Arriving in Churchill

Late October of 2023 I traveled to Churchill, Canada to photograph Polar Bears. My trip began with a flight from Cincinnati to Toronto and then to Winnipeg. I spent the night in Winnipeg and woke up to about 4 inches of new snow.  

After a delay at the airport while they cleared the recent snow off our Calm Air Twin Prop ATR 42, we took off for Churchill. We made a short stop in Thompson for fuel and arrived in Churchill late morning. 

On the flight to Churchill, I introduced myself to Zac Mills of The Wildlife Collective who was leading a photo tour of his own. Zac was a very nice guy who I would like to join on a workshop someday.

Our First Polar Bear

We spotted our first bear close to Hudson Bay in some tall willow thickets. It was a lone female polar bear that found a dead seal and carried it into the thickets. After watching her for a while she moved off into the rocks and found a protected place to rest. 

Churchill attracts polar bears in early winter after they spend the summer in the interior in a state of pseudo hibernation. Polar Bears go all summer eating very little while they wait for Hudson Bay to freeze. They use the ice as cover when hunting seals. They wait for them to pop up in holes in the ice to breathe.

Churchill is one of the best places to see polar bears because it is where the Churchill River empties into the Hudson Bay. The freshwater of the river freezes earlier than the saltwater of the bay.

Golf Balls, Miss Piggy and the Sea Wall Murals

In 2017, the Sea Walls Program created 18 murals on various buildings and structures in Churchill. Sea Walls: Artists for Oceans is a program to bring the message of ocean conservation to  streets around the world. 

The structures painted included the abandoned radar site that the locals call the “Golf Balls” and the C-46 cargo aircraft that crashed in 1979 called “Miss Piggy”. One side of the Polar Bear Holding Facility was also painted with a giant sleeping polar bear. 

Willow Ptarmigan in Churchill

Willow Ptarmigan

There were a number of Willow Ptarmigan on the ground around Churchill. They are known as the “chicken of the tundra” and have feathers on their feet to help them walk on the snow.

Ptarmigan are white in the winter and a mixture of reds and browns in the summer providing excellent camouflage.

Release from Polar Bear Holding Facility

Our guide Karine Genest found out that the following morning they would be releasing a polar bear from the Polar Bear Jail. Polar Bears that get too close to town are captured and sent to jail for 30 days or more and then released.

We got there early and waited in the cold for the release. There was a film crew there on the ground and in a helicopter to document the release. They brought out a sedated large male polar bear and loaded him into a large cargo net. A helicopter arrived and landed near the bear. A cable was attached to the cargo net with the polar bear inside and it gently lifted him off the ground.

The helicopter carefully took off with the bear hanging below in a cargo net. It then left the area for an unknown site outside of town with the hope that he will not returned to town in the future.

Red Fox in Town of Churchill

A Pair of Red Foxes in Town

As we were heading into town the next morning we found a pair of red foxes. There are two species of fox in the Hudson Bay area, Red Fox and Arctic Fox. There are three color morphs of the red fox, the red, silver and cross morphs.

Female Polar Bear at Ithaca Point

Close Encounter at Ithaca Point

The next day we found what we believed to be the same female polar bear we saw on the rocks the first day. She was traveling along the Hudson Bay coast. Our guide believed that she was on her way to Ithaca Point in Bird Cove.

Ithaca point is named for the shipwreck of the Ithaca, a 280 foot long British steamship that ran aground in 1960 in a windstorm. At low tide you can actually walk to the shipwreck.

We set up along the shore in anticipation of her arrival and she approached us within a few yards. It was our closest encounter of the trip.

Early the next morning, there was a bear reported in town. I suspect it was the same bear.

Male Bear Waiting in Snowstorm in Churchill

Male Bear Waiting in Snowstorm

Our guide, Kenny, found a male bear in the distance resting near some water not far from the Hudson Bay. He had been waiting quite a while in the cold, wind and snow.

After watching for a while, he finally got up and moved off toward the bay.

Mother Bear and Cub

Everyday we would go by a small pond behind the shooting range where a mother polar bear and cub were sleeping on the far shore. They were waiting for the bay to freeze.

Day after day we returned to check on them and did not see much movement. Most of the time it was cold, windy and snowy as we waited on the opposite side of the pond.

Finally on the last visit of our last day, they started to stir. They both woke up, yawned, stretched and rolled in the snow. Then as they slowly moved off, I imagined them making their way to the Hudson Bay to check for ice.

You can see more images in my Churchill Image Gallery.