On the move
October 9, 2010 – 7:30 PM CDT
Once again Lily and Hope forced me away from mundane deskwork. I was monitoring GPS signals on my computer while working bank statements when Lily made a quick abrupt move 0.4 miles northwest. I waited not-so-patiently for 2 hours for another location to appear—then packed up and headed out to find her.
I intercepted Lily as she and Hope were about to cross a forest road. She was a bear on a mission—barely stopping long enough for me to spin her collar around so the GPS would transmit again. Hope was scrambling to keep up. They weren’t posing for pictures today!
Lily was dripping wet. She likely had overheated by being so active on this warm (70F) day with her heavy winter coat. Even the top of her head was wet. Bears typically use their paw to rub water on the top of their head when cooling off. However, Hope was dry.
They began walking south along the road. I knew there were grouse hunters cruising the road so I followed the bears. They had walked and loped along the road for a quarter mile when Lily did an about-face, backtracked 100 feet, and loped off into the woods. I bid them a “Thank you bears!” and headed back to the field station.
Lily is now headed back into the cedar swamp where she spent so much time a few weeks ago.
It’s hard to know what she’s up to. We’re all anxious for her to settle in so we can begin planning in earnest for another den cam. Assuming Lily is pregnant; the educational opportunity a den cam of a mixed-age litter presents is unprecedented. We’ll all learn together.
Jo left her den late morning just long enough for us to get 3 GPS readings. She may have been raking more bedding or just stretching her legs a bit.
No change in location for Juliet or Braveheart. Still hoping Braveheart moves back to that easily accessible dug den she revisited multiple times!
Most of the leaves have fallen. The woods are very ‘crunchy’ and it’s easier to catch sight of the bears without the dense leafy understory so prevalent in this area. This picture of Lily from yesterday shows how open the woods are now.
I have the honor of writing the update tonight so Lynn can spend time with family. He and his granddaughter Veronica were feeding chickadees and red squirrels by hand here at the field station earlier this evening.
Thank you for your donations to both WRI and NABC. You continue to amaze us! Ely School District is maintaining its strong lead in the Care2 school contest (http://www.care2.com/schoolcontest/2704/054/) too—thanks to you!
—Sue Mansfield, Biologist, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center