Came to work early, thinking about words to write. Checked Quill's formula bowl about 4 AM--empty. Good. He must have drunk another quart overnight. I went upstairs to type. 
Quill looking up a treeHeard a sound at about 5 AM. Grabbed the camera and went quietly downstairs. Still dark out. A motion. Quill was on the scale. I snapped a picture lighted by the yard light. Very slow shutter speed. Any movement by Quill and it would just be a blur. He held perfectly still listening for sounds. The scale had read 19.5 pounds earlier, down a half pound from last evening, so he might have gleaned a half pound of food from the scale overnight. Now he was on it again. The color of the crumbs on his lips looks like he is selecting walnuts. The full reading with Quill on the scale--60.5 pounds. So his weight is 60.5 minus 19.5 equals 41. Super! He is up 9 pounds from 32 pounds a week ago--gaining over a pound a day. He is up 28% in a week. Hurrah! The Hope Formula is working, thanks to the Lily Fan nutritionists who helped develop it and the Lily Fan who makes it and brings it over. 
Quill at 41 poundsShe and her husband came over with a new batch mid day. I put a quart in the bowl. I got an email from NPR needing a tape of my old weekly radio program "The Bear Facts" for the NPR program that will air in late summer. They particularly like the theme song "Walking with Bears" to the tune of Waltzing With Bears. I'm on the couch listening to a tape of it, thinking how good the two sisters sound. They came on the scene in 1991 walking with radio-collared bears to protect them from hunters. Then one of them becomes famous and I see her on the Sally Raphael show for a book she wrote and I feel she is too famous to bother with calls for work. I remember being happy when she called and was a regular person telling me 
Quillabout her book and that the bears are in it and all. Quill's face comes up into view. He looks at me 10 feet away from up on the feeder by his bowl. He starts lapping at 3:15 PM. I quietly go to get the camera, moving only when his head is down lapping. I get back in position. He looks at me--click--and he goes back to lapping. 3:22 PM. He's done. The bowl is empty. Quill moves to the white pine, poses for an ID picture, and moves down to the beaver dam and across to the woods. I wish there was snow to track him. I'd love to have a Den Cam. Maybe he'll keep coming when there is a dusting of snow. I doubt that I'll find his den, but it would be great. I hope we can put another 10 pounds on him.
Hairy woodpeckerOut the window, an American tree sparrow is foraging, taking a break on his way through from somewhere 500-800 miles north near tree line to where he'll end up between Minneapolis and Texas for the winter. Also out the window, a male Hairy Woodpecker is sitting in an unusual upright position using his tail for a brace. Worth a click. Back to the computer.
Tree sparrowI'm listening for Quill as I type, hoping he can get another quart down yet today. We'll see if it disappears overnight.
Excited emails come in. The second Hurrah. The North American Bear Center was selected as a Great Nonprofit because of your reviews! Thank you! We're very glad to be heading into Give MN 2016 with that recognition. Good timing.
Thank you for all you do.
Lynn Rogers, Biologist, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center