Sun., 10/10 and Tues., 10/12 - Viewing Polar Bears in Churchill, MB
At 8 AM our school bus took us out to board our Tundra Buggy. This is what we came all this way for and we weren’t disappointed! For 8 hours we were on this specialized vehicle that is sort of like an expanded (twice as long and twice the space between the seats with a wide aisle in the middle) school bus with a 12 x 12 open viewing platform at the rear. We rode about 12 feet above the ground. The buggy has huge tires to be able to maneuver over the tundra and through the “puddles” and over the rocks. The rocks are thrust up by the permafrost and the puddles exist because of how high the water table is right now.
Our Buggy #13 |
These are "home-made" vehicles with simple controls
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Buggy comes complete with its own heater (and pottie)
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Interior is quite spacious |
This road is deceptive!
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Our buggy BOUNCED along at under one MPH. This was necessitated by the trail conditions as you can see from the pictures below.
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Yes, we drove through this!
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And this |
Other buggies trekking along
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Other buggies trekking along |
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The two companies licensed to conduct polar bear tours each have one of these mobile "hotels" which are used to house people who come out and spend a night or so on the tundra next to Hudson Bay.
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We took this trip to see polar bears so there are lots of polar bear pictures below.
At least two factors cause the polar bears to congregate at Churchill. Notice on the map above that Churchill is located on a sort of "shelf" of land projecting into Hudson Bay. This and the prevailing currents in the Bay cause the ice pack to pile up in this region, making it easy for the bears to get from land out onto the ice. Secondly, many fresh water rivers (not shown on the map) empty into the Bay in this region. Fresh water freezes more easily and sooner than salt water, so ice forms around Churchill sooner than at other places in the Bay.
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The first bear we saw was about 300 yards away and looked mostly like a rock, but the texture was different so you knew it was a bear. Since we were really not sure we were going to see bears because it is a little early in the season, we all squinted through our binoculars and said we for sure could see him.
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Then a second bear was spotted, also at about 300 yards. He got up and pooped and then flopped back down and looked like a white rock.
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Second bear |
Second bear
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The third bear was less than 100 yards away and after a long time of sitting, reclining, sniffing, etc. finally decided to get up, walk around, eat some plants and finally walked over to our Tundra Buggy. We watched him for so long we nicknamed him Friendly Fred. He sat next to the Buggy and looked at us and rose up on his haunches and put his paws on the Buggy – everyone quickly brought their arms well inside the windows! He stayed with us all through lunch, probably smelling the soup and hot chocolate. Our lunch was catered by the Gypsy Café - vegetable soup, sandwiches, donuts, coffee/tea/hot chocolate.
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Who's there?
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I'm still sleepy |
Big yawn! |
OK Here I come, ready or not
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The buggy doesn't taste as good as a nice arm would
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What big feet you have! |
There's an arm!
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It went away! |
Aren't I cute? |
Still checking for arms
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I'm off to another buggy |
Keeping my paws dry
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Keeping my paws dry
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After about 1.5 hours Fred walked over to another of the three buggies out watching him. He very carefully stepped from rock to rock to try to keep his paws dry. It was a great treat seeing him active. At this time of the year, the pregnant females are in dens with their cubs until December when she takes them out on the ice. The males and other females are lethargic and resting along the coast of the Bay, conserving energy and waiting for the ice to form so they can go out and hunt seals and seal pups. Polar bears do not hibernate. We spotted about five more polar bears but some were rather far away.
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Out for a stroll |
Is someone over there?
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On alert
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We stopped to watch a female walking along the shore (the tide was out) eating kelp. At this time of year, bears will eat what opportunity provides them, but won’t expend energy to hunt. |
Tuesday morning we shuttled back out to the Tundra Buggies for another bouncy tundra ride. The first bear we saw was asleep and didn’t bother to move for us.
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Sleeping bear |
Don't bother me
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This guy was sleeping but lifted his head occasionally.
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I know you are there |
Checking the breeze
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Guess it is safe to snooze some more
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Big yawn, and off I go |
Finally, he got up and started moving - slowly
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The bear below (#1) was skittish and moved along the shore away from us so our driver moved out into Hudson Bay (which meant we actually entered Nunavut Territory) to catch up with him.
Then we had our bear drama for the day. Number 1 was wandering along the shore. Bear #2 started approaching the tundra buggies from the other direction - we were parked along the shore watching #1. Number 2 saw #1 and left our buggies to walk over to the shoreline. He wasn't about to let another bear settle in "his" territory. This caused #1 (the smaller of the two) to wander out onto the spit of land which was handy. #2 settled in to stare at #1 which made #1 uncomfortable enough to take to the water and circle around so he could get away and go somewhere else. This all happened right around our buggy while we ate lunch. No fighting, no approaching each other, they just knew who was in charge of the territory.
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Bear #1
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Bear #1 |
Bear #2 approaching the neighboring buggy
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Bear #2 leaving to claim his territory |
Bear #2 |
Bear #2 in foreground, Bear #1 retreating
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Momentary stalemate
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Bear #2 watching, Bear #1 departing |
I'll swim, if I have to
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The bears are so interesting to watch. They look docile, but are really among the most dangerous species in the world. Those who live in polar bear habitat are very serious about not being out without carrying a high powered rifle. We saw this in Spitzbergen, Norway last summer as well.
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We saw several ptarmigan. They are already more than half white and ready for snow. We love their feathery legs and feet.
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Ptarmigan
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Two ptarmigan in different stages of getting ready for winter |
Snow bunting
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The tundra and other land was beautiful. Lots of rocks and plants. On the way back we spotted two caribou. They were hard to see because they blended in so well and were quite far away. Probably can't really count them as a sighting.
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Tundra and rocks
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Tundra |
Tues., 10/12/10 - The Train Ride South
Our train arrived in Churchill six hours late so we were late boarding and leaving. We ate a leisurely dinner at the Tundra Inn Restaurant and boarded at 8:30 PM instead of 6:30. Marge and I again had elevated single compartments across from each other. We are up high and have to climb into the beds but it makes looking out the window very convenient.
The train pulled out at 9 PM. It was a fast turn around and as soon as we left Churchill we pulled down our beds to go to sleep. But…Marge called me over to look at the sky at 9:45. The sky was clear and the aurora borealis was out in grand style! It went across the sky from east to west and lasted well into the morning. I watched it from my bed until 11 PM and saw it was still glowing at 2 AM. What a treat! In Churchill we had overcast sky every night and there were too many streetlights to see it anyway. Out here on the train it was pitch dark with lots of stars and the bright, shimmering aurora.