Ted and Holly eat lettuceWith Lucky still in his den nearly all the time, Holly might want a new friend. She made her first contact with Ted. She put her mouth over Ted’s nose, and it was Ted who was unsure how to respond. Did he just not understand, or did Holly’s teeth hit a sensitive spot where Ted’s nose was swollen last year? After Holly’s advance, they settled down and ate their lettuce. To facilitate their relationship, the staff is considering giving Ted and Holly more one on one time by keeping Honey away and, if necessary, Lucky when Ted is out and available this next week.
In this 44-second video clip from September 15, 2009, June, Jewel, and Jordan explore a mountain-ash sapling for berries. They knew they had the right kind of tree, but I didn’t see them actually find any berries. Maybe it’s because I’m a little red color blind https://youtu.be/DaW5ZncoEIo
Holly approaching TedThe bad news on the crashed hard drive is that we couldn’t retrieve anything. There are lower quality back-ups for some of it, but all of Linda’s color-coding to retrieve clips for highlights and scientific papers is gone. That was her only copy of that. With all she is doing to help get the Northwoods Ecology Hall open, she doesn’t have time to run through 24 hours of video to find highlights. The highlight videos will be on hold a while longer.
At the WRI, deer are eating sprigs of new grass coming up. This doe has already lost her facial winter fur and will soon be shedding the rest of her winter coat. The gray (not black) crown of the red-breasted nuthatch identifies it as a female.
At the Capitol, there hasn’t been any action on the bills that would ban feeding and touching bears, but that could change at any moment. It would be good to let your Minnesota State Representatives and Senators know you are still watching and that the public safety reasons the DNR is giving for proposing this bill are without foundation, that Minnesotan’s who 
Female Red-breasted Nuthatch - 4-9-15love wildlife don’t need a new intrusive rule about what to do on their own property, and that no one wants a new law that obviously is intended to target an individual. Here are links to the contact information for your Minnesota State Representatives (HF1406) and Minnesota State Senators (SF1303). http://www.senate.leg.state.mn.us/members/index.php?ls=#header http://www.house.leg.state.mn.us/members/hmem.asp
As the DNR pushes its campaign against our research, the public is seeing how they treat others, too. The most recent is the case of DNR Veterinarian Erika Butler whose concerns over the unnecessary deaths of many moose calves due to DNR research were unpopular found herself suddenly under investigation and let go for driving over the speed limit in a state vehicle. The story and an excellent public comment from a NMNnative are at http://www.timberjay.com/s…/Coincidence-or-retaliation,12047
Deer eating grassAnother comment under that article sounds like someone with strong DNR ties using my name to claim something that couldn’t be further from the truth. It claims I was mad that Dave Mech’s wolves killed a bear family I was studying some 38 years ago. Just more false information being spread. The truth is that my friend Dave and I investigated the scene together and co-authored a peer-reviewed scientific article entitled Interactions of wolves and black bears in northeastern Minnesota.
Stuff like that is partly what makes us thankful for Lily Fans who learn the facts and are a force for the truth.
Thank you for all you do.
Lynn Rogers, Biologist, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center
All photos taken today unless otherwise noted.