Journey to Churchill

I had hoped on a visit on Saturday that I would be able to pick at least one image to post but I find it is always a throw of the dice as to the bears not being around or the water in their pool being so murky that it is difficult to see, never mind photographing, the bears. That was the case on Saturday so I brought some other recent images into play.

The pose of the polar bear makes this image for me. Over time the bears have become indifferent to the humans and so it is rare to get eye to eye contact with them.

Nikon D7100
AF-S Nikkor 18-140mm
f4.5 1/1000 42mm

Taken May 25, 2017.

Posted by Jan Bjorklund on Sun, 07/16/17 22:06
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Comments by Jan Bjorklund on Sun, 07/16/17 22:07

It was a cold day in January and the glass on their outside enclosure was partially frosted over and I liked the ghost like feel of this polar bear as it moved through the snow.


Comments by Jan Bjorklund on Sun, 07/16/17 22:07

Taken this past Saturday as one of the polar bears dived in their pool. The slight golden hue of the water at the top created the sense of movement for me.


Comments by Jan Bjorklund on Sun, 07/16/17 22:08

nothing better than a roll in the snow at -25C


Comments by S Roter on Tue, 07/18/17 22:52

Another great series of images of the Polar bears


Comments by Bruce Hunter on Wed, 07/19/17 13:19

Again, I'm impressed by the variety of your Polar Bear collection.


Comments by Jan Bjorklund on Wed, 07/19/17 13:38

There was an unfortunate incident with Eli one of the younger polar bears who passed away on Saturday. Apparently on Friday it was noticed by the keepers that he was not eating and not socializing with the other bears and that worsened on Saturday and when he was put under anaesthetic he died. There seems to have been a constriction in the throat but the full autopsy will not be available for a couple of weeks.

Eli came to Journey to Churchill exhibit with his brother when he was about 11 months old after his mother had died in the Churchill area. It was felt that at that age the polar bears would have not have survived into adulthood.


Comments by Jan Bjorklund on Wed, 07/19/17 20:31

There is a small window at one end of the tunnel through the polar bear's pool which allows for some interesting silhouette shots of the bears... I have the sense of this bear swimming through ice.

Nik detail extractor
silver efex pro2 film noir 1


Comments by Jan Bjorklund on Wed, 07/19/17 20:32

Hudson diving with a toy.


Comments by Jan Bjorklund on Fri, 07/21/17 20:23

taken this past Saturday... fascinated by the graceful nature of the polar bears

auto contrast
Nik silver efex pro2 soft sepia


Comments by Jan Bjorklund on Fri, 07/21/17 20:23

2 of the polar bears watching all seal tv all the time


Comments by Jan Bjorklund on Tue, 08/01/17 13:17

The autopsy was completed on the polar bear that died and it is a situation of blunt force trauma which resulted either from another bear (bears do wrestle and play pretty rough) or a fall from one of the large rocks in the bear's enclosure.

Without knowing what caused Eli's injury, it's hard to prevent it from happening again.

"The keepers look over the enclosure every day as a routine thing anyways, and we haven't been able to find any spot that likely would have led to it."

Despite the lack of answers, staff haven't given up on finding a cause and are reviewing video that are taken on a daily basis from different angles.