Archive for the ‘Polar Bear’ Category

We spotted our first bear of the summer!

Wednesday, July 6th, 2011
First Bear Sighting of Summer 2011
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On our first Tundra Buggy Adventure of the summer we saw a very curious bear at Halfway Point. She checked us out for about half an hour.  Everyone enjoyed taking tons of pictures of her!  She seemed to be a bit on the small side. Usually at this time of the year they (polar bears) are quite well fed, but this bear did not seem to be that way. With the early break-up of the ice, feeding season for the bears was once again a bit short this year.  Read more about the early ice-breakup from our friends at Polar Bears International.

Where the heck is Halfway Point you ask?

Halfway Point is generally considered by locals as the mid-way point between Churchill and Cape Churchill. The thin peninsula reaches out into the Hudson Bay and is a popular spot with the polar bears both in summer and winter months.


View Halfway Point in a larger map

Also on our tour we saw Sandhill Cranes and many Canada Geese with their wee goslings. We actually saw two bears on the tour, thought the other one was far in the distance sleeping.

Submitted by: Dave Allcorn, Frontiers North Adventures

Summer Bears

Monday, June 27th, 2011

The summer months are truly the lazy days for the polar bear. It’s time for them to relax and wait for hunting season to begin all over again in November. Every summer the ice melts around the end of June or the beginning of July – this date keeps moving up ever so slightly as the years go by.

Walking hibernation is a term used for polar bears conserving their energy over the summer months while barely eating anything along the way.  All of their energy is instead conserved so that when seal hunting starts, they are ready to pounce.

Although seals are the polar bears preferred meal, they do have snacks in the summer months, snacks we humans also enjoy! Berries and sea kelp are among the plant life the bears eat on the tundra as they await for the ice passage to open for them once again in late November.

Here in these pictures, you see a hungry guy getting berries all over his furry face as he noshes on delicious berries from the tundra.

The Ice Has Started to Break-up in Churchill

Wednesday, June 22nd, 2011

A quick Churchill report from staffer Dave Allcorn aka our resident (amateur) botonist/naturalist.

The recent 20 degree temperatures had people in Churchill wearing shorts and kids were playing down by the beach. The ice has started to break up and many birds are arriving in the area.  I also spotted three flowering plants: purple saxifrage, arrow-leafed colts-foot and the bearberry. It won’t be long now before the belugas take over the Churchill River, the polar bears migrate onto the land for the summer months and the tundra becomes a blanket of colour.

Dave captured this image of a ‘Fata Morgana’, a type of mirage on the horizon, which is quite common for this time of the year as the ice breaks up. Learn more about the ‘Fata Morgana‘.

Finally for all the bird lovers out there, Dave sent along this picture of ruddy turnstones on the railway line in Churchill. Signs of summer are all around!

The ice has started to break up in Churchill
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More Guest Videos

Wednesday, April 28th, 2010

We cannot say it enough – we love when we receive images and video from our guests from their adventures with us!

FNA guest Gary Lehman travelled with us in 2006 and sent us two videos that he created of his photographs while up in Churchill viewing polar bears. Great work Gary!

Polar Bears & the Paparazzi

Friday, April 16th, 2010

There are many reasons why we feel our Tundra Buggies provide our guests the ultimate experience in polar bear viewing. Not only can we get up close and personal with the “Lords of the Arctic”, we can do so in a safe manner for our guests (and their photography equipment). We’re not entirely sure what happened in the image below that was captured in Alaska, but from what we can tell, polar bears do not like the “paparazzi”. Here is the accompanying story to go along with the image that was published in the New York Daily News.

Have a great weekend!

Image © National News/ZUMApress.com

Brookfield Zoo’s Great Bear Wilderness

Friday, April 9th, 2010

Yesterday in Chicago, IL, FNA’s Grant Chem and John Gunter were invited to get a behind-the-scenes look at the Brookfield Zoo’s soon to be open Great Bear Wilderness exhibit.

Built to meet the Manitoba Standards as put forth by Manitoba Conservation and endorsed by Polar Bears International, the new exhibit is quite impressive with three separate grottos, natural substrates, large pool for the bears and underwater viewing for zoo guests, as well as large off-exhibit space to comfortably accommodate the Zoo’s grizzly and polar bears.

Hosting Grant and John were Melissa Farruggia, Campaign Director and Livia McCormick, Woman’s Board Manager. The Brookfield Zoo and Frontiers North are teaming-up on an autumn 2010 Tundra Buggy Adventure in Churchill to experience wild polar bears where we plan to turn the tables; this autumn it’s the people that will be on exhibit for the polar bears, not the other way around!

Melissa Farruggia, Grant Chem, Livia McCormick and John Gunter

John and Grant waiting in the rain for their taxi.

Polar Bear Favourites

Wednesday, March 17th, 2010

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

Although we currently don’t have any images that depict our love for this festive day, we figured we would post some more polar bear favourites that were captured by Dave Allcorn this past Autumn both near our Tundra Buggy Lodge and on our Legendary Cape Churchill adventure. As you may recall, we posted some of his beautiful summer images last Friday on our blog.

Enjoy!

All images © Dave Allcorn

Polar Bear AND Grizzly Bear Viewing in Churchill?

Friday, March 5th, 2010

According to recent studies, more grizzly bears are moving into the northern regions of Canada, with some even spotted in Wapusk National Park. In fact, a total of 9 grizzlies have been spotted in the past 14 years, with 4 spotted this summer alone. It still remains somewhat of a mystery as to why these grizzly bears are so far from their typical habitats, but experts figure it is more likely due to reduced hunting pressures than global warming.

The scientific community isn’t worrying too much about the fact that there will be an increase in grizzly-polar bear conflicts because if the trend in loss of ice and habitat for the northeastern corner of Manitoba continues, polar bears will not frequent Wapusk National Park in the future. This is because the polar bear population will follow Arctic sea ice as it retreats farther north and away from the region. This was further communicated by PBI Species Expert Andy Derochers in an article published by National Geographic.

Polar Bears International’s website has a great video illustration of the sea ice loss and temperature trends of the Arctic on their website. Click on the image below to see the video on their website.

Canadian Tourism Commission Goes Viral

Monday, February 15th, 2010

The Canadian Tourism Commission spent over a year filming and photographing destinations and adventures all across Canada. In total, they captured over 2,500 photos, 2,700 b-roll clips and 300-plus videos for their social media channels such as YouTube.

We had the opportunity to host them last autumn in Churchill. Here are the videos that were produced!

Travel Manitoba

Thursday, February 11th, 2010

We have a great relationship with Travel Manitoba, a Destination Marketing Organization that promotes Manitoba as an awesome place to vacation. We found a great video they posted on their YouTube channel of 3 excited tourists on one of our Tundra Buggy adventures. They also were able to participate in a dogsledding adventure.

Check it out!

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