Lily & Faith's well-used bed - Oct 7, 2011Lily’s GPS batteries were near the end of their life, so we headed into the dense cedar swamp to change them. Lily and Faith had a cushy bed of moss about 10 feet from a possible den site—a sheltered hollow under the upturned roots of a down cedar tree. There was no sign they had explored it, though—and no raking.
potential den near bedsite
We gave Lily a handful of nuts on the ground in exchange for letting us change her batteries. Faith was hungrier and took over the job of eating. Lily gave up without a hint of protest. Both were sweethearts.
The picture of Lily shows the little spot of white on her chest that identifies her, along with her light muzzle. The picture of the two of them shows Lily turning away as Faith takes over the handful of nuts.
Lily - Oct 7, 2011June and her cubs are still in the lowland where they’ve been the last several days, but Braveheart and cubs left their lowland spot about 5 PM and meandered three quarters of a mile north in the last 2 ½ hours. Jo and her cub are still active.
Faith commandeers the nuts!Aspen leaves, birch leaves, and white pine needles fell like rain today in the wind. The peak of color is past, and the days are getting shorter. The season is changing.
Thank you for all you do.
—Lynn Rogers and Sue Mansfield, Biologists, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center