Lily - Aug 27, 2012 This was a day of unexpected bear sightings and observations of interactions.
We started the day quietly with a visit to Lily to change her GPS batteries. She was great—calm, gentle, unafraid. We erred in not taking a heart rate. Her gentle eyes tell the story.
Jewel sniffing the air - Aug 27, 2012 (a ribbon was added to her collar after this picture was taken)We next changed Jewel’s GPS unit and saw the difference in her demeanor compared with Lily’s. The wind had come up a bit, and she was keyed up—watching , listening, and smelling her forest surroundings. The picture shows her ears perked forward as she sniffed and bit the air. Biting the air is part of using the vomeronasal organ in the roof of her mouth to sense more molecules. She stayed only briefly and hurried off. We never saw Herbie and Fern.
We next chanced on 2-year-old Bill and got a picture of him with his totally new sleek coat shimmering as he checked a white pine other bears had climbed.
Bill - Aug 27, 2012The biggest treat came when we homed in on Faith. On the way, we discovered Aster bedded deep in a mossy cedar swamp. Aster was her usual good self and responded to “It’s me bear.” She soon was joined by her friend Faith. We had brought some nuts so we could check their radio-collars before hunting season begins (Saturday, September 1). They peacefully shared the nuts cheek to cheek. Then they both went on alert and tracked a passing bear by ear. We saw and heard nothing, which told us something about the bears’ keen ears. A few minutes later, we saw a bear hesitantly approaching from the last direction they had tracked him. They evidently had identified him, probably by smell, and seemed unconcerned. It was one of Faith’s male friends. Faith initiated play. All three played with one another during the 2 hours we watched. We had no idea the fun that goes on in the soft mossy playground that a cedar swamp can be.
Faith, young male, and Aster - Aug 27, 2012Eventually, they wandered off in different directions. The separation didn’t last long. The male cruised back through our area, shortly followed by Faith tracking him down. Faith initiated play, and they soon disappeared together. A few minutes later, Aster came along trailing them, paused where they had stopped to play, and somehow sorted out their exit trail from the many places they had been in the last 2 hours. The scene ended with Aster disappearing on their trail.
Faith's male friend - Aug 27, 2012An interesting thing happened during the observations. One of the Bear Course participants had used a fancy, polished and carved willow walking stick that a previous course participant (Gina German) had given us. The novel item, even in the rich environment provided by Mother Nature, was fascinating to Aster and Faith. The entire length of the stick was marked by bites as we photographed. The walking stick will be a treasure.
The whole day seemed magical with bears, good company, and opportunities to watch the bears’ body language, hear their vocalizations, and see interactions not normally witnessed.
A video of office manager Heidi Schiltz singing her ‘Ballad of the Bear Center’ at last Friday’s annual Bear Center staff picnic is posted at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1e2rD0gIWFQ.
We discovered some overlooked video footage of Juliet and cubs from July 12 and posted it at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5HkyRDVfRxY.
Thank you for all you do.
—Lynn Rogers and Sue Mansfield, Biologists, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center