Quill continues to do well as Jewel steals the limelight. Neighborhood records and a trail cam revealed some of what Jewel and her three male yearlings Caleb, Zac, and Brennan have been up to lately.
Jewel and a yearling
They were last seen at a community feeding station on October 10 at 5:30 PM.
Two days later, at 5:15 PM on October 12, they showed up on a trail cam at one of the dens we've been monitoring. They checked out the den for a couple hours and left until 6:38 PM the next day. Were they checking other dens?
Jewel's yearlingThey then disappeared again for nearly 8 days until October 21st at 1:43 PM. Whatever dens they may have looked at in that week, they made the trail cam den their selection. They settled into it but have come out each day and/or night to rake bedding into it. Here are a couple trail cam pictures of them. The daytime picture is Jewel raking while a yearling watches. The night picture shows a yearling. We're going to look in more detail at their activities.
We're glad they are safe. I'm trying hard to finish up the Den Cam Permit Application.
Frost on the grassThe frost on the grass this morning (30°F) made me wonder what little Quill does in the woods where no one can see him and if he is working on a den yet. He appeared here in late afternoon, wary as ever and lapped up over a pint of Hope Formula before getting spooked off. I suspect the remaining pint or so will be gone by morning. A half pound of walnuts disappeared off the scale, so he might have gotten those, too.
Thank you for all you do.
Lynn Rogers, Biologist, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center