Oh well, might as well pretend it didn't happen and wait for the next batch of bad gas in two years.

Other stuff that I missed includes the new RCMP building, construction officially started yesterday but we likely won't see real progress until mid-April or so. The Churchill Northern Studies Centre is also a lot closer to its $13 million project with Omnitrax and the Province of Manitoba stepping up to the so-called funding plate. If the Federal Government follows suit, an announcement for a new research centre should be made this summer.

Hudson Bay Quest and Churchill's Aurora Winterfest are coming up soon. This year, the Winterfest will feature a snow sculpture workshop in the week leading up to the festival which sounds pretty neat. And, the Hudson Bay Quest ended up with 21 teams this year, actually one over their official limit but who's counting...

Polar Bear Blog - March 5, 2008 - And I Live in Churchill Because...

So, this polar bear blog is from sunny and warm Vancouver, at the Granville hostel where there is running water, telephones, falafels and most importantly no blizzards. Getting away from winter feels a little like someone lifted an 800lb gorilla, or say polar bear, off my back This is a much needed break for sure.

Flying over the Canadian Rockies was brilliant, perfect light and only a few clouds drowning the occasional mountain valley. For stretches, it seems like Canada has barely been touched (which is kind of the truth) but then again there is no shortage of clear cuts and logging roads delineating the wilderness. Then comes Vancouver, after so much land and so little people, it is surreal to dive into an eclectic surf of cultures, colours and crowds. Everyone stuffed into one little corner of the country, buildings growing more up than out, but growing nonetheless. Blizzards versus buildings... right now, I am waffling but give me a couple days and I'll be ready for the blizzards again.

Of course, I am out here on business, continuing the quest for a 4x4 van, soon to be converted to run on used vegetable oil and the next step in growing my guiding business. I am one day away from either owning one or square one, as in 'back to'. Should work out okay, for once, everything seems to be falling into place...so far anyway. Too sunny to write much more today...

Polar Bear Blog - March 3, 2008 - What Do You Want Me To Say...

I think my entries are now just going to read... another blizzard. the end. There's really not much to write after a while except that March is definitely coming in like a lion which is probably good news for the Hudson Bay Quest dog sled race at month's end, unless of course, the lamb has rabies...

The winter edition of the Hudson Bay Post is finally done, for better or worse, and will be posted in a few hours, theoretically. I just can't put off 'dragging' the road - or what's left of it - any longer. You can actually see the sun today so that's a good sign, this is just wind now not snow and wind. Not to mention, I am hoping to fly south today or tomorrow and then head west to pick up a 4x4 tour van! But, I don't want to jinx that too much until its in my hands.... so that's it, heading out for road repairs, shovelling, cursing and frostbite, that is, if I can squeeze by the four foot snowdrift outside the door..

Polar Bear Blog - February 28, 2008 - Another Day in Churchill

So, I was a little stressed last night. Milo disappeared as he occasionally does but this time did not show up for supper and was gone for about twelve hours or so, still missing this morning. So with there being wolves around and that sort of thing, we headed out, a little disconcerted, on a search for hopefully more than bones and blood.

Of course, Milo being Milo, it was more of a gong show than high drama. It seems that he broke in to one of the cabins on neighbouring Spruce Ridge, much like polar bears do, accidentally knocked the door shut and panicked, turning the place into a disaster, much like polar bears do. By the time we found him, he had jammed his head out one of the windows and was howling until he honed in on his whimpers, not so much like polar bears do.

So, that was pretty early and once all was said and done, I still had a meeting with town council about updating the community website. Trouble is, I have been trying to clear out my ears with olive oil - getting a little tired of being mostly deaf - and had accidentally plugged them worse then ever. To top things off, I proceeded to back off my winter road into a big snowdrift and get stuck, on a day where it is pretty impossible to get stuck. So exhausted and deaf, I went to the meeting and proceeded to read lips, nod at appropriate times and try to be as professional as I could, in work overalls and snowboots.

It occurred to me that these events probably do not comprise that of a typical newspaper publishing business.

Polar Bear Blog - February 25, 2008 - Up on the Downside

Photographers and staff headed out to Wat'Chee Lodge on Saturday, boarding the train to head up the tracks to an old siding called McClintock where Wat'Chee now occupies a former 'spur' and old military building once part of the Churchill Rocket Research Range. For me, this is usually a sign that winter is more than half over; really November, December, January and February are the only tough months, other than that winter is a cakewalk up here, except for a few blizzards in March, April or May and sometimes June.

And while the rest of Manitoba, even Thompson et al, saw above normal, -3 or -4C temperatures yesterday and we still wallowed in minus thirties, it was okay. Not to mention, the winter road is still open, we have enough water in the tank (barely, but still...) and even though, we have been going through firewood like crazy, there's still enough of the woodpile exposed that I don't have to shovel for three hours before cutting more. I would call this winter a victory so far...

Polar Bear Blog - February 23, 2008 - Winter is Okay... I guess

Its amazing how quickly you can forget a cold snap. Temperatures have risen enough (still between -15 and -30C but that's fine with me) to allow for snowmobiling and snowshoeing without grinding your teeth or staring at your feet, hiding from the windchill. Winter is all of a sudden kind of nice in Churchill.

Doing daily trips these days to chop ice from Stygge Lake behind the cabin, bringing sled loads to fill up our water barrel or just snowmobiling on a seemingly never-ending mission to mark a trail which I end up losing seemingly every day. For some reason, I thought heading to town on a snowmobile for the day and returning after dark. It is surprising how easily you can accidentally plow into a 15' tall snowbank of willows at 2am and how quickly panic rises when you realize you are hammering through a maze of gnarled branches and the snowdrifts are somehow now at eye-level. But, then again, all's well that ends well, so what the hey...

Snowshoeing is a little easier, naturally, again to Stygge Lake and again to a willow-laden snowbank. This time, there's a nice hard crust so its maybe my version of mountain climbing, hiking along the tops of ancient willows, fifteen or twenty feet about the edge of the lake. There are a couple spots where the airport buildings are hidden by trees and you can fool yourself into thinking that the antenna towers and old rocket launchers are spindly trees and all of a sudden you are five hundred miles from anywhere. That's something else for an afternoon 'coffee break' from the laptop...

Polar Bear Blog - February 20, 2008 - Lunar Eclipse

Just waiting on the lunar eclipse tonight, somewhere between 8 and 9pm, I think. Next one is 2010 and by then, I'll be full on into preparations for the Mayan end of the world in 2012 so I better head out and catch this one. More on the eclipse here...

Plus, Saturn is supposed to be following the moon across the sky. As in, 'What's that bright star in the sky? ...That's Saturn. ...Oooh, I see. Wow, that's Saturn...' Hopefully, it clears up a bit, snowing right now and clouds have gloomed up the sky but that's okay, its -15C and that's minus fifteen not fifty, so that's good.

Thought I would put the snowmobile trail in to town today but for some reason, I have this mental block towards my GPS. I just won't carry it and I am not sure why, it would make life a lot easier. I've got about half the trail pretty much down in my head and then there's one spot where I sort of drift off into a new trail every time I've tried it. I took an axe as my survival kit today, maybe GPS tomorrow. Should have things nice and packed and marked by May though...

Lots of tracks between here and town, ptarmigan, least weasel and other random rodents, probably poking around this morning looking for food in the nice weather. There were signs of my wolf following the hydro line closer to town and, of course, signs of foxes; tracks and otherwise. There is a great looking silver fax living near Goose Creek these days and at least one or two traditional red foxes kicking around, hopefully staying away from the community trapline. For now, they're using the snowmobile trail more than us, apparent by the pee marks underneath my axe marks on each of my lobstick trees.

Polar Bear Blog - February 19, 2008 - Red Aurora

There must have been a good solar storm this weekend. Around 11pm last night, there was throbbing red aurora over Hudson Bay. I don't think I have really seen aurora like that before where the purple looks red and there is only a sliver of green, if any at all. Usually, it is quite the opposite. All of that while the moon was shining bright, lighting up the landscape, pretty impressive even if I was in a bad mood.

Yesterday was my first down day of 2008, I'm into the crunch time for the newspaper and the books and I'm starting to want to throw my laptop out the window. Too many things 68% done... I think.

Still very cold here today but its a nice, clean, clear day - better for everyone's psyche... Can't believe its almost the end of February... starting to hear some old-time Churchillians talk about how they don't remember that many, if any, winters being this cold for this long. I, for one, am hoping that in thirty five years, I can say that we never had another winter like od'eight and then maybe I'll tell a story about a greenland shark or about the times when we all thought the bears were going to disappear.

POLAR BEAR NEWS AND STUFF

• Lunar Eclipse in February
• Manitoba Declares Polar Bear 'Threatened'
• US Delays Decision Polar Bear 'Threatened' Status
• Hudson Bay Quest 5 set to run March 29th
• $2.7 billion of Oil and Gas Leases in Chukchi
• Oldest Horseshoe Crab Discovered at Churchill
• Oldest Polar Bear Fossil Discovered
• Northern Lights THEMIS Project
• Polar Bears on the Brink? Don't Believe It!
• NASA Examines 2007 Arctic Sea Ice
• State of the Canadian Cryosphere