The first full day in Seal River started with a literal bang, at about 7:30 there was a loud knock on more door with a shout of “bear!” I was awake but half asleep, so I took me a moment to process what was going on. Then a quick rush to get my gear on and join every one outside to find a male polar bear ambling along the compound fence.
We watched from the safety of the fence as the bear nosed around checking every thing out. He was joined after a bit by another young male. As the explored and nosed around they would start sparing - not a true battle but practicing their skills for when it comes time to challenge for a female at mating season.
We were a bit late to breakfast watching the bears spar, break apart to rest, and then spar again. An arctic fox also ambled into the area at one point. What a start to the day! Everyone was coaxed inside with promises that the bears likely wouldn’t wander far.
After breakfast we went out looking for the males, they had wandered off down the runway. We found them resting after a bit, and then the cycle started again of them sparing. We were able to follow them for a bit and get decently close. We got some amazing pictures of them, and apparently this behaviour is a bit unusual for this time of year as the bears normally are conserving energy at the end of the fasting season. But these chonky boys were more than happy to put on a show.
We thought our morning was amazing, but we got word from the lodge that a mama and two cubs were walking past. We hurried back to try and see them, but unfortunately she moved too quickly along the shore. So we went inside for lunch.
Our afternoon walk, it was reported a bear was spotted near the ponds at the end of the runway, and they suspected it was the Mama. So we went out again, and our luck held! It was a mama and two COY cubs. Cub of the Year means the babies were born within the last 12 months. They were very adorable, but one of the cubs was very cheeky and wanted to come check us out. It led to some amazing pictures before he was getting too close. Not only do we not want to piss off the protective mama, but we don’t want to teach the cubs that humans are nice. Because a lot of them aren’t. So we got to practice our anti bear techniques. We got him to scamper off once, but the cheeky lad came creeping back. So after scaring him off again we moved along.
We found found the two males again. Recently there had been a pair named by the staff Frick and Frack. But it seemed like Frick had kept going leaving Frack behind. Frack had a new friend they named Radiohead, he was named Radiohead because he’d been tagged after a stay in Polar Bear Jail. This time they were just sleeping, we did get some cute pictures and one amazing moment when an arctic fox was trotting by, spotted the bears, and turned and ran off the other way! I got some shots of the fox lined up perfect with one of the bears.
That was the end of the walk for that day, so it was just a stroll back to the lodge before the early sunset. We had appies and adorable hot chocolate with polar bear marshmallows before dinner. Dinner was another delicious treat, and an early night was had by all after a small presentation on Polar Bear behaviour that was interesting. Of course the loss of ice is bad for the bears, but it was interesting to learn about how they are adapting, like hunting belugas in the summer.
A fairly cloudy night, so no real chance at seeing the northern lights. I’m keeping an eye on the forecast, we might get some clearing in a couple days!
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