Natural Habitat Adventures guide Drew Hamilton reports that northern lights season in Churchill got off to a roaring start this week! Awesome aurora borealis and fine first looks from Natural Habitat’s Aurora pod and the Aurora Domes warmed the hearts and hands of his group of hearty travelers. The season started with -40 degree temps though the groups spirits were sky high as one could imagine. The trip is superbly outfitted with high – tech gear to keep all travelers warm while they patiently and excitedly wait for lights in the northern sky. The advantage to the colder Arctic air is it usually ensures crystal clear skies for exceptional visibility. A spectacular moon and stellar sun dogs each day added “icing” on this past week’s phenomenal start to the season.
Northern lights over Churchill. drew Hamilton photo.
Natural Habitat guide Drew Hamilton with an icy beard. Drew Hamilton photo.
Days were filled with incredible cultural presentations on the history and ecology of Churchill from local native elders Caroline Bjorklund and Myrtle de Meulles as well as Parcs Canada interpreter Duane. Snow sampling out at the Churchill Northern Studies Center with Matt and Igloo building with Harry Tootoo supplemented th esub – Arctic experience quite well. A supreme highlight of the trip was dog sledding with Dave Daly at Wapusk Adventures. The Ididamile is still going strong! What a start to the new season!
Doing the Ididamile with Wapusk Adventures. Drew Hamilton photo.
The dogyard at Wapusk Adventures. Drew Hamilton photo.
A swirl of aurora borealis over Churchill’s boreal forest. Drew Hamilton photo.
Churchill and the Arctic are prime territory for Arctic fox and their hunting habits. Their ability to sense their prey under the snow and “dive bomb” the location is uncanny. Churchill currently is experiencing lower numbers of Arctic fox due to some unethical trapping done last winter as well as a cyclical drop in lemming population in the area. They will return in higher numbers as they always do and meanwhile the red fox population is up and healthy. We should start to see more Arctic Fox as early as this winter as long as the trappers don’t repeat last years travesty!
Nunavut’s capital Iqaluit experienced a mysterious reddish glow this past Tuesday that many residents had never seen. The phenomena was not a martian scan of Earth’s northern Arctic region in an effort to research our current global warming trend. However, as with other lighting occurrences in the far north, light reacting with dust and ice particles in the atmosphere causes some pretty unique effects. This one was pretty cool.
The photo with the red glow on the right was taken mid – afternoon on Tuesday and the image on the left was taken about the same time the following day, Wednesday. Nick Murray/CBC photo.
CBC North meteorologist Ashley Brauweiler described the glow as a result of sunlight scattering and intensifying because of the time of day the photo was taken. These photos were taken at sunset when the sun is lower in the sky.”When the sun is at a low angle in the sky, the light has a longer distance to travel,” said Brauweiler. “The blue [coloration, which leads to a more common ‘blue sky’] gets removed by the ice crystals and salt in the air, which leaves red visible.”
“The clouds are much larger than light waves, which allows them to take on the color, in this case pink.”
The phenomena is a fairly rare sight…but a amazing one for sure!
Incredibly magical drone video of beluga whales in Nunavut’s Cunningham Inlet by twenty-four-year-old Arctic tour guide Nansen Weber. Over 2,000 beluga whales gather in this area near Resolute in the high Arctic. Churchill has nearly the same amount of beluga whales migrate to its estuaries in the Arctic summer. What a way to get a different perspective!
Nearly a quarter, 57,000, of the worlds beluga population estimated at 200,000 migrate to the Western Hudson Bay estuaries of the Seal, Nelson and Churchill Rivers. The province of Manitoba is hoping the liberal government keeps promises made during the 2015 election to protect five per cent of Canada’s more than 200,000 kilometer coastline by 2017 and include this region. Manitoba government is pushing hard for protection of these estuaries as part of their new Beluga Habitat Sustainability Plan.If the plan goes through and is implemented it would protect moulting, feeding and calving areas for the nearly 60,000 belugas along the Hudson Bay coast in the Churchill region. This area comprises the largest sub – population in the world …a quite healthy population indeed. Nearly half the other populations, including the St. Lawrence River group in eastern Canada, are not doing as well. Increased development has deployed carcinogens through harmful chemicals into these waters.The proposal from Manitoba province will also include requests to amend federal legislation regulating pollution in Arctic waters south of the 60 degrees lattitiude so to cover the fragile ecosysystems in the estuaries frequented by the belugas. Although the current status of these creatures is healthy, rapid change in the Arctic could affect the species adversely in the near future.Development along the rivers directly related to reduced ice formation in the Arctic was listed as potential threat to the belugas of Manitoba. The difference between these river sanctuaries and the St. Lawrence where massive development has caused negative effects and subsequent “threatened” classification of that beluga whale population is vast. However a future change in commerce due to global warming could change things for Hudson Bay belugas in a hurry.A direct consequence of arctic ice melt would be increased shipping leading to extensive noise pollution that would harm the belugas ability to echo-locate and communicate with one another. Warming trends also have implications on the beluga’s winter feeding grounds in the Hudson Strait in the northeast. The ice harbors algae that sustain fish that belugas prey upon as well serving as a safe haven for the belugas hiding from killer whales. These predators are quite common in the bay in recent years due to more access from longer ice free periods.A key consideration in Churchill, and more specifically the Churchill River, is the long term strategy of the Port of Churchill, currently in the process of changing ownership. The relationship and interactions between the port and the belugas to date have been very good. With new owners and possible new directions in shipping from the facility it is important to cover all the angles with regards to water contamination and shipping routes and frequency.
With belugas coming to Churchill each summer there has been an increase in tourism as a result. The economic benefits from this would be adversely affected if protection was not placed on the estuary.
Beluga whale watching near the port of Churchill. Natural Habitat photo
Because of these current and impending threats, advocates and researchers are intent on protecting the clean estuaries now before the need becomes dire. Once development ensues to a higher degree as a result of environmental change it could be too late Thinking ahead and protecting these areas now is crucial!
Development along the rivers directly related to reduced ice formation in the Arctic was listed as potential threat to the belugas of Manitoba. The difference between these river sanctuaries and the St. Lawrence where massive development has caused negative effects and subsequent “threatened” classification of that 
