Naturalist and photographer Bob Bittenbender, of Windham, will discuss and show slides of the polar bears of Hudson Bay at Gilsland Farm Audubon Center on Monday, Feb. 19.

The program runs from 7 to 8:30 p.m. in Falmouth.

Bittenbender, who has visited Churchill, Manitoba twice to see polar bears, will talk about the natural history of the stark, sub-arctic landscape where the world’s largest terrestrial carnivores live and show close-range slides of the bears as well as the town of Churchill and the tundra buggies from which the animals can be watched.

Every fall more than 1,000 polar bears gather along the west shore of Hudson Bay to wait for the sea ice to form and give them access to the seals on which they feed. During the few weeks from mid October to early November these normally solitary bears are easily observed and photographed at close range from the safety of a tundra buggy.

Bittenbender’s talk is in anticipation of a Maine Audubon public tour to see the polar bears of Churchill, which he will co-lead in November.

For more information on this free program or Maine Audubon’s polar bear tour, call (207) 781-2330, ext. 217, or e-mail mhuber@maineaudubon.org.