Canada Polar Bears 2021
We flew commercially to Winnipeg and then took a 2-hour charter flight north to Churchill where we were then bussed to the Tundra Buggies.
We began our adventure with a dogsled ride. Jeanne and Sally are ready to "mush on" under the supervision of the owner who rendered a prayer of hope in leading these wild women.
We were fortunate to have the benefit of the first snow of the season as Julie and I completed the "iditarod." Well, it actually was called it "I-did-a-mile."
These beautiful and spirited dogs were eager to run. Note the booties on some of the dogs.
Here's Tanya Cox, our leader, coming in from her mile run.
Thanks to Jim Hartwell for sharing this photo of us coming in from our first-ever dogsled run.
On our first night out on the tundra we had a spectacular aurora borealis light show. Unfortunately I was unable to capture much of it. While this photo looks fuzzy, that's the nature of these lights as they dance in the sky. It leaves you breathless to see this unique phenomenon.
Yep, we're in bear country. On our drive to our lodge we saw this road sign. Many in our group piled out of the bus to capture this uncommon sign.
This is a tundra buggy from which people photographed bears, foxes, and birds.
Tanya Cox, our guide, grew up in Churchill and her father invented the tundra buggy and began the first expeditions to photograph the bears.
We had 40 people in our group who were divided into 2 tundra buggies. Here are the 20 fun-loving people with whom we shared our buggy in search of polar bears.
Our driver, Trevor, was brilliant in finding bears and putting us in optimal position to photograph them. There are no roads on the tundra, only previously driven tracks. It often was a rollie-pollie ride which kept us seated when we were moving.
Here are some of our photographers in the other buggy photographing from the open section at the back of the buggy.
Why are the polar bears here in Churchill in November? It's a long story, but briefly they are waiting for the Hudson Bay to ice over, like this borrowed photo shows. The polar bears float on the ice looking for seals, their primary food source.
We were eager to see our first bears but our first day out was very foggy. We saw them but not so clearly.
Polar bears are spending many more days on land because the sea ice is forming about 40 days later than it used to. During the time on land the polar bears have little to eat.
Momma bear and her cub walking across a frozen pond on the tundra. Lacking food, bears begin to wander into villages resulting in clashes, sometimes with bears killed.
This building is the POLAR BEAR JAIL. When bears wander into town they are captured and put here for 30 days and then released. Using Skinnerian classical conditioning, the bears learn that going into town results in punishment.
Our momma bear and cub wandering along a path looking for scraps of food.
Superbly camouflaged, I almost didn't see this bird, a ptarmigan. It's an arctic bird that does not migrate south and is part of the grouse family.
I was thrilled to capture this photo of a red fox who was at least 100 yards away. True to their reputation, these wylie creatures move quickly and are elusive.
The fog is gone and now you can see the magnificence of these polar bears as they prowl the tundra.
This bear is scavenging for food among the rocks to see if there are any tasty tidbits brought in by the sea.
Visions of seals dancing through his head, this hungry bear is waiting for the sea ice to form.
Mature male polar bears can weigh 1700 pounds and females weigh up to 1000 pounds. They have about 4" of blubber under their skin to keep them warm.
Scouring the shoreline for food.
Looking sadly at us as this bear sits amongst the willows.
This bear was curious about our tundra buggy. I opened my window and took this shot.
Hungry, and I assumed bored, waiting for the sea ice to form, the bears often showed affection and playfulness.
When the bear stood up on his hind legs it dramatized the tremendous size of these bears, the largest bears in the world.
Polar bears molt in the summer and grow a new coat for the upcoming hunting season.
Walking across a frozen pond. Polar bears are primarily carnivores, but when really hungry they will eat vegetation such as kelp.
This is the tundra in early morning light. Rocks, ponds, and willows -- harsh land but beautiful in its own way.
Here is how we lived for 4 days on the tundra. The first two cars on the left, were our dorm rooms. The next car to the right was a lounge car and then the dining car. The remaining 3 cars were the kitchen and service staff quarters.
20 of us shared this dorm, couples assigned to a lower and upper berth. I hadn't slept like this since summer camp when I was 10. It was cozy and worked quite well for our short stay in this harsh environment.
The tundra buggies would back into the lodge to load us up for our daily venture. We stayed on the buggy all day, eating lunch onboard. During the 4 days we never stepped on the ground.
That's Julie sticking her head into my photo of the polar bear inspecting our buggy.
With our long lenses we were able to capture some fine close ups of these magnificent creatures.
Another view of the coastal area along Hudson Bay. The bears congregate here because it is one of the first places to form sea ice.
VIDEO: Watch these bears wrestle with each other.
The young males love to spar. What a treat to see them in action.
"it's a takedown!" As a former wrestling coach, I saw many actions by the polar bears that duplicated my high school and college wrestlers' actions.
The bears looked like they were hurting each other, but it was all mock fighting.
