Churchill Polar Bears 0

Churchill 2021 Polar Bear Season Highlights 5- Bear Portraits

By · On March 24, 2022
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There are few animals that I love to photograph more than polar bears. Here is a collection of images of bears being bears I took during the fantastic 2021 Churchill season guiding for Natural Habitat Adventures. On my previous posts I have shown my favorite types of images of bears, such as mothers with cubs, and sparring. I also love to capture more simple portraits highlighting the majesty of a bear in the harsh but beautiful landscape of northern Manitoba.

It was such a thrill to see the first giant male of the season appear in the willows on the far eastern edge of the wildlife management area. They were delayed in arriving because of a beluga whale carcass 15 miles east down the coast.

Mother bear waking up from a nap in a patch of white spruce boreal forest near Churchill town.

Such a beautiful face- scientist, curious, wild, gorgeous.

I love processing polar bear portraits black and white

Chilling out.

A female bear stops in a patch of old standing fireweed to sniff the air as she moves along thickets of willows .

Stretching after a nap on a beautiful, sunny morning.

A different kind of portrait- of polar bear feet. The pads of the paws are covered with little bumps called papillae, which help with traction on ice. Heavy fur allows them to walk silently over the natal lairs of seals. These feet are much larger in proportion to body size relative to other species of bears, to act like snow shoes.

Naptime. polar bears often cover their nose with their huge paws while sleeping to keep it warm.

A female bear climbs over Canadian shield proto-quartzite with frosted white spruce trees in the background.

It was such an amazing polar bear season with so many highlights. I hope those bears are having a great winter hunting seals on ice of frozen Hudson Bay.

Keep exploring!

Brad


Brad has been a Natural Habitat Expedition Leader since 2005, guiding Alaska grizzly bear tours, Churchill polar bear tours, northern lights expeditions and China panda tours. His specialty is bear biology and ecology of the north country.

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