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Polar Bear Bonanza

by Greg Lasley
Published in the Victor Emanuel Nature Tours newsletter, January, 1997

 

Churchill is well known to birders as the place to see Smith's Longspurs, Hudsonian Godwits, Oldsquaws, Willow Ptarmigans and a wide assortment of other tundra nesting birds. The rare Ross' Gull and other exotic birds attract lots of folks to this magical place each summer. But Churchill puts on another face in the late fall when the winds howl from the north and the mercury dips well below freezing. The fresh-water ponds and lakes that host Tundra Swans and Red-necked Phalaropes in the summer freeze solid, and most of the birds head for points south. It is time for the Polar Bear to arrive in Churchill!

Polar Bears spend the winter and spring on the ice pack of Hudson Bay where they hunt for seals. In mid-summer as the pack ice breaks up, large numbers of bears find themselves on the southern shores of the bay with no ice on which to hunt their primary food. During the late summer and early fall the bears fast, living off stored fat, and slowly begin to work their way north along the shore of Hudson Bay as they await freeze-up again. By mid-to-late October numbers of these bears have arrived in the Churchill area, where they concentrate until they are once again able to enter their ice- pack world of the frozen bay.

I was privileged to lead the first VENT Polar Bear trip in 10 years between October 30-November 6, 1996. Our eager group arrived in Churchill during a snow storm and quickly realized that we had entered into a different world than the Churchill of summer that many of us knew from previous trips. Early the next morning, we boarded a "Tundra Buggy," a huge, all-wheel drive vehicle with five-foot-tall tires designed to take us safely onto the remote tundra to search for Polar Bears. Within 15 minutes of boarding the buggy, we spotted a mother bear with two cubs and a small herd of Caribou almost at the same time. These were the first Caribou the buggy driver had seen this season, and he immediately remarked that we must be a lucky group. He was right! For the next four days we were treated to a parade of arctic wildlife that few of us had anticipated and none of us will forget.

Did we see many Polar Bears? You bet! During the four days on the tundra buggy we sighted 138 bears! We had many sets of mothers with cubs, single young bears probably on their own for the first time, lone females, and some incredible ("look at the size of those paws!") adult males. One quickly realizes that Polar Bears have little to fear in the natural world, and most of the animals showed no fear of us or the buggy. Bears approached our vehicle on many occasions, and some even stood up on their hind legs to look us straight in the eye from five feet away! The photographic opportunities for all of us were spectacular. We watched as large males engaged in wrestling matches and other bears playfully ran across the ice and slid for the sheer fun of it, while others rolled in the snow with obvious pleasure. Some bears engaged in a behavior known as "sealing," whereby they lay their head and upper body on the ice, but walk along with their hind legs pushing themselves for some distances. It is thought the animals enjoy this as a way to cool off.

One of the most interesting behaviors we observed was a mother bear with her twin two-year-old male cubs. Adult male Polar Bears are sometimes known to kill cubs, so mother bears are very defensive around males. As a male bear approached this trio, the mother stood to face him. Her two cubs (who were almost as large as she) stationed themselves on either side of her, shoulder to shoulder. Thus positioned, the trio advanced in unison on the male. I was reminded of a football defensive line by the impressive spectacle of a three-bears-wide wall of white fur advancing across the tundra at a brisk walk with determination in their eyes. The male bear was apparently as impressed as I was, as he turned tail and left the area in a hurry. We all decided that no other male bear would mess with "mother and the boys."

In addition to the bears, we had many sightings of Arctic Foxes, the "Ice Fox" in its immaculate white winter coat. These quick, determined little hunters are constantly on the move as they search the tundra for food. We watched one Arctic Fox cache the remains of a Common Eider that had probably been killed by a Gyrfalcon that we had seen in the area. Watching this fox go about its hunting rituals within 40 feet of our buggy was really a thrill. In addition to Arctic Foxes, we also saw several Red Foxes, and a gray form of this species known locally as a "Cross Fox." Some of our group even glimpsed a Gray Wolf before it vanished behind a distant ridge.

Though most birds have left Churchill at this time of year, the tundra shared some of her arctic specialties with us. We had several Snowy Owls, two Gyrfalcons (including an incredible white-morph bird!), Willow and Rock Ptarmigans, Common and Hoary Redpolls, and a handful of Snow Buntings. Churchill also has a small resident population of Common Eiders, and a few lingering species such as Pacific Loon and Red-breasted Merganser were also seen.

A trip to the far north in winter always holds the possibility of seeing the Northern Lights. Although the skies were overcast on our first four nights in Churchill, our last night was clear and many of us were treated to streams of green and blue across the heavens as nature put on a light show we will not forget. It was a fitting ending to a wonderful experience with Churchill's "other face." This trip was a great success and VENT looks forward to repeating it in the years to come. Call (800) 328-VENT or (512) 328-5221 to request a detailed itinerary.