The aurora borealis is visible in the Northern sky throughout the entire year. However, as February and March -prime viewing time- draw closer, so do hundreds of eager and somewhat crazy travelers to the town of Churchill, MB nestled on the Precambrian shield of the Hudson Bay. While local Churchillians often view the “Northern lights”,as they are also known,as a beautifully, majestic experience, they certainly find it hard to grasp why people from all over the world travel to Churchill for a chance to see them. Whatever stirs inside these brave souls for them to venture to the frigid, frozen Arctic can only be understood by someone feeling the same passion for the North.
Eric Rock photo.
Over my many years in Churchill I personally have seen the aurora in the Fall polar bear season and throughout the Summer months on numerous occasions…though August being the best of those Summer months due to shorter days and more chance to view them. The Fall season-October and November- can be stellar viewing but sightings are random and less predictable then mid-Winter. Predominant reasons for this is the 800 sq mile body of water lapping the shores of those Precambrian rocks known as the Hudson Bay. This massive oceanic bay remains ice- free well into late November and even then will not freeze completely until another month or two. This allows moisture to be sucked up into the air in the region which is at war so to speak as warmer Southerly winds battle Northerly chilled gusts for territorial rights. Despite global warming, the cold Northerly winds always are victorious only getting colder as the Winter trudges on. Sometimes it feels as if time comes to a halt…the past few days in Churchill have been in the -40’s C with that infamous “wind chill” factor. And yes..it is a very large factor!
Photo Brad Josephs.
Now that the season for viewing the lights is upon us, it is not always a guarantee you will see them. Last year was out of the ordinary as viewing was minimal during this same time. Travelers with Natural Habitat’s Aurora trips came away quite satisfied however as guide Karen Walker was able to provide them with a fantastic “Arctic-like” experience that cannot be simulated on your ipad from your comfortable couch. Just experiencing the harsh cold and the ways and culture of the people in the North embeds an experience one will never forget. There’s something about everything you experience under those conditions that sharpens the memory like the tip of a hanging icicle. Life as most know it slows to a zen-like stillness only enhanced by the cold. Senses are sharpened so that each and every detail of daily life gains importance. Dog-sledding across vast treeless tundra becomes a life changing event.
Speaking of dog-sledding …the Hudson Bay Quest is drawing near. Thirteen mushers are registered thus far to depart Gillam,MB and race 200 miles to Churchill for the championship. Charlie Lundie from Churchill will be defending his title as the first Churchillian to win the prize. Race organizer Dave Daley will also be mushing with hopes to win as well. I’m hoping to get one or both of their thoughts and expectations on the race in the next few weeks…stay tuned.
Leaving you with this amazing video of some aurora from space.
This past polar bear season provided a plethora of snowy owl sightings across the tundra in the Churchill region. Daily guide accounts from Natural Habitat Adventure trips in October and November reported many more encounters with the iconic Arctic bird than the last few years. Now, that abundance is revealing itself in the United States as far south as Colorado. In Boulder county, where I live and Natural Habitat Adventures is based, only two documented sightings are on record. This year, numerous sightings have been called in. One snowy was even sighted at the Honolulu airport in Hawaii..the first on record ever in that state. What is happening?
Colby Brokvist photo.
Arctic animals flourish with one basic necessity…food, and of course availability of that particular staple. Polar bears rely predominantly on ringed seals out on the ice surface, arctic fox tend to forage on hares and lemmings and snowy owls also bag the occasional arctic hare, though ..a higher percentage of their diet comes from lemmings. This past Summer, Churchill had a explosion in the lemming population which carried over into the Fall bear season. And since it’s utterly difficult and surely frustrating for polar bears to sneak up on those tiny lemmings, the snowy owl population increased as well. This has not happened for about five years. The last time was quite noticeable in Churchill…I can remember driving along the launch road just outside of town limits and seeing a snowy on just about every other hydro pole. Amazing.
Predators like the red fox have been forced to expand their hunting grounds.-Brad Josephs photo.
There have been years when Arctic fox have dominated the hunting grounds also…seemingly pushing out the red fox and the snowy owls at once. Red foxes have been spotted far out on the Hudson Bay ice floes in recent years adverse to their natural hunting grounds. Expanding their diet via leftover seal -kills has been a necessity for survival. There seems to be a natural process of selection in which lemming predators take precedence from season to season. This year clearly favors the snowy owl however and now that population is migrating farther South than ever before in search of lemming-like food. This “irruption” as the overwhelming presence of a species is known, is allowing “southerners” to view the majestic owl without heading all the way to the Arctic. Montana, Colorado, Hawaii…even Boston Massachusetts, where 21 owls have been documented near Logan International Airport have all become new territory for the endangered snowy owl. I actually have seen a couple over the years on Cape Cod, MA in the marshes but the press rarely covers that rural location.
These areas all make sense. The openness of the prairies and grasslands out West and the marshes and lakes of the coastal locations all tend to make the snowy owl feel right at home in a tundra -like landscape. Getting there is another issue. With higher temperatures and long flying distances, the birds arrive to the new feeding grounds very stressed and depleted of energy. If you do happen upon a snowy be cautious not to harass the bird by getting too close. Use a spotting scope or good binoculars to check it off your life list.If you are in Colorado use this link, cfobirds.org, to keep up with the latest sightings and bird information. Other states have similar links that are easy to find with a little research. Good luck spotting one of the most beautiful birds in the air….and on the ground…hunting lemmings and possibly prairie dogs.
With Churchill caught in a deep freeze, some things are just heating up in the sub -Arctic town along the Hudson Bay.
The minus 30 degree C days and nights of January have not dissuaded dog mushers from entering the 2012 Hudson Bay Quest which will run the 220 miles from Gillam to Churchill. This route has been modified from the original course, celebrating the rich trapper history of the region. All mushers are self -sufficient carrying all the supplies they need for themselves and their dogs to make it to the finish. The course generally takes from two to three days to complete depending largely on weather. the original course largely traced the coast of the Hudson Bay and quite often was incredibly challenging when storms hit the region. Logistical complications and a need to streamline the race lead to the new, though still challenging event. Below is a list of racers entered so far for this year’s quest.
Hudson Bay Quest 2012 – Racers Registered
Ed ‘The Sled’ Obrecht – Otter Lake, Quebec
David Daley – Churchill, Manitoba
Dan DiMuzio – Churchill, Manitoba
Troy Groenweld – Two Harbours, Minnesota
Charlie Lundie – Churchill, Manitoba
Stefaan De Marie – Christopher Lake, Saskatchewan
Peter McClelland – Ely, Minnesota
Ernest Azure – Churchill, Manitoba
Burton Penner – Vermillion Bay, Ontario
Shawn McCarty – Ely, Minnesota
John Makayak Hickes – Rankin Inlet, Nunavut
Jesse Terry – Sioux Lookout, Ontario
Barney Kalluak – Arviat, Nunavut
The Hudson Bay Quest’s official website sponsored by Calm air states that only 15 racers will be allowed to run their dogs so hurry up and get your application in! Future blogs will give more information as the race draws closer and updates from the race with results will be available when the mushers leave Gillam in March. Gee…Haw! Dave Daley, local Churchill musher will be running his dogs again this year and hoping to be the second consecutive champion from Churchill. Charlie Lundie won top prize last year.a first for any Churchill entrant.
Brad Josephs photo.
Although the Fall polar bear season did not allow for extensive sled training for the local mushers and their dogs, travelers still were able to get a feel for the energy that a team of these beautiful animals exudes. Many of the dedicated mushers in Churchill run seasonal businesses. These “off-season” ventures often are run with hopes to raise enough funds to cover extensive dog-food costs that easily reach tens of thousands of dollars. Local musher Kelly Turcotte -owner of Churchill River Mushing-utilized his custom built wheeled sled -carts to guide visitors over the landscape and through willows in order to give guests a feel for, not only dog racing, but dogsled touring. It truly is a unique way to enjoy the undulating tundra and taiga environment Even though Kelly does not enter the race himself, he does an excellent job of showcasing the total experience of dog mushing in the North. Daley and Lundie also cater to Churchill visitors by also giving their guests amazing insight into the exclusive world of the Northern mushers and the intricacies to raising premium Arctic sled dogs. It’s not as easy as one may think. Aside from all the discipline needed to train dogs under normal circumstances, the additional obstacle in Churchill is the weather. Current temperature in Churchill is -48 C…enough to make anyone howl!
In the north, in the Arctic, survival can be perilous at best. Sure, the technological inventions of the past 20 years have made life easier for inhabitants up in the hinterlands however many tasks cannot be aided by a cell phone, ipad, or anything else besides perseverance. The attached video is just a snapshot of lives that still endure from strength of heart and good old fashioned will to survive. People in the North are hearty souls that need to constantly reinvent themselves to make it through harsh seasons…of course the harshest being winter. The current temperature in Churchill is -28 and -46 with the wind chill.
With the extended cold temperatures ranging in the -20’s and 30’s centigrade, solid sea ice has packed the Hudson Bay. The polar bear population in northern Manitoba is enjoying a cold Winter on ice with seals in their bellies. As usual the annual fears of late-season freeze-up were once again allayed around the third week of November when the Hudson Bay was solid enough for polar bears to venture off the land. A few bear sightings since then are most likely a result of Southerly winds that pushed ice out away from the coast while some bears came ashore and were temporarily landlocked.
Polar bear on ice in Churchill,MB- Brad Josephs photo.
Overall, however, ice coverage in the bay is down again from recent years accumulation. This Environment Canada chart on historical ice accumulation in the Hudson Bay shows the overall ice decline in the past decade. While temperatures in Winter remain cold, the “bookend” seasons have compressed the high -ice Winter season into a smaller time-frame. Although extended time on land around Churchill is good for tourism via longer polar bear viewing seasons, less time on ice hunting seals means leaner bears and sometimes more irritated bears as discussed in my last blog post on problem bears in Churchill.
Currently the ice accumulation for this season is looking decent as seen detailed through this recent Environment Canada ice graph of the Hudson Bay. In this case, unlike ice in Eastern Canada where baby Harp seals are born, red ice as portrayed on the graph, is good ice. All the levels of ice thickness are at the high end of the spectrum and although median temperatures for Churchill are down by six degrees centigrade, surrounding communities along the Hudson Bay coastline have all measured normal, in range cold temperatures.
Hudson Bay ice off coast of Wapusk National Parc. -Steve Selden Photo.
While ten or fifteen years of downward trend in ice coverage of the Hudson Bay may surely signal a warming trend in the making, we cannot assume this trend will continue without more evidence. As the polar ice cap shrinks as it surely is, more open water for longer time spans will allow for more heat absorption and thus further melting. How the polar bear population will be affected is still an unfolding story. This USGS study on polar bear population of the Southern Hudson Bay is a somewhat more in – depth review on how polar bears are being affected by the shortened sea-ice season. There seems to be a higher risk associated with new born cubs as well as adolescents rather than a direct correlation to adults with less body fat due to less time on the ice.
Quite clearly the past few polar bear seasons (October/November) in Churchill have pointed toward adaptive bear behavior as bears have been seen attending to more seal kills along the coast for supplemental nourishment. Even through my recent Summer guiding experiences in Churchill we have seen more Beluga whale kills in the shallow inlets or on the coast. Although no scientific data can point to these trends as real behavioral change, the change seems to be real. If bears can adapt and find new food resources, maybe the population wil adjust in the future. As of now the population seems to be holding steady with some Northern Inuit communities reporting an increase n polar bears. Whether these perceived increases are actually larger bear numbers or just more bear sightings due to more bear frequency due to ice conditions remains to be seen and documented.
Churchill, Manitoba …the “polar bear capital of the world” is becoming a town with a bear problem. Or..are seasonal polar bears having issues with increasing numbers of tourists venturing to the town to view them in their natural habitat? The iconic tourist destination has always had issues with polar bear safety, however, the last decade or so has seen an escalation of what Manitoba Conservation titles “polar bear occurrences”. These “occurrences are bear encounters that pose a threat to humans. Although no person has been fatally harmed within the last couple of decades in the town of Churchill, more and more close calls are being reported each year.
Traveler numbers to Churchill have increased each year over the past decade placing strain on Manitoba Conservation officers patrolling the area. Although larger, experienced tour companies educate their guests on safety regulations, many tourists arrive in town independently with little or no information related to bear safety. Photographers especially are more prone to take extra risks as they attempt to capture images of polar bears, other wildlife and the Arctic landscape. Walking along Precambrian rocks near the beach or wandering just outside town limits is similar to playing Russian roulette…bears can appear from behind a rock or out of a tree stand drifted with snow. I personally have seen numerous naive individuals walking alone, unarmed outside town. After informing some of these people of the risks and danger of walking in those areas, they all seemed either surprised or unconcerned regarding their situation. Although no laws are being broken, other than those of the common sense variety, information needs to be more readily available to unsuspecting travelers. Signs, literature and website information could go a long way in deterring people from straying too far from the safety of town.
Polar bear danger area. -Steve Selden photo.
Churchill itself can be a risk when darkness falls and especially when storms blow in across the Hudson Bay. Polar bears, wander into town lured by smells and habit from years of curiosity. Shelter between buildings and under structures make the town a nice respite for these hungry animals awaiting the annual freeze-up of the bay. This is where the question of endangerment comes in. Are bears endangering the local humans or are the humans endangering the polar bears. Because the topography of the coastline allows for the annual migration of bears to this site, we must concede that polar bears would congregate here regardless of human population. However, more bears might gather here as a result of human activity and all the food scents and products that come with it. Both animals have found a middle ground of sorts forged by toleration. Bears are trapped more often than killed these days as the local economy is now driven from their presence. Churchillians have developed an information network for Conservation officers to respond quickly to bear sightings in and around town. Polar bear alert ( 675-bear) network has facilitated rapid response to bears in town and approaching bruins that may be a risk to human safety. This system has work very well over the last decade.
Steve Selden photo.
One variable that has crept into the polar bear-human relationship in Churchill is the global warming issue. While scientific evidence still points to a warming trend in the Arctic that could impact the animals more severely in the future, the main concern at present time is the length of the seal hunting season on the bay ice. With a somewhat later freeze-up in November and an earlier break-up in the Spring, bears are forced on land and into Churchill for longer periods of time. These extended stays are creating friction between bears and humans creating a new dynamic that needs to be considered. Being more aware as a traveler to the region is a start. Respecting the “wildness” of the polar bear population in all circumstances is paramount.
