Aster by Jim Stroner Jim Stroner spent an hour and a half with Aster in a cedar swamp where the mosquitoes were horrible. Aster was constantly wiping them off her muzzle and eyelids. Her fur protected the rest of her body. When she wasn’t battling mosquitoes, she mostly sat and groomed away the winter fur from her underside or rubbed her sides or backside against the rough bark of cedar trees.
Ted and HoneyAt the Bear Center, Lucky and Honey were given bags of goodies to puzzle out how to open. Honey is becoming more receptive of Ted as the Pond Cam picture shows—head-to-head in a friendly way.
Samantha's cubsMuch of the day, one or another of the three bears, including Honey, was around Holly’s pen, so the staff is waiting until tomorrow to open her door and see if she will go out. We think she will be fine. She can easily get away from Ted and Honey if she wants to. We’ll see how she responds to them and to Lucky.
Samantha's cub on ground5-year-old Samantha is an experienced mother with one litter under her belt and her second in tow. Nevertheless, when she decided to move on today, she did so with only one of her three. We heard claws on a white pine and saw the two she left behind. Across the lake, she disappeared with the third cub following her. The abandoned cubs napped on branches high up, came down for a short time, and scampered up again for no apparent reason. 
Samantha's cub sleeping in white pineNow they’ve disappeared. We suspect they decided to track down their mother as we’ve seen other cubs do. We hope Samantha makes another appearance here this evening so we can see if the family is back together. 
Samantha's cubIt was interesting to watch the cubs interact.
We’ve seen Samantha’s mother Braveheart only once this year and have heard she is visiting a feeding site almost 5 miles away. 
Deer with small antlersShe is not radio-collared because of the restrictions, but we wonder if she shifted her territory to make room for Samantha like June did for her daughters. Or she could just be traveling widely during estrus. Time will tell, but Samantha and her cubs are certainly spending more time than usual in this area, at least for now. We’re not complaining.
A deer in the driveway showed how their antlers are progressing.
Hummingbird at feederSix hummingbird feeders lined up on the railing meant many hummingbirds and easy snapshots of them shimmering in the sun while watching the cubs.
Hummingbird flyingThe Pileated Woodpeckers are still changing places occasionally, showing they are incubating eggs but not yet bringing food to hatchlings.
Thank you for all you do.
—Lynn Rogers and Sue Mansfield, Biologists, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center