Lily and Ellie in denLily and her family have been busy. They raked a big area around their deep rock den and made a bed of white pine needles 8 feet below the surface. Lily was good enough to come out and let us remove her ribbons. Little Ellie came out briefly, showing us how easily she can scale the steep rock walls of the entrance. Shy Eli also scaled the walls but decided to stay in. Then Lily backed into the opening that looked too small for her, but her fur compressed and she descended to the bottom where Ellie immediately greeted her.
Lily outside denThe pictures show Lily looking too big to fit in the narrow entrance, Ellie looking up from a spot only 7 feet down, Lily squeezing down into the den, Ellie greeting Lily’s return, and Mike and Lorie installing a trail cam that records video.
Ellie looks up from denWhen we checked the trail cam footage from the last couple weeks, we saw the orphaned cubs hanging out together at the den and likely denning together. We suspect they were still there when Lily and family arrived. A trail cam picture showed Lily with an upset face moving across the frame, probably telling Cole and Ember they weren’t welcome. Lily, of course, had first dibs because she and Faith used this same den in 2011/2012 as Lily Fans saw on the Den Cam that winter.
Lily backs into denWe wish we could have radio-collared Cole and Ember to see what their next step is for the winter.
Soon, we’re going to check out the spot where Lily and family spent a couple weeks. We want to see what led to Lily re-using this den when re-use is so uncommon. Was she unable to make a decent den in that place? Will we find a lot of digging that didn’t turn into adequate dens? Will we find a deer hunter in one of the tree stands there? Or was Lily just resting until she was ready to move to the deep rock den? 
Mike and LorieWe don’t think so because when she went there it was not a direct movement. When she started that move she first went north, then southeast, and finally turned southwest to make the mile trip to the den as if she suddenly decided to use it. We’ll see what we find at the area she spent so much time at.
Mention of Eli reminded us that Jim Stroner captured the absolutely cutest picture of him that we remember seeing of any cub ever. It’s on this year’s Holiday card that will be available in the webstore in about a week.
Thank you for all you do.
—Lynn Rogers and Sue Mansfield, Biologists, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center
All photos taken today unless otherwise noted.