Churchill Northern Studies Centre

Ever wonder what a summer in the subarctic looks like? ✨❄️🌿

These photos offer just a glimpse into the summer magic of Churchill. With long northern sunsets, incredible wildlife, hands-on science, and unforgettable experiences, Churchill is one of the most unique places in Canada.

Churchill Science is still accepting applicants for this summer’s Volunteer Expedition. If you’re passionate about science, conservation, adventure, and experiencing the North, we’d love to hear from you.

Come experience Churchill for yourself 🌎

📍 Churchill, Manitoba
📩 Applications are still open for Summer 2026

Not pictured: the thousands of belugas that migrate to the Churchill estuary every summer

https://churchillscience.ca/visit/volunteer/

We’re Celebrating a Milestone: 50 Years of Excellence! 🎉

The Churchill Northern Studies Centre is celebrating 50 years, and we’re bringing everyone together to mark the occasion.

This special evening will honour the individuals, partnerships, and experiences that have contributed to the CNSC’s success over the past five decades. Whether you’ve had the privilege of visiting, working, partnering, or supporting us from afar, you are an integral part of our story.

We look forward to reuniting, reflecting, and celebrating our collective achievements.

✨ More details coming soon—stay tuned!

https://churchillscience.ca/support/

Subarctic Saturdays: Whimbrels ✨

Whimbrels are one of the more fascinating birds to arrive in Churchill every spring. Having spent most of the year in South America, these interesting shorebirds will nest on the open tundra of northern Canada, where their trilling call reminiscent of an eagles, can be heard throughout the landscape.

Whimbrels use their uniquely long curved bill to feast on crabs and other small invertebrates in mud flats and tidal areas. The shape of their bill actually perfectly matches the shape of a fiddler crab burrow, which is their main prey item.

The genus of the whimbrel is Numenius, which in Greek means "new moon", a reference to the crescent moon shape of the whimbrels bill.

📷: Nicole Richardson, Doug McRae

Would you believe it if we told you all these photos were taken with a cell phone? 🌌📱

Capturing the Northern Lights doesn’t require fancy gear or expensive cameras. With the right settings, a little patience, and dark skies, you can capture the aurora too.

Learn how to get the shot with our latest blog post 👇

https://churchillscience.ca/how-to-take-pictures-of-the-northern-lights/

✨ Ready to test your skills in person? Registration for our 2027 Winter Skies programs is now open!

Thanks to the incredible support of our community and donors, Nourish the North has officially launched! 🌱 This program is designed to make fresh, locally grown greens more accessible for households in Churchill, with subsidized Launch Box subscriptions available for those facing cost barriers.

🥬 Launch Boxes include fresh lettuce and herbs harvested from our farm, packed in reusable bags and delivered locally. This program is about neighbours supporting neighbours and strengthening our local food system together.

🚀 We are now building our sign-up list. If you are interested in participating, have questions, or would like to learn more:
📧 email [email protected]
📩 or send us a DM here on Facebook or Instagram

💚 Thank you for helping make locally grown food more accessible in our community.

We're hiring our next Research Technician!👨‍🔬

Looking for a job that gets you outside, on the land, and involved in real northern research? The CNSC is looking for a Research Technician to join our team in Churchill.

This role is a mix of hands-on fieldwork, lab support, and day-to-day research logistics. You could find yourself monitoring local flora and fauna, maintaining equipment, supporting visiting researchers, or helping with education and outreach programs.

What makes this position unique is the place. You’ll be working in a truly northern environment, learning from researchers and gaining experience you just can’t get anywhere else.

Please submit applications to [email protected] by Friday January 30th.

https://churchillscience.ca/about/careers/

As the year comes to a close, there’s still time to make a lasting impact in Churchill! Your support helps fund Nourish the North, our program making fresh, locally grown greens accessible to everyone in town.

🥬 Every Launch Box includes crisp lettuce and herbs harvested from our farm, packed in reusable bags and delivered directly to people’s doors, shortening the distance from farm to table and strengthening our local food system.

🚀 With dollar-for-dollar matching, every gift goes twice as far towards free subsidized subscriptions for families in our community.

💚 Make your year-end donation through the link in our bio and help us grow a more just, sustainable food future for Churchill.

https://churchillscience.ca/support/

Subarctic Saturdays: Willow Ptarmigan ❄

Willow Ptarmigan are a characteristic species of the Arctic, subarctic, and subalpine regions of the northern hemisphere. Their plumage undergoes 3 colour changes throughout the year starting with a snowy white in the winter, but then gradually developing a mottled brown appearance in the spring starting from the head and neck down, until they are almost completely brown by summer.

A thick mat of feathers on the soles of their feet and toes help insulate and make walking on snow easier, while their claws grow longer in the winter to compensate for the added wear of scratching through the ice and crusted snow while looking for food.

While they blend into their surroundings well, once spotted they can be very conspicuous, often walking very close to onlookers or begrudgingly moving for vehicles.

📸: Curtis Hull

One of the best places in Churchill to see the landscape change throughout the seasons is at the Woodwell Climate research weather station, located within the large fen about 10 km away from the Churchill Northern Studies Centre. One of the main research objectives of this station is to track CO2 and CH4 (Carbon dioxide and Methane), using the eddy covariance method, which directly measures greenhouse gasses as they move between soils, plants, and the atmosphere.

For tens of thousands of years the Arctic and its permafrost has been a carbon sink, meaning it sequesters more carbon than it releases. This may change however with increasing permafrost melt, causing the Arctic to become a net carbon and methane release source. With data from this tower and 39 others like it across the Arctic, the goal is to have permafrost carbon emissions accounted for in global climate policy.

Our science staff visits this weather station every couple weeks to clean the instruments sensors and make sure it is functioning properly. This gives us the chance to see how this unique landscape changes throughout the year.

In order, the photos were taken in April, July, October, and November 2025.

Subarctic Saturdays: Snowshoe and Arctic Hare 🐰

Can you spot the hare in this photo? The Churchill area is home to both snowshoe hare and Arctic hare, two very similar species, with the main differences being size and habitat selection. The Arctic hare is up to 3 times larger then the snowshoe hare, and prefers the open tundra, while the snowshoe hare is mostly found in the boreal forest.

Both species are perfectly camouflaged in the winter time with a pure white coat, which they will then shed come springtime for a brown/grey coat to better hide amongst the rocky landscape.

Snowshoe Hare and Lynx share one of the most recognizable and closely linked predator/prey relationships in the animal kingdom. Fur trading records as far back as the 1700's show a direct correlation between the two species. When hares have a population boom or decline, so too does the Lynx population within the next two years.

📸: Kate Branson, Curtis Hull