A number of times now over the years I’ve had the opportunity to travel in both the Scandinavian and Canadian Arctic to photograph polar bears. I’d have to say that the most memorable excursion was to the Wapusk National Park along the shore of the Hudson near the town of Churchill, Manitoba. In late October into mid-November the bears gather here in large numbers waiting for the ice to form on the Hudson Bay so they can head out to hunt ring seal for the winter. This gathering makes for the possibility of capturing some wonderful images.

Here are just a few favorites photos as well as some video I shot during that trip. I also encourage you to check out Polar Bears International for great information including links to live polar bear web cams showing the tundra near and hopefully the bears in their natural habitat.

From the wonderful organization, “Polar Bears International“…

It’s early November. It’s cold. It’s snowy. And polar bears are waiting for the sea ice to form. It’s Polar Bear Week!

Polar Bear Week coincides with the fall polar bear migration to Churchill, Manitoba, where polar bears gather to wait for freeze-up on Hudson Bay so they can return to hunting seals. During Polar Bear Week, we focus on the importance of sea ice to polar bear survival.

The 2016 event is October 30-November 5. Join us by taking the Energy Challenge to sustain a future for the bears. Here’s your day-by-day invite: …read more on the Polar Bears Internationals site.

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“Polar Bear Reflection”

Here’s a newly released image captured during a recent Photo Tour I held in the Arctic chain of islands called Svalbard. We had great light, weather, lots of pack-ice and plenty of wildlife to photograph, including this polar bear checking out its reflection. This is part of my limited edition series and may be purchased on my sister site at this link.

I’m also offering several framed images on sale over the Labor Day weekend so check out this post for BIG savings!

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Photo of the Day

Polar Bears of the Wapusk-1

It’s mid November and the polar bears of the Wapusk National Park in Manitoba, Canada have gathered. It’s not for their annual visit to the dentist as it may appear in this Photo of the Day by David C. Schultz but they’ve come here along the shores of the Hudson Bay waiting for it to freeze. Once the Bay has frozen over the bears will head out onto the ice to begin the long brutally cold winter hunt searching for signs of their primary food source, ringed seal.

Wapusk is a variation of the Cree Indian word meaning “white bear”. The National Park, which covers an area of 4,430 sq. miles, is home to one of the largest polar bear maternity denning areas in the world. Cape Churchill, which is within the Parks boundary, is well known as an ideal location to get up close with these beautiful animals and a perfect locations for photographers like David.

“The temperature was about minus 20 that beautiful but very windy afternoon and within the confines of our tundra buggy we waited for about three hours for these bears to wake for their nap and hopefully put on a show. It was a difficult shot, or series of shoots to capture not only due to the wind and cold but also because the scene was back-lit and was white-on-white. There was plenty of time to take a few “practice shots” so I could check my histogram giving me some peace of mind that at least my exposure would be right once the action started.”

The Wapusk National Park is accessible either by helicopter or by a specialized vehicle called a tundra buggy from nearby Churchill, Manitoba which is known as the polar bear capital of the world. On this trip David stayed for 5 nights on the tundra in “The Tundra Buggy Lodge” at Cape Churchill which is about a 6 hour very bumpy buggy ride from town. If you’d like to see the conditions he faced please check out the video below.

Thanks for your comments, Likes and Shares!

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