Churchill Manitoba: Everywhere Fireweed

Manitoba Landscape: Upland is Rocky and Slightly Dryer

Landscape of Subarctic Manitoba near Churchill

The definitions of Taiga (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taiga) and Tundra (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tundra) describe distinct biomes. I find the distinctions difficult to separate near Churchill. Taiga is generally treed and without permafrost. Tundra is treeless and has permafrost.

The land around Churchill has permafrost and also trees, although the trees would not constitute a forest.

Churchill has polar bears rather than grizzlies, although, interestingly, these two plus black bears have all been spotted near each other in more forested areas of subarctic Canada.

I cite Wikipedia as introductions to the regions. There is and will continue to be much research about arctic and subarctic regions.

Murmuration and Fireweed

Polar Bear, Churchill MB

At this time of year there were few polar bears. I was three in all. They are still back away from Hudson Bay, with little to eat and so looking gaunt and muddy.

They are extremely strong swimmers. As soon as the ice pack begins to form in the Bay they go to it and begin to feed on seals. They remain on the ice throughout the winter and do not come ashore again until the ice is gone.

Climate change does not bode well for this life cycle.

Manitoba: Looking Directly Toward Hudson Bay Near Churchill

The day we were here at Prince of Wales Fort National Historic Site, across the Churchill River from Churchill, there were two polar bears in and out of the river and walking along the shore.

Visitors to that shore and the fort, and guides and masons working at the fort, are guarded every day by men on 4-wheelers with rifles capable of “lethality.”

We never saw those bears and were hurried along into the fort and back again to the boats. The bear danger is not taken casually.

Churchill River Near Churchill, Manitoba: Beluga Whales

Chuchill Manitoba: Grain Elevator

Poised at the mouth of the Churchill River in northern Manitoba are Churchill and this huge grain elevator.

In the foreground one can also see the backs of beluga whales, living in the mouth of the river by the thousands, feeding and raising calves.

A rail line that originates in Winnipeg and winds out into Saskatchewan brings grains from interior midwestern Canada to this northern subarctic port, from which they are shipped to Europe.

When the train line was severely damaged three years ago, it looked for a while as though it would not be rebuilt. This would have been disastrous for Churchill and the people who live there as well as for the hundreds of farmers who grow and ship grain.

Ultimately cooler heads prevailed.

Manitoba: One in Every Crowd

Larch and Cattails in Northern Minnesota

Wetlands and Forest of Northern Minnesota

Historic Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island, MI from Mackinac Bridge

Tenderness

The Boathouse at Covewood on Big Moose Lake

A Floating Bridge Crosses the Outlet of Big Moose Lake

Geraniums at Covewood

The Start of a Long Jaunt Around the Lake

Loons Fishing on Big Moose Lake

Loon Scoping for Fish

Lake Light

New Swimming Raft at Rap-Shaw

Tug Hill: Lacona Clock Tower

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lacona_Clock_Tower

Tug Hill: Rocky Happy Face

Tug Hill: Chicken Family

Tug Hill: The CCC Camp at Winona State Forest

Where Tug Hill Drops into the Black River Valley

Adirondacks: Evening Light (time-lapse, and do watch to the end!)

Tug Hill Landscape

Tug Hill: Cream and Blue Home and Flag

Tug Hill: School Bus Shelter

Tug Hill: Fish Creek at Flood

Tug Hill: Wild Variety