Global Adventures

St. George's Independent School

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Activity on the Tundra

The group I am with this year is much different from last year. Bill Winhall ptarmiganis here again but the other two are researchers. It is fun to be with people who are on the cutting edge of polar bear research. The amount of knowledge these guys have is amazing. Their knowledge ranges from care of bears in captivity to acoustic studies in maternal dens to how climate change has affected these animals.

The weather yesterday was beautiful, almost too beautiful. It has been pretty warm and sunny. I was here a week earlier last year and the bay was already starting to freeze and most of the ponds were frozen. We are hoping for snow this week because it makes for better pictures. Right now there is hardly any snow on the ground.

We saw 4 ptarmigan and lots of snow buntings. The bears were pretty active in the morning and one even came up to the buggy. It hopped up on the side of the buggy and was within an arms reach of me. It is so tempting to reach out and touch one, but I know better.

sparring1At the end of the day today we got to see two male polar bears sparring. I have never seen this before. It is pretty cool. It is easy for these bears to overheat in this weather so they usually just lay around. Also, they don’t want to burn too many calories because they may not get to eat for a while. These two boys just wouldn’t listen. They followed each other around most of the afternoon taking a break from sparing here and there. They even came over to the lodge together, investigated, and went and laid down right next to each other. Pretty neat.

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Back up North

Here is where we spend most of our dayI don’t really care much for hanging around in the town. The minute I arrived in Churchill I was ready to get out on the buggy. It seems that is where the real action is. Last year I went out on the buggy the day I got in, but this year we spent the day in town and left the next day. Not much happens in Churchill. Now that I am out on the Tundra, I am excited to be here. The tight quarters and staying 10 feet off the ground don’t really bother me much. Driving around in these buggies is pretty cool. On the drive out the buggies plow through hip deep lakes and over 5 feet ice drifts. They are really awesome machines and one-of-a-kind. Last year I asked the owner/manager of the Tundra Buggy operation when they would have a toy-sized replica of the machines and he said it was in the works. I can’t wait to get one.

We were not out on the tundra more than one hour when we saw our first bear. The scientists I am with say the bears don’t look as good as they did last year. They are pretty skinny. It all depends on how long they get on the ice and where the ice flows end up. Last year a bunch of ice blew into Hudson Bay so the bears here got to spend more time out hunting, but this year the story is different.

thelodgeforblogOne bear in particular was looking pretty skinny. His name is Dancer. Everyone was excited to see Dancer back this year. He is a regular around the lodge. They say he comes back around the 1st of November every year, but he got back early this year. They call him Dancer because he loves to stand up on the buggy then push off and walk backwards on his hind legs. I am yet to see this display, but hope to.

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