Trip Report – Polar Bears of Churchill Manitoba
Immediately after returning from Costa Rica I left on another flight to Churchill Manitoba Canada to photograph Polar Bears for a week. I was home just long enough to dump the clothes I had in Costa Rica and re-pack cold weather clothing, grab a bite to eat, sleep three hours and head to the Tampa airport for 8am flight. As a matter of fact I wrote the last blog entry on my flight to Canada and put the finishing touches on it at the Winnipeg Airport while waiting for my connection to Churchill.
I have wanted to photograph Polar Bears here for a number of years. A last minute opportunity presented itself this year to join friend and fellow photographer Charles Glatzer on a tour he was running. So despite the rushed nature of doing two trips back to back I jumped on the opportunity. The customs officer in Winnipeg noticed I was just in Costa Rica and asked how it was and I replied a lot warmer than here, he then asked where I was headed and I said Churchill and he laughed and said it would be a lot colder there than here. I said I know!
Churchill is a very small town where everybody knows everybody. For roughly seven weeks each year hundreds of people visit Chruchill to view polar bears before the waters totally freeze over and the bears head out to hunt. Weather was very cold due to the winds. There was a little snow on the ground but not much of an accumulation. I had expected more for an area so far north. After the first day it seemed the bays and such were freezing over but the ice broke up and moved in and out with the tides for the rest of the time I was there. We had periods of sunshine over three of our days, which is good for this area, and this time of year.
The first two days we spent in vehicles driving around to various locations looking for Polar Bears and other wildlife. Wildlife activity around town was very minimal. For the rest of the time we went out on Tundra Buggies each day and the activity was much better. We found plenty of Polar Bears, ptarmigan, and an artic fox. Unfortunately we never saw a snowy owl or an artic hare. Some had been spotted here and there but not in the numbers they usually are. We spotted some other species of foxes but never close enough or in the clear to get a good photograph. The last day had to be the most active. The wind had died down which made it seem a bit warmer and the day started off with light rain, which turned to snow later on. Early on we found a female bear with a cub and observed them swimming, then drying off and interacting. We had seen females with cubs on previous days but seeing one swimming at this time of year is a bit unusual. 
Later we found another younger bear probably in its second or third year and watched him catch and kill a seal. After dragging it around for a bit and taking into the willow brush to eat for 15-20 minutes the scent drew in other bears. The first to come in was a bigger one who appeared to have already been eating something as he had blood on his fur and paws. Without any confrontation the smaller bear surrendered the catch to the larger bear. After this one had it for a while a larger bear came in and took the remains, it was hard to believe there was anything left. During this time the original bear hung around and another smaller one came in all hopping to get something. This provide hours of photo opportunities without having to move very far.
That evening with the snow coming down there was a fireworks show in town to kick-of the Olympic Torch Ceremonies for the next day. This was the first time I have ever seen fireworks in the snow and from what I heard the it was the first time for many of the local residents too. The next morning I had just enough time to watch the Olympic Torch come through town before having to head to the airport for my return flight. Upon reaching Winnipeg a maintenance issue with the plane caused the flight to be cancelled and I ended up spending the night there.
While I enjoyed Churchill and would have loved to have stayed longer, I was tired of the artic cold and all the extra work that goes into getting dressed and un-dressed to go outside. Upon arriving in Tampa the overcast sky made home seem just like Churchill except quite a bit warmer.
If you want to photograph Polar Bears in Churchill you will be best to find someone running a trip that charters the entire Tundra Buggy for the group and keeps the group size small (eight or so). If you are on a buggy mixed with general tourists you may be with thirty or so people on a buggy and your photo opportunities will be severely limited. Chas runs his trips this way and each person had a whole row on the buggy to themselves which allowed us to shoot out of either side of the buggy or on the back deck depending on what the situation was.