Polar Bears of Churchill
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Category Archives: Canadian Arctic
Polar Bear Blog – Fluffy Snow and Off We Go
Well looks like we’re heading out to Prince Albert sound, its pretty white out there today, soft snow falling to me it looks like the makings of a real blizzard but there’s a glow of the sun behind the clouds so who knows – that’s what guides are for… Wynniatt Bay to the north still sounds like their in blizzard mode. The helicopter researchers seem to be grounded a fair bit and even the local … Continue reading
Polar Bear Blog – Heading Out Maybe
So, how do you begin a quest for a grolar bear. Well, if the first step in an arctic expedition is a few hours on the phone with Aeroplan, the next step is usually a ‘weather day’. If so, we are right on schedule. A west wind has brought some fluffy snow and the light is pretty flat, I have my doubts we will leave today – then again, I was surprised to see the … Continue reading
Polar Bear Blog – Onward to Ulukhaktok
On my way to Ulukhaktok for a couple weeks to look for polar bears and wolves and stuff, pretty excited about it. Ulukhaktok, roughly translating as ‘way harder to pronounce than Holman’, is one of my favourite arctic places. Ulukhaktok, formerly called Holman, is a small community (maybe 300 people?) on the southwest corner of Victoria Island. The name actually translates to ‘place where material for Ulus is found’ but I think that’s actually the … Continue reading
Posted in Canadian Arctic, Churchill Manitoba News, Climate Change and Polar Bears, Polar Bear News, Polar Bears of Churchill
Tagged arctic, beaufort sea, grolar bear, holman, northwest passage, polar bear alley, polar bear blog, polar bear grizzly hybrid, polar grizz, sea ice, ulukhaktok, vitoria island
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Polar Bear Blog – Blame Canada
Well, it seems to be a familiar theme these days but Canada seems to be the polar bear ‘bad guy’ again. Nikita Osyanikov, a polar bear researcher from Russia, is quoted in the media and saying the Russian polar bear hides are often tagged as ‘Canadian’ so that they can be legally sold. You see, polar bear hunting in Russia has been banned since, I believe, 1957 – part of their initial moves to conserve … Continue reading
Posted in Canadian Arctic, Churchill Manitoba News, Churchill Polar Bears, Climate Change and Polar Bears, Polar Bear News, Polar Bears of Churchill
Tagged arctic bear, churchill polar bears, CITES listing, polar bear, polar bear alley, polar bear blog, polar bear habitat, polar bear sport hunt, polar bear tours, russia polar bears, sea ice tour
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Polar Bear Blog – Fred Bruemmer’s The Arctic
Fairly often, I find myself picking up one of Fred Bruemmer’s books and scanning through them again, even though I have read all of them over and over and over. Bruemmer was one of the first modern arctic explorers, environmentalists and writers, travelling the arctic in the 1960s and 1970s as well as one of the first polar bear photographers at Cape Churchill. An amazing life and an amazing writer. His work also puts some … Continue reading
Posted in Bear Season, Canadian Arctic, Cape Churchill, Churchill Manitoba News, Climate Change and Polar Bears, Polar Bear News, Polar Bears of Churchill
Tagged arctic, churchill manitoba, polar bear alley, polar bear blog, polar bear habitat, polar bears churchill, polar bears' habitat, sea ice, sea ice arctic, seal
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Polar Bear Blog – Spring Seals, Wolves and Rangers
Its hunting time in the arctic. Leads, temporary cracks in the ice, have opened up and there are some nice floe edges around – where the ice meets the open ocean. Bears, seals and everything gather around these areas, its a ‘busy’ place. And, of course, out here you find seals giving birth in snow dens and polar bears looking for seals giving birth in snow dens. It is a bit of a mixed bag … Continue reading
Posted in Canadian Arctic, Churchill Manitoba News, Climate Change and Polar Bears, Polar Bear News, Polar Bears of Churchill
Tagged arctic, canadian rangers, churchill manitoba, churchill manitoba news, floe edge, military exercise, move churchill, polar bear alley, polar bear blog, polar bear news, polar bears, polar bears churchill, sea ice
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Polar Bear Blog – Dempster Highway
We are at Eagle Plains, halfway between Inuvik and Dawson City and a staple of any Dempster Highway trip. Its a seventies-holdover motel, probably with a few ATCO trailers converted into ‘more motel’, you can feel the squeak and breezes of a good piece-meal northern hotel. Its a strangely friendly place, as in no one really smiles that much but everyone is pretty friendly – happens a lot in the north for some reason. Pictures … Continue reading
Polar Bear Blog – Muskrats, Reindeer and Polar Bears
Up in the West Arctic for a bit… its the Muskrat Jamboree weekend in Inuvik, Northwest Territories. It doesn’t have a whole lot to do with polar bears but its a fun community event – there’s snowmobile races, arctic games, dogsledding, drum dancing and a whole bunch of Bingos. Inuvik is a bit too much ‘oil and gas’ for me but its a great visit, lots of nice people in the MacKenzie Delta… especially in … Continue reading
