Monday, March 19, 2012

Polar Bear Newborn Cubs - Day Two

Day two - still no bears. Weather poor to start today. High winds, blowing snow. Thick cloud cover for most of the day. We covered about 50km rumbling across the tundra visiting various spots.

Bears like to den in the peaty edges of frozen lakes where the snow has drifted in and built up. We spend the day crawling along the edges of waterways looking for signs of dens or tracks indicating activity. Rain in February froze and new snow blows easily off the hard surface. This is making tracking hard as footprints don't last long in the wind.

The skies cleared late in the day giving patches of sunshine.

No bears is difficult to handle but we were provided with a consolation prize courtesy of the heavens. The clearing sky and darkening night combined to provide a brilliant Aurora Borealis display. 

Enjoy.