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.

It follows the polar bears of western Hudson Bay during their season on land from mid-July to November.

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

Munck's Cafe Publishing

Weather in Churchill, Manitoba

Hudson Bay Sea Ice Update

Tide Table for Churchill

Churchill Aurora Forecast

Polar Bear Blog

Today's Blog 
October 1-October 9, 2006
Sept 24-October 1, 2006
Sept 15-23, 2006
Sept 1-8, 2006
August 20-31, 2006
August 8-17, 2006
August 1-8, 2006  
July 25-31, 2006  
July 18-24, 2006   
July 12-17, 2006   
July 2006   
June 2006  
May 2006 
Archived articles

Polar Bear Blog - That's My Boy - October 18th, 2006

I think its the 18th anyway. I am pretty tired, we had a visitor late last night. Mmm, actually we almost had a visitor last night.

Seems with reasonably cool weather and clear skies, my favourite bear decided last night time was the right time for makin' trouble. Milo (my dog) started barking around 2am and that's kind of like a five-alarm fire for me (I desperately want to build a second story addition so that I can have a firepole in the house with my rubber boots sitting at the bottom)

Anyway, I grabbed the gun and headed outside to look for the bear. First Milo (and MoonUnit) led me to one end of Camp Nanuq and then to the other, both times stopping at the edge of the lake, barking and looking back at me like 'C'mon what are you waiting for'. Of course, my truck doesn't float and i wasn't about to swim towards the bear so we just drove and barked (them not me) for a while until my dogs settled down and our neighbour's dogs started up.

Today, there are signs of my friend's late night adventure. There is a log cabin owned by the local scout troop across the lake and the door was pushed in. I wouldn't say that the cabin is wrecked, actually, it is not that bad. All he did was grab some of those foam floatation noodles (not sure how else to explain these things), took them out to the porch and had a midnight snack. What can I say, better foam noodles than my snowmobile seat.

Lazy snowflakes are falling off and on and mist is slowly reclaiming the land. New York Linda is back up here with the Polar Bear DNA project and came over to visit today. We set up a barbwire hair trap this afternoon and looked for bear poop. It was fun.

Helping a friend out with his sled dogs tomorrow so it will be another late posting.

I'm done - Lola's on and its a good song even if it is about cross-dressing heroin addicts.

Polar Bear Blog - The Good News - October 17th, 2006

Polar bears are starting to show up. The same four bears are out there but a mother and two ten month old 'coys' (cubs of the year) strolled in today. Good news for bear watchers.

There is a nice briskness in the air, a light breeze and almost clear skies. The aurora forecast still looks a little too calm but you never know, I'll be on my rocking chair, watching for the lights.

Polar Bear Blog - What Does It All Mean - October 17th, 2006

Cold, crisp and clearing today. I feel good. Still a bit of snow sprinkled on the landscape, highlighting the old military tire tracks and gravel pits but somehow I have grown to like that side of Churchill.

I wrote an article for Natural Habitat Adventures last night, they are one of the larger companies operating in Churchill and they asked me to provide a local view for their newsletter. Cool!

The topic was 'What polar bears mean to Churchill' which is kind of like asking someone who has been married for 30+ years what their spouse means to them. Sometimes you love them and sometimes you hate them but it is hard to imagine life without them. Or so I hear... I have not been married for thirty years. Actually, I can hardly keep my relationship together for thirty days. But whatever, apparently you do not have to be know anything about stuff to be an expert on it.

This, of course, brings me to my next topic. The polar bear cam is going to be on National Geographic this year and, I must admit, when I first heard about these plans, it sounded pretty impressive. At one point, it even looked like there would be two webcams featuring our bears and, hey, competition is great, why not!?! Polar bears are cool.

I went to the site today to sign up and support it or whatever you do but somehow, amidst all the glitz and glam, something is missing. There are wildlife profiles that are just not quite right, I mean, the information is close to being right but it isn't. How does that happen?

Not to mention, this is supposed to be a promotion of Churchill but there is no Churchill information on there, even the polar bear information is not really about this population. But, we cannot let local issues interfere with progress, I suppose. And, I suppose, that I am just disappointed that progress has found my hideout. Not a big deal, its a global village, right? Its just too bad it sometimes feels like a global stripmall.

Anyway, I finished off my article last night saying that it doesn't really matter what polar bears mean to people up here, it just matters that they mean something. That is getting hard to find these days and I really have to thank Natural Habitat for giving me the chance to think and write about it.

Polar Bear Blog - Spring has Re-Sprung - October 16th, 2006

We seem to have jumped through winter in one week and back to spring. Today, was misty and damp, feeling distinctly like late April or even May, not so much like October.

There are not a lot of polar bears around, four out in buggyland and one at Ladoon's so far, seems even they are still recovering from the storm. In the first week of October, there were quite a few passing by and Polar Bear Alert was probably getting one or two calls a day. With those strong winds, everyone hunkered down, including the bears, a nice and unexpected break for our local conservation officers.

There were still some decent winds this weekend and my internet is still down at Camp Nanuq (I am at the 'just let me lie here and bleed for a while, then I'll stand up and fight...' point) My brain is still breaking up a bit but the signal is returning. Newspaper is out and about and nobody has stopped to yell at me so that is a good thing. Polar Bear Alley Expeditions site should be up tomorrow, unless I am struck by lightning tonite...

My mergansers were back again today, as I fought with my satellite dish, they were gathering and splashing in the lake. This time the family was joined by a couple other birds, a lot like the loon gathering, so its probably time for them to head south.

Ptarmigan and arctic hare dot the landscape, their winter plumage announcing their nervous presence. Arctic fox and cross fox (a phase of red fox) sneak along the coast, looking for ptarmigan and young arctic hare (the old ones are a bit too big to handle easily). And that's about it.

Polar Bear Blog - Power Play - October 12th, 2006

Still at Mike's (my buddy's place) updating the site. There are power 'challenges' out at Camp Nanuq. Our local Hydro (power) guys are pretty awesome and work in some of the nastiest conditions out there but consistent strong north winds (still gusting up to 90km/hr - 45mph) are hard to compete with no matter what you are up to.

And bears are hard to compete with too. Our power first went out on Tuesday and stayed out for about a day or so. Manitoba Hydro would have had it reconnected sooner but there was a polar bear sleeping at the bottom of the pole where the problem was!

There are a few bears around right now but as soon as the daily highs stay below zero, they should be here in pretty good numbers (I think). You can see a lot of slush forming on the tundra ponds. It will not take much for those ponds to freeze - maybe one or two nights of -10C. As soon as there is even a minimal layer of ice on those ponds, bears will start moving.

Basically, polar bears do not like to get themselves or their feet wet at this time of year. Water compromises the insulative qualities of their fur and lessens its protection against the north wind. True, polar bears are considered 'Lords of the Arctic' they are supremely adapted to the north but, I mean, hey we all like to be comfortable. I am sure if we bombed the coast with couches the bears would curl up and wait for the ice. Not sure about remote controls though, they would probably have to be titanium remotes and reinforced TVs because their claws are pretty sharp.

Polar Bear Blog - Well, that was definitely a winter storm - October 11th, 2006

Holy! That was a crazy day! Blowing snow, rain, sleet, ice, gusts, squalls, swirls, you name it. Worse than any storm we had last winter that is for sure. The wind started sometimes Monday night and peaked yesterday at 90km/hr (55mph), gusting to 115km/hr (70mph or so). There were shingles and siding and tree branches rolling down the streets. Not to mention, half my yard ended up in my lake AND my wooden tower blew over.

The best thing about yesterday was the bay. Just past a full moon, we have pretty extreme tides right now, peaking at 5metres (15' or so). Combine that with a strong north wind (maybe strong is an understatement, insane might be better) and the bay turns vicious and spectacular. The strangest thing was watching a bear jog along the coast, seemingly excited about the first storm of the year or maybe thinking it was a good time to sneak into town.

I am in town right now because I am not sure whether we have power restored out at Camp Nanuq or not. I am also praying that my satellite dish is still in tact and attached to the house. Newspaper is finally done and at the printers - although the storm obviously delayed it a bit more. Its a good one though! A little bit of gossip, bit of wildlife, bit of controversy...

All the snow we got yesterday is quickly being burnt off today and it has actually turned into a beautiful day, a beautiful day to clean up your yard and regroup for the next storm.

WHOA! Hold that! I am at my buddy's house right now using his internet connection and he is quite a media buff with a crazy collection of movies... and I just spotted the Steve McQueen collection. I suppose I could clean up the yard tomorrow. But I mean Bullitt has one of the greatest car chases of all time, second only to The Blues Brothers.