Like the wolf, we travel in packs as evidenced on our day off. All 11 of us boarded a school bus with Sheldon our tour guide for a nature tour of Churchill. Our first stop was "Bird Cove" on the shore of Hudson Bay overlooking the Ithaca, a ship that grounded in 1969. We spotted different species of a pair of pipets, Bonaparte gulls, tundra geese, Canada geese, White Crowned sparrows, lichen, and plants. Sheldon explained that the Tundra geese are unwelcomed because they eat the entire plant, including the root, which destroys the ground cover and food supply of other species dependent upon those plants. Sheldon also drove us to the most likely locations to spot a polar bear but none were sighted although his efforts are greatly appreciated. Many ring seals,harbor seals, and beluga whales were spotted while climbing on the rocks at Cape Merry. Around 2:30 Sheldon had enough of us and left us on our own in town--one main street, 3 gift shops, one restaurant, a community center which includes the school, the hospital, nursing home, and curling rink; a liquor store, bank, and post office. Pete met us at Gypsy's, the restaurant, and delivered us to the dock to load the zodiaks for our beluga whale watch.
Our group was divided for the first time all week because the zodiaks held 6 people each. We doubted the mentality of our guide when he drove the boat onto an ice floe in the Hudson Bay. We unloaded onto the ice floe for another group photo, because we had not taken our quota of 7 per day yet. Never in one million years did I think I would be standing on an ice floe in the Hudson Bay!
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