Churchill Polar Bears - Part 4

 Friday, 13 October 2023

Yes, Friday the Thirteenth passed without even knowing it. It wasn't until I was reviewing notes and photos that I noticed the date.

Murals

Churchill is known for a mural project - an impressive set of murals. New murals are still being added and older ones updated.

This mural shows a polar bear and a dog seemingly interacting. Controversial late resident Brian Ladoon was noted for letting polar bears approach and play with his chained-up dogs. Eventually the dogs met a controversial gruesome death, and Ladoon is still raises strong emotions in the Churchill community.

This polar bear mural (left image) cried out for a hockey stick in its paws. Hockey is an obsession in Churchill, and with the magic of Photoshop, it's easy to "make it so" (right image).

Magnificent polar bear mural on the "Polar Bear Holding Facility" (aka Polar Bear Jail) that detains problem polar bears until they can be released to a more appropriate location.

The full mural at the Polar Bear Holding Facility. It really does look like a sleeping polar bear.

One of three murals on a port facility building shows railroad workers. All those arms remind me of a Hindu god!

Another side of the same building has a polar bear mural. Note the huge rock making sure that the door cannot be opened (from inside or outside)!

Mural of polar bears and belugas on a garage in town.

Unauthorized (but not removed) art on stones at the Community Complex.

Another form of public art (and wayfinding) is this "inukshuk". Inukshuks are navigational cairns found throughout the North American arctic. "Inukshuk" means "imitation of a person" and the "arms" point the way of travel.

Polar Bear Safety

Signs warning about polar bears are everywhere.

At Cape Merry, just outside Churchill, you cannot walk the short boardwalks and trails unless two polar bear guards (with rifles) are on duty.

Dog Sleds

Dog sleds are the traditional way to get around the arctic in the winter. It's actually far easier to travel in the winter than in the summer and fall - and spring mud make travel just about impossible. We had a dog sled ride at Wapusk Adventures, which was far more interesting and enjoyable than we had anticipated.

'Nough said!

Since there was no snow this early in the season, we had rides on wheeled carts that the dogs use for training in the summer and fall.

Ready for our "sleigh" to take off. The musher has to apply a brake to keep the dogs from starting prematurely.

On our way! Photo was taken by professional photographer Daniel Raiti.

Dogs in David Daley's dog yard at Wapusk Adventures wish they were out running today.

Miscellany

More Churchill quirkiness

"Miss Piggy" is a cargo plane that didn't quite make it to the Churchill airport. See the full story on Atlas Obscura.

An arctic hare in full winter white. Only the tips of the ears are black.

Proof that we were in Churchill!

Churchill Polar Bears - Part 3

Thursday, 12 October 2023

Final Day in the Rovers

Crescent moon and Venus just before sunrise.

The crescent moon is more obvious in an enlargement of the previous photo.

Polar Bears

Val and Kurt scan the tundra for polar bears. We watched one from a distance as he swam in an attempt to catch seal on a rock. The seal escaped and taunted the bear by swimming close - the bear has no chance of catching a seal in the water.

A second polar bear came much closer to us. We watched as it ambled across the tundra.

Same bear - now partially hidden by shrubs.

The bear continued on its way and passed between our two rovers.

As the bear walked away, I got a good look at a furry foot.

Another polar bear on the tundra.

Birds

Ptarmigans. In the summer, these birds are brown. For the winter, they switch to white plumage. The ptarmigan in the middle has not quite completed the change.

Sanderling

Tundra swan

Goodbye to the Rovers

These two rovers are exchanging passengers, but someone called this "Making Baby Rovers".

Farewell to our rover driver, Val.

We spent the next two nights at the Seaport Hotel in Churchill. While more comfortable than the Tundra Lodge, it lacked the charm and the fabulous food of the Lodge. Churchill shuts down at 10 PM - a siren at that time alerts everyone that the polar bear watch is off-duty, so it is not recommended to be outside after that time. Aurora watching was scheduled for 9 to 10:30 PM, but this time of year the aurora is best seen after midnight. So we decided to get some sleep instead.

Churchill Polar Bears - Part 2

 Wednesday, 11 October 2023

Tundra Rovers, Guides, & Lodge   

A few pictures of the amazing tundra rovers and their equally amazing drivers.

The rovers are about 10 ft wide and 55 ft long. They have 6-wheel drive, and each tire is 5 feet tall and 3 ft wide. There is a back platform for better viewing. The school-bus-type windows drop down for unobstructed photography. (Unlike most school buses, the windows are double-pane.) Even though the rovers can hold about 30 passengers, Natural Habitat only fills the rovers half-full so that everyone has a window.

The tundra lakes look formidable, but they are mostly only a foot or two deep. That's not a challenge for the rovers. Although the rovers could travel anywhere on the tundra, they follow old military roads, so they are not adding new disturbances to the tundra.

Left: Val, our rover driver. Right: Kurt, our Nat Hab guide.

The Tundra Lodge as seen from the east.

Wildlife & Landscapes

The morning was foggy and frosty.

Morning light.

Frosty tundra and spruce.

This polar bear seems perplexed by the ravens that were invading his space.

Eventually the ravens flew away, and the bear decided to take a snooze.

This bird was a long way away, but just close enough to be unmistakably a bald eagle. During the summer, the tundra is filled with birds. Today we saw only a few: ravens, ptarmigans, a few wading birds, and the eagle.

Another lovely sunset.

The aurora was active again overnight, but since it was foggy, it was just a general glow in the sky.

Churchill Polar Bears - Part 1

We recently returned from a trip to Churchill, Manitoba with Natural Habitat Adventures to see polar bears as they congregate in the area in preparation for going out on the sea ice in Hudson Bay for the winter. Dilemma: Canada is a foreign country, but we drove to Winnipeg and back. Is that foreign travel ("Horn OK Please" blog) or domestic travel ("No Turn On Red" blog)? I've made the executive decision that Canada belongs with the U.S.: drivable, English-speaking (French, as well, of course), first-world amenities.

Having family in Naperville, IL and St. Louis Park, MN made it easy to combine our tour with family time.

Tuesday, 10 October 2023

Winnipeg to Churchill

Flying charter is really fine. No security. Our bus drove up to the steps to the plane. The plane was a turbo-prop ATR-72. The plane boards through the rear; luggage is up front between the passenger cabin and the cockpit. Churchill is accessible mostly by air, 2 1/2 hours from Winnipeg. The train from Winnipeg runs 3 days a week and takes 50 hours each way. In the summer, freighters come to the port. This summer, a cruise ship came for the first time in 10 years.

Lake Winnipeg

Tundra landscape

First glimpse of Hudson Bay near Churchill.

Tundra Sights

Once we boarded the tundra rovers (photos in the next post), we did not touch the ground until we returned to town - a total of about 52 hours. We were always 6 ft off the ground - plenty of room for bears to go beneath us, and too high for them to reach the windows.

While making our way to the Great White Bear Tundra Lodge, we got to see wildlife and tundra landscapes.

Almost immediately after starting our trip through the tundra, we saw a gray wolf - a rare sight.

Polar bear #1. The blood on his legs and snout tell that he has been feeding recently.

Polar bear #2 - a "big white rock".

The same polar bear in context with the landscape.

Tundra Lodge

The Great White Bear Tundra Lodge is essentially a small train on the tundra. At one time the lodge was towed into town for the off-season, but now it is left assembled on its spot on the tundra.

The Lodge "cars" from left to right: Supply rover, crew quarters, kitchen and dining, lounge, 2 sleepers directly connected.

The hall in the sleeper cars.

Each roomette has a single bed and storage above or below. This was my room, with a lower bunk and luggage storage above.

The rooms with upper bunks have luggage storage below. Regardless of configuration, it's a tight fit!

After Dark

Sunset on the tundra.

This unusual door-hanger lets the guides know that you want to be awakened in the event of an aurora sighting.

Orion rising in the east. The stars were vivid in this dark-sky setting. (Not bad for a hand-braced 5-second exposure. Outside deck space is limited, so tripods were not allowed.)

Usually at this time of year, the sky is overcast and the aurora was not visible. But we got lucky on our first night with a great auroral display from midnight to 1:30 AM.

We shared photos. This picture was taken by a hand-held iPhone 15 Pro.

This photo was taken by a hand-held iPhone 14 Pro Max. Our iPhone SEs are not up to this quality.

"Of the Earth" at the Morton Arboretum

Of the Earth is the most recent large-scale art installation at the Morton Arboretum near Chicago. The five sculptures by the Polish-American artist Olga Ziemska are constructed from materials gathered at the Arb along with steel and glass-fiber reinforced concrete (and in one piece, astroturf for a year-round maintenance-free carpet of grass).

Hear: With an ear to the ground

Stillness in Motion

Strata

The steel frame is filled with river rock.

Ona
The mirror eyes seemed out of place to me. Too zombie-like.

Oculus
This was our favorite piece.

I preferred the more delicate rays of the other side of the piece.

Here we thought the mirrored eye worked well.