Braveheart has a den
October 23, 2010 – 8:00 PM CDT
With Lily and Hope in a den, we turned our attention toward Braveheart. We hadn’t received a GPS reading from her since 5 PM Thursday Oct 21. She had moved back to that beautiful-but-difficult-to-get-to cedar swamp on Oct 17 and the last 24 hours of GPS readings all had come from a single location. We suspected she had a den. We were right.
Today we avoided the steep descent into the swamp by hiking further to where the slope gentled. As we entered the swamp we were once again mesmerized by the size of the cedar trees – huge diameter stately trees. We called the familiar “It’s me, bear. It’s me, Braveheart” as we worked our way toward her location.
Sue recognized the bed under a cedar where she had found Braveheart on Oct 7. As we stood at the bed site, Braveheart’s radio-signal was loud. We were close. Nearby was the root mound of a fallen cedar, and there, through an opening, we could see the silhouette of an ear. We worked our way around to the den opening—there was Braveheart in all her glory.
There didn’t appear to be any raking done around the den. However, Braveheart had broken some branches and stripped cedar bark near the den for bedding. Perhaps she will rake more bedding in over the next few days.
She was very relaxed—unlike the day we found her in the narrow rock den when she was blowing and blustery. We coaxed her out with a few nuts and were able to remove her large GPS-equipped radio-collar and replace it with a smaller collar (see 'after' picture below). Now she will be better able to curl up in her den this winter. She was wonderful. Couldn’t ask for a nicer bear. As Lynn likes to say “She didn’t say a bad word.”
We took the short steep route out of the swamp and then rested at the top a bit to catch our breath and enjoy the view.
Lots of folks are asking about whether Lily and Hope’s den will be good for a den cam. We think so. There are lots of particulars to work out, but we will put a camera in their den if at all possible. We want to see what transpires in that den this winter at least as much as you all do!
Meanwhile, your hard work to maintain the Ely School District’s lead in the school contest is admirable. The $20,000 prize money would be a huge boost to the local school and help to demonstrate the value of the research and the radio-collared bears to the community. To vote go to http://www.care2.com/schoolcontest/2704/054/.
We thought the interest in the bears and our research would wane when Lily and Hope left the den last spring, but you folks continue to surprise and impress us. You are such a wonderfully talented, creative, dedicated group!
Thank you again for all you do.
Lynn Rogers and Sue Mansfield, Biologists, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center