Tag Archives: polar bear alley

Polar Bear Blog – Open Water in Churchill

break-up-ice

Well, I am back from a quick trip to Churchill and the cabin and non-blogging – for some reason, I stopped blogging while I was actually IN Churchill… oh well. Either way, spring has arrived along Hudson Bay with swans and geese swarming Churchill last week. Pacific Loons have settled back into the lake at Camp Nanuq and even White-crowned Sparrows, Bonapartes Gulls and Long-tailed Ducks are picking their spots. Male Ptarmigan were in pitched … Continue reading

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Polar Bear Blog – Polar Bears and Ice Scars

polar-bears-mouthing

The ice looks to be fairly good this year across much of the arctic and most reports are of a late spring (there was just a blizzard in Churchill yesterday…) so that’s more good news for the bears. There is a nice ‘floe edge’ near Churchill right now, some pictures of seals basking in the sun are floating around. At this time for year, seals both will haul out on the ice to warm up … Continue reading

Posted in Churchill Manitoba News, Churchill Polar Bears, Climate Change and Polar Bears, Polar Bear News, Polar Bears of Churchill | Tagged , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Polar Bear Blog – Seal Dens and Sea Ice

Well, we ended up back in town a bit inadvertantly today. Camped about 60 miles out at Ivitallik on Prince Albert Sound, we woke up to blue skies and no wind. The no wind part being especially exciting. So, we went hunting for polar bear tracks. My guide, Roland Notaina, is really good – we must have navigated over 100 miles of sea ice today – the latter half in whiteout conditions. There is a … Continue reading

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Polar Bear Blog – Fluffy Snow and Off We Go

polar-bears-mom-cub-ice

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

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Polar Bear Blog – Heading Out Maybe

Polar Bear on Sea Ice

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

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Polar Bear Blog – Onward to Ulukhaktok

Komatiks in 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

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Polar Bear Blog – Blame Canada

Polar Bear Nail Board

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 , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Polar Bear Blog – Fred Bruemmer’s The Arctic

bear-on-ice

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 , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment