Yes indeed! Pretty much right in town on the water. I spent most of the day uploading photos and supporting the research team in loading-unloading and transporting to and from the boat. After the afternoon pickup from the boat, one of the team says "look, there's a Polar bear right there in town". We were all sort of in disbelief, but there it was, for all five of us to see! (Witnesses!) He moved left and right, then made a brief gallop. We heard that he retreated into the water. We also heard that he was first sighted on 8th street. There are no street signs in town, but as it turns out, 8th is the street that the bunkhouse is on! I was on a quick trip to the harbor to retrieve the team so I DID NOT HAVE MY CAMERA. Can you believe it? Hundreds of pictures in two days, annoying everyone with non-stop photos, but no camera this time. And it seemed to be closer than anyone had seen a polar bear. OK, gotta go for now so I can upload some more photos. Thanks for listening, Jill
Carrie and Tara prepare to load and launch for another day of sampling.
The USFWS bunkhouse that houses all of us. Thank you to USFWS!
The bunkhouse is headquarters for the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
This is the desk in the library of the school where I spend the time necessary to upload these photos. I can see the airport hangar in the distance on the far side of the harbor.
This is where we saw the Polar Bear. No kidding! At the bend between town and the airport, near the waters edge.
Another night of data collecting for Stephanie Smith.
Another night of data collecting for Carrie Harris also.