D


HOW TO GET THERE:


Calm Air offers 13 direct flights per week.


eep in the heart of Canada which, apparently, beats . . . there are more than just fields of golden grain waving in the wind. In the prairie province of Manitoba, on the edge of Hudson Bay, a gateway to the Arctic and Atlantic oceans, beluga whales come to play


by the thousands each summer. Te waters around the Churchill River estuary are host to these graceful mammals in the latter part of July and the first half of August. Belugas are easily identified by their white skin, although the babies are born pink,


dark grey or grey-brown. Tey are the only whales that can turn their heads to give you a curious glance as you pass by in your harbour boat because they have a flexible neck. Tey are nicknamed sea canaries for their bird-like chirping calls. And they talk a lot, vocalizing with whistles, clicks, low grunts and clangs along with their chirps. Tey breed early in summer between April and June, before they migrate to the southwestern shores of Hudson Bay to deliver, then nurse, their newborns which were started 14 to 15 months earlier. Te babies stay with their mothers for the next two years, fading to blue-grey and finally to white as they reach maturity, between six and eight years of life.


Belugas also molt or shed their outer skin in July. Tey accomplish this by rubbing against the bottom of river inlets.


The Hub


Summer 2014 • 21


All photos provided by and taken on tours given by the Lazy Bear Lodge. Kayak photos by Paul Mutch.


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