I just lately returned from a 24-day lengthy expedition to Manitoba, Canada filming for the Flyway of Life challenge, a movie that I’m producing with assist from the Nationwide Audubon Society and Canon USA. The challenge will give attention to the Atlantic flyway and can profile lots of the hen species and animals that make up its huge chain of ecosystems and environments. For this Manitoba expedition, I used to be capable of see true wilderness, making it fairly a problem to get there. However 4 aircraft rides later, I used to be met with breathtaking views, charismatic wildlife, explosive northern lights, and an incredible group of people that name this place house.
For this journey, my workforce and I partnered with Churchill Wild, an ecotourism group primarily based in northern Manitoba that focuses on polar bear excursions. They assist outdoorsmen, expeditionists, photographers, and nature lovers alike get wonderful views of polar bears, wolves, and different wildlife. Churchill Wilds was a pure match as their give attention to sustainability and expertise with northern wildlife made them the right information to assist us inform the story of the flyway and provides an summary of the northern wilderness.
The salt flats and boreal surroundings alongside the Hudson Bay function one of many northernmost factors for hen migration within the Atlantic flyway and filming lots of the birds earlier than the massive migration was a significant topic for the movie shot listing. Once we arrived, lots of the birds we noticed had been getting ready for the journey south. It was breathtaking to see the sheer quantity of our winged mates as northern Manitoba is a convergence level for not solely the Atlantic flyway however for the Mississippi and central flyways as nicely. This is the reason defending this habitat is so vital. Lesser Yellowlegs, American Black Duck, and a complete solid of different waterfowl and shorebirds are current right here. By the point I departed by aircraft on Sept twenty third, lots of the birds had additionally begun their lengthy commute to the south, a path we might primarily share all the best way house.
One of many targets for this journey was to movie the elusive grey wolf, an animal that may be extraordinarily exhausting to search out. Grey wolves may be skittish, and finding them could be a problem with their huge territory sizes and secretive nature. Thankfully, Churchill Wild’s guides had pinpointed some areas the place we’d have one of the best possibilities of discovering them.
As soon as we arrived by Cessna aircraft with Journey Air, we met the workforce: two guides, Adam Reimer and Tyler Warketin, and Nationwide Geographic veteran photographer Jad Davenport. We didn’t must journey removed from the lodge to search out lots of the wolf adults lounging in a thicket. After a six-hour wait, one of many pups poked its head out from the comb to look at the panorama. What got here after that was an hour of filming the wonderful scene that lay earlier than us, among the many most breathtaking wildlife experiences that I’ve ever witnessed.
Whereas not a goal of the movie, polar bears rapidly turned a standard sight whereas out on the mudflats. Pictured above is a body of a ravishing polar bear with Nanuk Polar Bear Lodge within the backdrop. The lodge serves as a sanctuary for us throughout this journey and is surrounded by eight-foot-high fences to discourage massive predators (similar to polar bears) from making an sudden go to!
In case you are eager about following alongside and studying extra about launch particulars for Flyway of Life, you should definitely take a look at flywayfilm.com and subscribe to the publication. Till subsequent time, that is Tomas Koeck wishing you a lot birds, wonderful landscapes, and perhaps even a wolf in your subsequent journey!
