Smithsonian book cover - Feb 1981In this 1-minute video clip from April 16, 2007, June is leading cubs Lily, Cal, and Bud permanently away from their den. http://youtu.be/h_QHKi9H-dM One cub falls behind. June notices and comes back quickly, grunting her concern with extra intensity. The other two run after June. I think the one in the lead is Lily. A glimpse looked like a light face. The family unites, June is calm, and they continue on their way. Sue was the onlooker with a video camera that was ignored except for one glance from June. I’ve noticed when a mother is going through a tense moment she may look at the observer for identification. I routinely said “It’s me bear” so the bear could identify my voice. Sue didn’t need to corrupt the video with words. June identified Sue with the glance and led the cubs to their safe destination, which will be in tomorrow’s video clip.
Lucky at fence - 03-23-15At the Bear Center, Scott rewired Holly’s Den Cam and set it up to document happenings at Lucky’s den. When will Lucky leave? Will Holly pay him a visit? Today, Lucky ventured out of his den for the first time in months. With the video camera in place, a Lily Fan captured a 10-minute video of his exploration http://www.wildearth.tv/videomark/more-lucky-today-checking-out-other-side-032315. He went next door to his den of last year and sniffed but didn’t go in. We didn’t see him eating snow or even looking out his open door to the big enclosure. He ended up going back into his den to resume his rest. The video camera will show us what happens next.
Fawn - WRI file photoThe House bill that had the no-feeding section is set for a 2nd reading without the offending section. We’ll see if someone tries to insert the bill as an amendment. In the companion bill in the Senate, we’re not aware of any action. The bill is headed for the Finance Committee, but we couldn’t see that a Finance Committee meeting is set for this week. Any action on the bill in the Senate is behind the scenes at this time. We hope that the Senators involved are realizing that despite all the talk about public safety by the DNR, problems have been fewer and more benign in Eagles Nest, where feeding has continued for over 50 years, than in any comparable place I know. I hope the attention this bill is getting is alerting the Legislators the public safety talk by the DNR is a lot of unfounded hype. Lily Fans have been doing a good job letting them know that.
Meanwhile, I’m working on the Northwoods Ecology Hall. Included here are a couple pictures likely to end up on the upper walls. One is a fawn in early October back in 1982. It has lost its spots and is growing winter fur. The other is a snowshoe hare that was my buddy back in the early 80’s. The photo is from February 1981. I thought it was interesting that such a wary animal that is prey for so many animals could learn to trust a human. This hare that lived in the woods adjacent to my office let me photograph it year-round. I knew its favorite resting areas and it would sit tight to let me photograph its change of color through the seasons, photograph it as it foraged, and let me crawl to within 2 feet to get pictures looking up at if from ground level as it calmly watched me come and leave. This picture appeared as a frontispiece in the Smithsonian Book of North American Mammals. I was quietly proud to be part of that book when I heard a top mammalogist recommend that old book (published in 1999) as a top source of authoritative information. I remembered who wrote the black bear chapter.
Thank you for all you do.
Lynn Rogers, Biologist, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center