A lovely female Polar Bear.
It was a beautifully sunny yet very chilly day in Churchill. As we drove along we spotted this gorgeous female Polar Bear sitting high on a ridge surveying the territory around her. Suddenly she stretched and slid down the bank of snow. She wandered off into the willow but emerged later on and began eating roots. She was here in Churchill waiting for the sea to freeze so she could then hunt seals.
Polar Bears congregate on the tundra close to Hudson’s Bay, Churchill, because this is the place they know where the bay will freeze over first and they will be able to hunt seals and have their first substantial meal in months. The bay freezes first at this location because the fresh water from the Churchill river enters the bay, reduces its salinity and hence it freezes over earlier than the rest of the bay. It’s a waiting game. It was cold when we were there but not cold enough to freeze the sea. Within a week or so of this being filmed, the temperatures plummeted and the bay began to freeze over. The Polar Bears will soon have gone from around Churchill in search of seals which will haul out on the new ice.