Polar bears, or nanook as they are called by the natives,
are the great wanderers of the frozen north. They constantly
roam hundreds of miles across the frozen arctic in search of
food, living among the shifting ice sheets and ice flows
around the land. The ice is survival for the polar bears. It
is also the point from which they search of their prime food
source: seals. Read more on polar
bears in Matt Patterson's wildlifewatcher.com posting.
Churchill,
Manitoba Canada
Churchill,
Manitoba Canada, is one of the most accessible places to
view polar bears. When first visited by National Geographic in
the early 1980's, Churchill seemed a very remote place. It is
actually only about a two and a half hour plane ride from
Winnipeg, Manitoba. Churchill is a relatively unique place
since it not only provides a home for humans, but also for the
most southern population of polar bears. The bears gather
around Churchill because it has a shelf that helps the pack
ice to form around this area first. While bears can
occasionally be seen in Churchill in the summer, the best time
to visit is October and November as freeze-up begins.
Great
Smoky Mountains National Park
If, as the seasons are changing, your thoughts are
wandering south rather than North, consider Great
Smoky Mountains National Park, in particular the Cades
Cove area at the western end of the park. Cades Cove became a
pioneer settlement in the early 1800s, situated in a lovely
valley between two mountain ridges, and at one point in time
was home to some 700 people. Very few of the human-made
structures remain today and the Cove hosts an eleven-mile
one-way auto tour around the valley's interior that is one of
the Park's most popular attractions. The main attraction here
are the abundant whitetail deer that graze peacefully on the
gently rolling pastures of the Cove and are easily approached
by the careful visitor. The best time for deer is after the
rut begins in the fall and through the winter months. If you
are fortunate enough to be there when snow falls, all the
better.
Piedmont
National Wildlife Refuge
Another great southern destination is the Piedmont
National Wildlife Refuge. Located approximately 75 miles
south of Atlanta, "as the crow flies," the Piedmont
NWR is just north of the bustling City of Macon, and very near
to the geographical center of the state of Georgia. The refuge
is located on slightly more than 34,000 acres of land that,
prior to 1939 when the US Fish and Wildlife Service obtained
it, had been denuded and totally depleted by human abuse and
neglect. Erosion had almost dealt the final blow when the idea
of a refuge was born. Deep depressions in the land became
ponds that now provide rest and sustenance for migrating
waterfowl. Other wildlife that can be found here are
white-tailed deer and the occasional black bear, turkeys,
foxes, raccoons, beavers, fox squirrels, and otters.
Featured
Correspondent:
Robert Falls, Southeast Region Correspondent
Robert Falls is a full-time professional wildlife and
nature photographer, based in Birmingham, Alabama. With more
than twenty years experience, Robert's work has been published
in every form currently available, including CD-ROM and
Internet, and has been included in numerous books. In addition
to photography, Robert also writes about environmental
subjects. Robert's recently published book, "Exploring
Gulf Islands National Seashore" A Falcon Guide by the
Globe Pequot Press: is available at Falcon
Books, or in bookstores nationwide.
