After a few warm days to start leaf-out on the bushes and trees, cooler weather stalled the process. Today things changed with temperatures in the 70’s. Leaves were enlarging before our eyes. Actually, juneberry, pincherry, and blueberry bushes had formed blossoms that were about to burst or starting to burst yesterday. Today, they opened.
Does all that photosynthesis put an odor of new growth in the air? How do bears respond to these bursts of growth? Travel today was moderate. Of the 3 mothers with cubs, Lily and her family were the champion travelers at 1.62 miles. Jo and her cub were second at 1.12, and June led her two cubs 1.02 miles as determined by GPS locations.
In other bear news, Dot (11) was due to have cubs this year but apparently skipped like her sister Donna did last year. We look forward to seeing if Donna has cubs this year. Unfortunately, she left her collar at her den, so all we can do is wait until she is spotted somewhere. Her den was on an island out in a marsh that has too much vegetation to canoe and too much water to wade yet. We don’t know how she got the cubs to the mainland.
The magnolia warbler, one of the prettiest warblers, is back. A neat thing about this area is the birds. The Superior National Forest here has more kinds of breeding birds (155 species) than any other national forest.
The staff at the North American Bear Center, on behalf of Ted, Lucky, and Honey, say thank you for the dried fruits and peanuts you have been sending. A big hit.
Hunter, guide, researcher, blogger, author T. R. Michels continues to work toward protection of the radio-collared bears. He is both a hunter and a researcher and he can see the big picture and how valuable the radio-collared bears are as part of that picture. Please check in and leave comments on his Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/pages/Protect-Minnesotas-Research-Bears/160331730697185 . He will take your comments to the Commissioner and the Legislature. He is effective in what he does.
As part of all that, what a great job John Lauritsen and WCCO-TV did on the broadcast about Lily and Hope a couple nights ago. You could tell by the inflections in John’s narration that his heart was in it. It’s the kind of reporting that can make a difference http://minnesota.cbslocal.com/2011/05/16/the-legal-bounty-put-on-radio-collared-bears/. We noticed that the video of the broadcast ends prematurely but maybe that is just on our computers.
The link to show support for making the black bear Minnesota’s state mammal is at http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/BlackBear-MNState-Mammal/. Anyone, anywhere, of all ages, can sign it if you have an email address.
Something BIG starts tonight at midnight! The start of an important week of voting to help our friends at the International Wolf Center win up to $500,000 after all the help they have given us. The International Wolf Center is in Ely, and the better they can be the better it is for the Bear Center. To link to vote is http://apps.facebook.com/chasecommunitygiving/charities/411543539-international-wolf-center?src=twitter Voting ends May 25.
Congratulations again on putting Ely in the money in the Readers Digest contest that ended May 16. The word from the mayor is that he plans to divide the money between the high school, grade school, and Vermilion Community College. The college has already begun to help the North American Bear Center—much appreciated—and plans to do more that will help us while training students and getting them experience. A win-win with your help. Thank you.
Thank you for all you are doing.
—Lynn Rogers and Sue Mansfield, Biologists, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center