by Steve Selden | Oct 26, 2009 | Churchill News, Tour News
A daily field report on polar bears from our guide Steve Selden in our Churchill, Manitoba office! Check out our polar bear tours here.
Talk about camouflage! An Arctic fox roams the tundra undetected. NHA photo.
A brilliant red sun hung over the horizon this morning as temps hovered around the freezing mark at 31°F. Scattered flurries wet windshields, though no accumulation on the land. The Hudson Bay remains calm and ice-free. Out in the CWMA on the tundra, Guide Sandra and her group followed a Gyrfalcon out to Gordon point as it searched the land for a meal. Guide Elise and Guide Brad and their travelers meanwhile roamed around Halfway Point area and found 11 bears. One big male they dubbed “Snaggletooth,” stemming from a disjointed tooth protruding from his lip. Sparring with another male may have accounted for this. A Ringed Seal reclining on a rock out off the coast kept a watchful eye on the shore in an effort to not become the lunch special of the day. Any bears venturing out in that direction would be walking on thin ice for sure. Brad’s folks caught up with another two Caribou and a Snowy Owl as well.
Approaching the point, two healthy Caribou were spotted grazing on any remaining greenery rich in protein, stockpiling energy in fat reserves for the approaching winter. Once winter hits, the Caribou will dig through snow to reach grayish or yellow-green, root-free lichen in the Cladonia family aptly named Caribou Lichen. The four species of Cladonia in the Churchill area are rich in sugars, about 90%, providing the animals with necessary energy and sustenance to carry them through the harsh cold winter. After a fulfilling afternoon of eight bear sightings, the group wound back along the trail to launch under unexpected sunny, blue skies. (more…)
by Steve Selden | Oct 25, 2009 | Churchill News, Tour News
A daily field report on polar bears from our guide Steve Selden in our Churchill, Manitoba office! Check out our polar bear tours here.
Stillness and temps around 26°F under overcast skies provided Sunday’s backdrop for our travelers. Churchill proper was quiet on this lazy Sunday though the tundra inside the Churchill Wildlife Management Area (CWMA) once again was flush with action of the polar bear variety.
While our helicopter journeys have been spotting upwards of 20 or so bears roaming Wapusk National Park and the CWMA, our rovers with guides and their travelers averaged around 10 bears on Sunday. Guide Sandra’s group saw 11 polar bears, mostly lounging…of course seven of the eleven were males and it was Sunday (and much to their chagrin, ‘da Bears from Chicago lost…to the Bengals no less. Ouch!). Throughout the afternoon the group also saw a cross fox, arctic fox playing in the willows, gyrfalcon and snowy owl perched on a spruce searching for lemmings.
Guide Brad and his clan observed 10 plus sub-adults, mostly out at Gordon’s Point in and out of the kelp beds. When up and about, the photographs were highlighted by a nice backdrop of shore ice starting to build a little in the rocky shallows. Out past the ice, above the bay, the group viewed common eider ducks flying over open water. Back inland, a gyrfalcon nabbed a bird and had lunch as the camera shutters clicked. Perfect light. (more…)
by Steve Selden | Oct 24, 2009 | Churchill News, Tour News
A daily field report on polar bears from our guide Steve Selden in our Churchill, Manitoba office! Check out our polar bear tours here.
Saturday in Churchill came with warmer temps at just about 31°F with cloudy skies and little air movement. It remains status quo for this time of year weather-wise, though we all know ’tis the calm before the wintery storms of early November. Clouds remain even now in the early evening with dimming chances of seeing any aurora borealis tonight.
Photo: M. Bruscia
The tundra was serene today with nice light for Guide Eric’s photographers. They were able to get images of numerous bears lounging on the tundra as the higher temps tempered their movement. As the temps elevate, the bears relax and conserve their precious energy therefore allowing them to wait out the fall and survive until the ice in the Hudson Bay forms once again. This year’s bears are big and thick from the extended ice season so watch out when the temps start to dive. Every day is different on the tundra in the Churchill area. The thrill of the day for the group was seeing a sleek black mink weaving its way across frozen ponds in the distance. Another first sighting for the season…and a quite rare one at that. (more…)
by Steve Selden | Oct 22, 2009 | Churchill News, Tour News
A daily field report on polar bears from our guide Steve Selden in our Churchill, Manitoba office! Check out our polar bear tours here.
Aurora faded into dawn as guides made their way to breakfast with respective groups of travelers. Then to launch and across the tundra. The sky soon became mostly cloudy all over the Churchill region. Pockets of bright blue sky opened up over Button Bay on the western side of Fort Prince of Wales across the Churchill River. No wind and temps around 24°F allow for prime wildlife viewing conditions.
Photo: Dennis Minty
Meanwhile, our early morning helicopter journeys are already seeing upwards of 15 bears, five or six moose, and scattered caribou en route to Wapusk National Park(WPN) and a landing at Nester One; a bird banding and general research outpost just down east of Cape Churchill. Between there and Broad River, farther southwest, some groups also observed a fresh seal kill being enjoyed by another bear. Most sighted polar bears this season are in good shape due to last spring/summer’s late ice break-up but this animal wasn’t taking any chances, I guess. (more…)
by Steve Selden | Oct 21, 2009 | Churchill News, Tour News
A daily field report on polar bears from our guide Steve Selden in our Churchill, Manitoba office! Check out our polar bear tours here.
Flurries carpeted the tundra this afternoon and I think white will be the color Churchill wears from now until Spring. Temps hung just below the freezing threshold at 25°F with little or no wind. The Hudson Bay remains calm when only two days ago the breakers were rising three to four feet behind the town complex building.
An Arctic Fox! Photo: Steve Morello
On the other hand, wildlife viewing in the Wildlife Management Area (WMA) continues to impress. Guide Brad reports good bear activity down east on the tidal flats where his group also witnessed an Arctic Fox frolicking with a particularly large male. White Rumped Sandpipers also were seen foraging there while Black Belly Plovers, American Golden Plovers and Dunlin were observed in the Gordon Point vicinity much to the satisfaction of Guide Jared’s bird lovers.
These travelers were also quite delighted when, in the early afternoon, they came upon two Snowy Owls, one glowing white male and a darker immature animal, on the inland road. Meanwhile, somewhere between the flats and the Tundra Lodge, Guide Elise and her guests spotted a weasel and lemming while two gurfalcons soared nearby. Coincidence?
Not to be forgotten soon by her travelers was a large male Polar Bear standing up against their rover window at Gordon Point. Then, later, another female sleeping underneath the rover was a perfect way to wind down the afternoon and head back to the launch area.
by Steve Selden | Oct 20, 2009 | Churchill News, Tour News
This is the first in a series of daily blogs from guide Steve Selden in our Churchill, Manitoba office! Churchill is renowned as the “Polar Bear Capital of the World” and is the starting point for several of our most popular adventures.
A chill of just below freezing came from the north and flurries scattered across the tundra all day long. After unseasonably cold days at the outset of the season and welcomed warming over the previous few days, we now are feeling normal Arctic cooling for this time of year.
Up close and personal! Photo: Steve Morello
Bears are moving over the land and heading in numbers from Wapusk National Park (WPN) into Churchill Wildlife Management Area (CWMA) where we saw plenty of them from our polar buggies and the famed Tundra Lodge. Today’s reports include sightings of bears upwards of 15 or more from one buggy, many congregating around Gordon Point along the coast. A great day at that hot-spot!
From our helicopters, today’s report is of guests seeing increasing numbers of bears at Cape Churchill, an annual mainstay and jumping off point onto the Bay as it freezes. Moose and caribou were sighted as well from the air sprinkled in amongst the mothers and cubs down towards Broad River in WPN.
All in all a very good day of wildlife sightings!
