This is a collection of northern stories - polar bear, arctic and otherwise from Churchill, Manitoba, Canada - the polar
bear capital of the world.

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Polar Bear Alley

This is a collection of northern stories - polar bear, arctic and otherwise from Churchill, Manitoba, Canada - the polar
bear capital of the world.

EMAIL POLAR BEAR ALLEY

Churchill Travel Guide
Hotels in Churchill, Manitoba
Travel to Churchill, Manitoba
Churchill, Manitoba Links

Polar Bear Alley Expeditions
Polar Bears of Churchill Book
Polar Bears of Churchill Facts
Polar Bear Photo Gallery
Beluga Whale Photo Gallery
Polar Bear News 
Polar Bear Attack Page

Weather in Churchill, Manitoba
Tide Table for Churchill 
Churchill Aurora Forecast 


Polar Bear Alley

Polar Bear Blog - Mom and a Single - Later November 6, 2007

The part I miss most about buggy driving is anticipating bear behaviour. It gives me such a charge to think like a bear and try to position my crew in the spot that will give us the best viewing and least impact on the bear's life. There's really only one thing in life that really gives me more satisfaction than watching and thinking about bear behaviour and, well, we really don't need to talk about that one thing in this family -oriented blog.

Anyways, today was a good example of that charge, but without the buggy this time. This time, on a suburban looking for bears along the coast. I had heard rumors that a mother and single cub were making their way along the coast, kind of covert-like, sneaking towards town. Working along the coast, we finally found her at 'Dump Beach'. As she passed by the old garbage dump, the south wind caught her fancy and she turned inland.

To make a long story short, it was one of those days where the odds played out in my favour. I only parked in two places, while the other film crew jostled about, not quite patient enough. Both spots we got great stuff, the pair crossing the ice and the second, the mother and cub walking straight for me and the camera man, perched outside the truck filming at eye level.

Once we got the shot and got safely back in the truck, she walked around us then nonchalantly headed to some grain chaff (this is where the port dumping the grain dust) and started munching away. Its was nice to be there and watch here hang out, ignoring us AND the polar bear alert trap (which I feel is too far out of town to even be there). As we lost the light, she was just setting up to nurse, the cub bugging and nuzzling her, hungry for a late day snack. She wandered into the willows and we headed to Gypsy's. A good day.

Polar Bear Blog - The Old Trick Bag - November 6, 2007

Kaz and the last film crew left today so I am now working with Japanese Film Crew Number Two with Martin. This was our first day on the road, this time focused solely on bears and bear behaviour. It is cold today, it must be -25C with the windchill when its -25 your nose gets a special pain that can only mean its truly winter this day. Anyways, its cold and the bears have really started moving.

The day started off pretty good, as we were just driving out of town, a vehicle from the Port of Churchill chased a bear off their property. So we followed and drove to the area where we thought the bear would end up. Along the coast, we found a polar bear in a trap.. perfect - one checkmark on the shotlist already! So, we got out and started filming and by this time a German film crew had caught up with us as well. It was quite a crowd -one film crew good... two film crews ugh...

Then, we heard Conservation firing cracker shells and looked up to see the bear from this morning (which I now realized was a different bear than the one in the trap) running straight towards us. I can tell you that is a better morning kick than coffee... So I yelled at both crews to get behind the truck and luckily my voice scared the bear enough the he stopped and started weaving his way into the rocks, away from us and from Polar Bear Alert officers.

Polar Bear Blog - Global Warming is Killing Me - November 5, 2007

It is official. I am sick of global warming.

Some of you may remember a bit of a gap in the blogs this year, it was due to a few different reasons but one of the main ones was that I was writing a proposal to build a LEED certified ecolodge on the west side of the Churchill River. Within this lodge, there was to be an Aboriginal-themed spa and a non-profit arts centre. The lodge would be used to beluga whale viewing and for polar bear viewing. The building itself would be comprised of recycled building materials and run on solar power, wind power and a bio-diesel back-up generator. It was intended to set an example of how to operate sustainably and coexist with nature.

Of course, I was delusional to think that it would get approved and it hasn't so I am pretty disappointed to say the least. The crazy thing is that they declined my application on the basis of 'global warming'. Basically, they said that global warming was putting more stress on the bears and so a 70'x50' ecolodge on 5 acres of Hudson Bay coastline could not be built for the bears' sake. I guess its just a little hard to take right now, what with the Province giving away thousands of acres of minerals rights in the bears' habitat to a Uranium mining company and the Port of Churchill talking about running icebreakers through the bear's prime habitat, it just doesn't make any sense how low-impact ecolodge became the straw that broke the camel's back and halted all development along Hudson Bay. Sorry, that should read all tourism development along Hudson Bay...

Polar Bear Blog - Bear Lift - November 3, 2007

This morning, Manitoba Conservation airlifted two bears out of the polar bear jail. Its a pretty common occurrence in 'bear season', as more bears come near town, the jail gets a little crowded and bears are moved north of Churchill, about fifty or sixty kilometres. Of course, they are also relocated when VIPs come to town or when film crews pay for the helicopter time. It helps the budget...

So, today, my film crew were the first to arrive, about an hour before the lift. I would love to do a time lapse shot of a helicopter ear lift. It starts as a rickety quonset hut on the tundra (the bear jail) and soon two or three polar bear alert vehicles arrive, followed by one bus, then another. Then after a while, more Polar Bear Alert and RCMP vehicles arrive, followd by more buses and more tourists. Soon, eight or nine buses are lined up along the road watching Manitoba Conservation set up the bear lift.

Officers head into the Polar Bear Jail, load the tranquilized bear onto kind of a reinforced back board which, in turn, it put on a trailer. The overhead door to the jail gradually opens as an ATV towing the bear trailer putters out. Then, five or six guys lift up the 'bear board' and place the bear on top of the net to be used to lift it.

Once the bears are in place, the helicopter is signalled to come in. In a cloud of blowing snow, the helicopter lands and officer run over to hook up the lift cable. As it slowly lifts off, officers make sure that the bear is safe as the net closes over it and it soon we have one airborne bear.

As the helicopter disappears, so does the traffic jam. What, only twenty minutes earlier was a crowd of buses, rental vehicles and parkas, quickly empties, leaving only a couple Polar Bear Alert vehicles to open the roped off gates and drive away.

Polar Bear Blog - One Less Caribou - November 2, 2007

The word out of buggyland is that a caribou was taken down by a polar bear this year. It was out on the tidal flats and I guess got caught amidst the ice or at least slowed down enough for one of our hungry guests to catch up with him. A pretty rare event that's good for our bears, less good for the caribou.

Over the last few years, bears have managed to catch a bit more and varied food than usual. A couple days ago, a mother and cub were seen chowing down on an arctic hare! Plus a few seal kills are witnessed each bear season, both from tundra vehicles and from helicopter, either a sign of increasing desperation in the bears or a good example of their creativity and opportunism, take it as you like.

Another strange thing this year is the distribution of polar bears. Usually the big males ride the ice to the bitter end but this year, several mothers and cubs stayed on for an extra week or two. Again, either good news because they hunted for an extra couple weeks or a sign of a changing climate or maybe both! Whether this means that they will simply travel north, walking up to Churchill to head out on the early season ice, or it means that they will still be south in November and have a late start to the ice season. I'd bet on the long walk, myself - so more goods news for them than bad news.

Also, there have been really no bears at Camp Nanuq (except for my one friend the other day) and four or five seen near Goose Creek - the other cottage subdivision. Goose Creek is in the trees and usually does not see many bears through the season, maybe one, maybe two. Today (and last night), there was a bear right at Wapusk Adventures dog sledding, walking through the dog kennel last night and chewing on a tent today. Again, another rare event in a bit of an unusual bear season.

Polar Bear Blog - I LOVE Polar Bears - November 1, 2007

We were filming around town last night, following kids and partols and stuff like that. It went really good, it was nice to see most of the community out for our Halloween spectacle, lots of decortated houses and dressed up kids.

Anyway, we found one little group of trick or treaters to interview - ask about halloween and if they were scared of bears and such. One little girl, about five, was shy and wouldn't answer, she just batted her eyes and hid her head. Finally, her dad asked her, 'You like polar bears don't you?' and then she piped up, 'I LOVE polar bears!' so we continued 'What is it that you like best about polar bears?' and sweetly she looked up and said 'They're really cool when you take their skin off and you can use it for stuff or hang it on the wall.' Now, that's a Churchill moment.

Today, we got up early and went bear hunting again. It was a success today, we worked hard and found four bears hiding out near Churchill - numbers are getting bigger in buggyland too, I think there are twenty or so out there now, a few sets of moms and cubs too. Anyway, we tracked Polar Bear Alert to the garbage dump. Yes, we tracked them and not polar bears because they kind of like to be left along when they handle bears but its kind of my job to get the film crew footage of Polar Bear Alert handling bears. Today, we watched Conservation Officers dart a bear and relocate it to the polar bear jail. Of course, they did their best to lose us, but I managed to keep on their tail. Its kind of like a Coyote/Sheepdog meets James Bond thing.

Wwe filmed a mother and cub being chased away from the airport and mysteriously disappearing into the willows. Finally, we watched an orphaned cub try to break into the L5 garbage dump and then get crackered away by officers. This project is pretty neat this year because I have spent so many seasons either in buggyland, across river at White Whale Lodge or at the Churchill Northern Studies Centre that I have never really been totally immersed in all the different aspects of 'bear season' at once. Its cool, there's a lot more going on beyond the buggies...

Polar Bear Blog - Halloween in Churchill - Late October 31, 2007

Ten minute break before we head out to film Halloween in Churchill. Right now, Polar Bear Alert officers, Parks Canada employees, EMT responders, RCMP officers and Canadian Rangers are all getting ready to patrol the town from 5pm to 9 tonite. Basically, volunteers and Manitoba Conservation staff drive around the town and stand ready to scare polar bears out of town so that kids can run around and trick or treat in peak-bear season! Pretty neat...

And speaking of peak bear season, I got an email a couple of days ago asking about the best time to book and I naturally responded 'end of October and first week of November' but now that I think about it, its really the first half of November that is peak season now, with the real main wave of bears coming about a week later than they used to ten years ago.

Polar Bear Blog - Northern Lights Tonight - Late October 29, 2007

Another good day in Churchill, especially the night! We had a pretty full day, this morning we worked on a bear at Camp Nanuq, it strolled along the lake coming to check out some cabins until Milo and MoonUnit caught wind of it and chased it across the tundra - good footage! Finally, they cornered him by a creek and were still barking and circling him. With no where left to run, he turned and hissed and bluffed charged. It was pretty wild and nerve-wracking for me. Luckily, I managed to call them off (the third time) and everyone headed home safe and sound. The bear, for his part, took a much needed 'time out' in the willows, hopefully he won't be back.

Then it was off to follow Polar Bear Alert officers around and finally park at L5 and wait for a bear to show up at a culvert trap. It never did but we made it look very intense and scary, so scary that we were eventually forced to return to town for a steak dinner.

Of course, nature has her way of throwing a wrench into things and just as we were about to head inside, a brilliant display of aurora borealis started up. The cameraman jumped in the van with me and we headed down to the coast. I have to give Edgar, our local troublemaker and temperamental town employee, credit. He had a vision to move an old boat down to the coast to be a safe place for tourists to enjoy the view of Hudson Bay and he made it happen and, man, did it come in handy tonite.

Usually, when people are photographing or filming aurora, it is incredibly stressful for their guide/security guard. I mean bears are hard to see at night - its true. So instead of me pacing around searching for a bear that I probably would only see a second or two before it was too late, I got to stand on the viewing deck with the crew and enjoy the northern lights.

They swirled and throbbed throught the sky for a long time tonight, hanging over the port of churchill, arcing over the orange moon and finally dipping down into Manitoba Housing units. With waves crashing the first bay ice onto the rocks, you couldn't ask for a better finish to the day.

What else? Oh yeah, I promised Kaz, the film crew coordiator, that I wouldn't mention that I started the day dragging the film crew over to see a bear that turned out to be a big white dog. And then one of them asked if this wasn't some kind of Canadian joke that they didn't really understand. Sadly, it wasn't. Just a big, deaf, white dog.

Polar Bear Blog - Down of the Dead - Late October 28, 2007

Its windy and snowy tonite and the windshield was a little fogged up in the van. The back windows are dusted over and its hard to see out the side mirrors, what with ice and dew together. So, I backed out of a parking lot onto the street - its what we do in Churchill, I would not say there are so much traffic laws as traffic suggestions up here - anyways, I backed onto the street and as I was doing it, I realized that I was backing through a herd of 'bear season' tourists. I really could have driven over one of them and not even noticed, dark blue or green parkas - not such a good idea for trick or treating...

Anyways, speaking of trick or treat, it felt eerily George Romero-ish, with tourists, laden down in down parkas, stuffed in puffy skipants, simply continuing to wander zombie-like, herky-jerky, towards their hotel. Hand in hand, they passed by the van, disoriented yet focused, barely moving lips murmuring 'Bed! Bed!' instead of 'Brains! Brains!'. I tell you, it was frightening. And to think, Halloween is still a couple of days away!

Polar Bear Blog - Skinny Ol' Bear - October 28, 2007

Every day is a good day in buggyland. This was the film crew's day out with the Tundra Buggy Registered Trademark Adventure. As most film crews do (much to the chagrin of buggy drivers), we set out about an hour before everyone else. Of course, after filming our departure and then re-embarking and such, that was about twenty minutes before everyone else.

Its been fun so far. The host, Shoei, is only in town for a few days so we are trying to get as much footage with him as possible. Of course, I get a bit of 'face time' too as his 'northern-type Canadian guide' so hopefully some day when I say I am big in Japan, I can actually mean it. Its a bit strange because I don't really understand what he is saying - wait a minute, I don't don't really understand, I don't understand any iota of it, not one part - except when it is good, he raises his eyebrows and says 'Ahhh' and then I should smile, and when he looks down with furrowed brow and says 'Mmmm...', I should nod empathetically. Why can't the United Nations just be like this? Think of all the resolutions!

It was a long and good day. We started with a little female on Gordon Point, about three years old, sticking to her own, mostly for self-preservation purposes but also because females are a bit more motivated and a bit better hunters than males. Its true, they are just like humans, females mature much faster and are more responsible and together. And then they go crazy, but hey...

She woke up, rolled around, scratched in the willows and peed in the snow. She walked across the road, ate some seaweed, a ringed seal popped its head out of the water, she rolled in the snow and walked back. Plus, she happened to be in the only spot where it looked like the bay was already freezing. I mean its not Discovery Channel polar bear fighting walrus cgi graphics but I thought it was great footage. And by the way, '300' is possibly the worst movie ever made in the history of movies ever. Not that that has anything to do with bears or the Discovery Channel also a registered trademark.

After that, we watched a big ol' male bear lay around in the snow and eat seaweed (it was a big seaweed eating day, what can I say...). Its always neat to see the big bruisers, the defensive line of western Hudson Bay, necks thicker than their heads and 'oh its another buggy. big deal' attitudes.

Finally, we ended the day with a mother and cub sleeping, rolling around and nursing by the edge of a tundra pond. She's pretty skinny, a bit of a sign of climate change, but more of a sign of a successful and strong life. From what I can see, she's probably 27-28 years old (or that kind of range), really old for a polar bears and especially for one that is raising a cub. Trouble is, all anyone will see this year is a skinny bear struggling to survive and probably losing the battle this winter, another victim of climate change. It would be neat to find out her history - litters, captures, stuff like that - and see how her life was really played out and maybe give her some of the credit she deserves.

Polar Bear Blog - Japanese Film Crew Day One - October 27, 2007

My partners in crime for the next two weeks came in today. After a quick stop for lunch at Gypsy Bakery, we headed straight for Camp Nanuq and a few interviews with 'Zone Two Cabin Owners', in others words people who have to build their own polar bear defences and who have had bears in their cabin at some point or another.

The first was my neighbour Gord, who had a great story about a polar bear in his cabin, the same bear that was a compulsive break and enterer three years ago - he hit about 18 cabins over the course of 'bear season'. It seems that the last time this bear broke into Gord's cabin, it accidentally knocked the door closed behind it, tried to open it (you can still see the claw marks on the wall) then panicked and jumped our of his living room window instead. If you were wondering, no one was home at the time.

Next, we interviewed Borys, a long-time resident of Churchill and owner of the 'Polar Bear Tundrarosa', as his sign says... He talked about a lot of things in his thick Polish accent and it was pretty fun but the best part was his nail board door, a thick, creaky wooden front door with giant spikes sticking out of it, very medieval and the best bear door in Churchill for sure. Good for travelling salesmen and Jehovah's Witnesses too. When it was all done, Borys jumped in his Mercedes and drove away!

The last interview was Milo, who posed and shed for the camera. We talked about scaring bears and shooting shotguns and all that fun stuff and kind of made me sentimental for a late night bear chase. Its been a quiet year in Churchill so far, still a little too warm for the bears liking but getting better. There are now three or four bears between buggyland and town, so that's okay.

Polar Bear Blog - Poetry Corner - October 26, 2007

The usual litany of reasons had me feeling a little down on this cold and windy and foggy and gloomy day in Churchil, until a certain Augustine Leary sent me this wonderful poem by email. The title is a little clunky but I think it works towards his artistic vision and speaks of the urgency of climate change's threat to the arctic. Enjoy!

10 PILLS $69.95 BUY NOW

Toward the still dab of white that oscillates
What? What can you do?
So, startled, quivering,
VII. Hudson and His Strait; Baffin and His Bay
Where lamps are lit: these, too,
Or by the loud hand of painting, always puts.
More beautiful than anything in this world.
And half-starved foxes shake and paw
Appear to lift up from the lake;
Cascading snowflakes settle in the trees,
That images of roads, whether composed
with visors. Their brave recreational vehicles
grow hot in the parking lot, though they're
IX. After the Great Northern Expedition
Sought to contrive, intending to express
Where, as I discover as I go through
And then I go on until I am beneath an archway,
shortcake, waffles, berries and cream
Wheel tracks entrench themselves in snow, yet painted.

Thank you, Augustine, wherever you are.

Polar Bear Blog - Quiet on the Homefront - October 25, 2007

Snow finally arrived last night and its been snowing off and on for the best part of eighteen hours now. Its still warm, so Churchill is turning into a bit of a slushy mess, but more snow keeps coming. The real test will come this weekend, if temperatures dip down around -5 to -10C, maybe we can finally say that winter is on its way.

Of course, the moderate temperatures have meant that the biggest bears are not moving yet. These 'bad boys of the arctic' ride the ice to the bitter end, this year coming off well south. When it gets cold enough for them to start lumbering northward, then Churchill starts getting into real double digit bears. Trickle down economics...

So far, its been quiet in town. There was a bear just off Kelsey Boulevard (Churchill's main street - not named after me...) last night, near the train station. He weaved and darted his way through town before being escorted into the bay behind the Town Centre Complex by RCMP and Polar Bear Alert officers.

However, he is a rarity this year. Last week, Oct15-21, Manitoba Conservation only handled five bear occurrences bringing the total number for the season (since July) up to 125. A bear occurrence is recorded any time Polar Bear Alert officers are called out to chase or tranquilize a bear. So, this means that one bear might cause multiple occurrences. For instance, while there have been 125 occurrences, only 17 polar bears have actually been handled by conservation officers to date.

Right now, there are ten polar bears in D-20, the polar bear jail, with only one new 'inmate' added in the last ten days. Another sign that we are about a week or two 'behind schedule' this year and maybe a bit of a sign that freezeup could occur just a bit later than usual... (of course, by saying that, I hav just cursed it and -30C should hit in about five days...)

Polar Bear Blog - Bear Season Business as Usual - October 24, 2007

Things are chugging along up here, guides, drivers, managers, cleaners, waiters and waitresses are running around working long days everyday, lots of old friends and a few new faces, mostly still in a good mood but you can see the first bits of the old wear and tear starting to shine through. Classic bear season...

Another bear season classis is the annual bus breakdown - although you never now whose bus it will be each year. This year it was the 'Barney Bus', a giant pink motorcoach, whose drive shaft drove right through its transmission. BANG! Right in the middle of town in the middle of the day in the middle of bear season. Hmm, down one bus, someone is scrambling tonite.

Bears are still trickling in, there are about nine or ten bears out in buggyland, inlcuding one mother and single cub. That's a decent number, about my favourite amount when I used to drive. When you have a few bears, you get to see more activity, more natural behaviour. Once you hit 30-40, you see a lot of bears but there are that many more bears to interrupt other bears when they are doing bear things. There's always a trade off.

Ptarmigan and arctic hare have already changed to their winter whites and stick out like sore thumbs on the tundra, not the best plan if you fall under the category 'prey'.

Besides the snow (which looking at the clouds today, should be arriving soon - although with sun and a high of 4c tomorrow...), the trains are still running late - this is the first year ever, that grain cars have been given priority over passenger trains in 'bear season'. Don't expect to get in on time, noon is a safe bet - bring a book, poker chips or pick up a copy of the Hudson Bay Post at the VIA rail station in Winnipeg! This is not such a huge deal for tour groups but anyone considering riding the train to Churchill just for the day - please reconsider...

Polar Bear Blog - North Wind Good - October 23, 2007

On paper its +2C today but the north winds have had something to say about that. There's a strong gust coming off the bay, cooling us right down. In fact, today marks the first day that I have dusted off the old military parka... a good sign for bear watchers!

It also means that my internet satellite dish is a bit shaky and so is my internet access! So I'll have to keep this entry short for now...

Looks like they have revised the forecast for a high of only -7C on Saturday - which is good news for bears and my film crew! - and south wind on Wednesday. Its a pretty safe bet this time of year that south wind brings snow in a couple days so hopefully there is nice layer of snow on the ground by the weekend to clean things up a bit and smooth out some of our potholes!

Polar Bear Blog - Bears on Northern Time - October 21, 2007

To me, it looks like Churchill's polar bear season is kind of on 'northern time' this year - I would say about a week or so behind schedule. We had our first bits of snow today but mixed with rain, it was not enough to even dust the ground... and judging by the weather forecast for Churchill, things don't look like they're going to change too much in the near future.

This is good for those of us who are winterizing cabins and building sheds (I finally got my shed back to the point where it was when our early bear season blizzard hit last year and ripped all the tar paper off it...). Less so, for bears waiting for freezeup and tourists waiting for bears. Then again, this is good news for late season polar bear tourists...

Anyways, this is how it works... A couple blogs ago, I told you about how the ice freezes, now we will talk about how the bears trickle into buggyland and then to Churchill proper.

Polar bears watch the seasons. I mean, its their job to know weather patterns and such. Right now, with shorter days and cooler temperatures, they are getting pretty excited about the coming ice season. Other than the occasional sparring contest, this excitement does not readily translate to activity. These are patient animals.

So, what we (and the bears) need for increasing numbers to gather near Churchill are daily highs below freezing, even -2 or -3C is fine. This allows our shallow little tundra ponds, mostonly 2-3' deep, to start freezing. Once these lakes have a couple inches of ice on them, more polar bears will start coming in and that's then Churchill visitors see 30 or 40 polar bears in one day!

The reason for this is pretty simple. Bears are smart, they are opportunists in every way. So, they are not going to slog through 400 tundra ponds to get to the shore. While their latin name translates to 'sea bear' and they are technically a marine mammal, they really don't like getting wet when the weather is cool and damp and dismal - save that for the unbearable heat of summer or for spring when the sun is out and seals are plentiful.

On the bright side, a shift of one or two degrees in this forecast will change all the rain to snow, not to mention the lakes to skating rinks. Add to that the fact that bears can walk over ice that otherwise would not support one of us and one or two degrees translates to five or ten more bears almost overnight!

That one was for Sylvia from Germany, thanks for the plug on National Geographic! By the way, it looks like the polar bear cam is on northern time too and will not be up until October 25th.

Highest temperature for this date: 10.8C (1998) and the lowest temperature was -18.3C in 1961 - there's a bit of argument for climate change right there, I guess! In 2000, we got 10cm (3") of snow (I remember that - it was crazy, kind of ground everyone to a temporary halt) but then again that was nothing, in 1959, they already had 23cm, almost 1', of snow!

Polar Bear Blog - Pair of Peregrines - October 20, 2007

Churchill is a haven for raptors - eagles, hawks, falcons, that type of thing and Churchill's Polar Bear Season is a good time to catch them doing what they do best: hunting.

Right now, there are two peregrine falcons working the flocks of snow buntings living behind the old Churchill garbage dump. While the dump has been decommissioned, grain tailings from the Port of Churchill are still dumped there and that quickly attracts little birds frantically fattening up for their long journey south. (In September, there were also quite a few polar bears fattening themselves up on this grain, much to the enjoyment of locals and tourists alike, however Manitoba Conservation in explicably - in my eyes... - rounded them up and carted them off to jail just before 'bear season' started!)

Of course, little birds attract bigger birds that eat little birds. Most commonly, I have seen gyrfalcons cooperatively hunting snow bunting flocks, one chasing them while the other swoops around and cuts through them from a 90 degree angle. This continues in kind of a figure eight fashion over the tundra, a pretty neat thing to watch especially when your bus or tundra buggy is parked in the middle of it. Gyrfalcons also used to use my buggy as a kind of a shield. They fly low and come in hard, using willows, hummocks or anything including a buggy to assist in the element of surprise. Once the bird or in this case the flock notices their approach, its often too late. Bam!

Peregrines on the other hand are high fliers. These are the dynamic and neck-breaking stoops, in which they have reached speeds upwards of 200km per hour. They pitch from the sky, hurtling down on their prey, veering away from the ground at the last second on the strength of stiff and sharp feathers. These two birds, probably mates, are working quite similarly to the gyrfalcons just a bit more acrobatically, relying on speed instead of subterfuge! Pretty cool.