Chilly Weather and Antarctic Team Departs

Churchill is at 58° North latitude, and with winter coming on the sun doesn’t come up until 7:30 in the morning. It wanders around the sky a bit, but by 5:00 PM it is pretty dark. For somebody based in Florida as I am, it feels an awful lot like winter, with daytime temperatures in the neighborhood of 10 to 18 °F (-12 to -8 °C). The wind was howling last night, and this morning it is ‘breezy’ to say the least. We will be loading up our Tundra Buggy to go out to the polar bears today. Our Antarctic crew is also leaving for Chile later

Tundra Buggy One

today, so things might be spotty for a day or two. We will post words and images as we are able.
Around noon we loaded up a four-wheel-drive truck and drove to “The Launch” at the old site of Fort Churchill. Close to the shore of Hudson Bay, The Launch was a missile range that was used by the Canadian Forces and the US Army until 1970, and then used to fire rockets for atmospheric research until 1985. Now it is used to launch tundra buggies for ecotourists to view wildlife. It was a blustery day that culminated in a proper blizzard. We loaded our gear onto Tundra Buggy One, which Frontiers North, operator of Tundra Buggy Lodge, graciously provides to PBI for their outreach activities, including the webcasts our group will be doing this week.

Polar bear lounging in the snow

After very slow progress on Tundra Buggy One, we spotted a polar bear lying in the snow at the base of a small drift. This animal looked pretty bedraggled as the snow swirled around it. Further on we spotted an Arctic Hare, which was very cooperative and sat still feeding as we fired away with our cameras. Minutes later we watched a ptarmigan bobbing its head. Just as we were wondering if the weather had kept down the owls and raptors that normally keep hares and ptarmigans in hiding, a ‘teen-age’ polar bear exploded out of the snow, flusing what turned out to be THREE ptarmigan. This bear then strolled toward our buggy, crossed behind it, and then disappeared into the fog of swirling snow on the other side. Michael got some lovely shots, one of which is posted here.

Arctic hare

Appropriately exhilarated, we traveled to the Tundra Buggy Lodge, which is a train of tundra cars including sleeping quarters with bunk beds, a lounge, and a dining car. We settled in as guests of the Lodge, had a glass of wine with the guests, and were fed a glorious dinner of Arctic char. Thea gave a talk on polar bears after dinner. We did not last long after that and flopped into bed with the wind howling around the lodge, shaking the cars.
-Rich