Quill arrived about 6:02 PM, got on the scale, and weighed 58 1/2 pounds, supposedly empty. He calmly looks at us from the scale now 
Quill with blue eyesand goes back to eating the variety of nuts. He has a bit of a turned up nose for a point of identification. His eyes are still quite blue, which fits with him being small when he started coming. The bigger the cub, the sooner the eyes turn brown.
The exciting thing earlier today was seeing his face on the trail camera by the Quill House. Twice. He didn't pay any attention to Quill House, though. At 6:34 PM he walked by his house and paused to drink (photos). Same story at 1:49 AM. Apparently we happened to put Quill House right by his drinking spot. Other animals drink there, too. Both times he came by there, he was arriving, not leaving, which says he leaves by a different trail between visits on his way back to his resting spot somewhere across the beaver dam.
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| Quill walking by house | ...stopping for a drink of water | and on alert |
Here at the Cabin last night, he ingested 6 1/4 cups of formula (about 4 pounds), an unknown amount of date mash, and about a pound of nuts. On the scale, he weighed 62.5 with quite a bit of food in him.
Deer by the Quill houseIt was another day at the desk. 75-year-old Peggy did the needed scampering to retrieve cards from the trail cams, put them back, chop up date mash to make it easier for Quill, and look around for any sign Quill left in the woods.
No one has explored across the beaver dam because we don't want to scare him off. We want him to keep coming as long as he can to gain weight and see how late an orphaned cub keeps eating before denning. Since he doesn't have any dirt on his fur, we suspect he is resting at a secure spot his mother showed him over there--probably at the base of a big white pine. We hope he keeps coming when there is snow on the ground so we can learn more about what he does. We would love to cautiously track him to a den but not approach it. We'd be anxious to check the den this spring.
Bald eagle
Out the window, across Woods Lake, an eagle landed on the old beaver dam (built in 1977, the former landowner told me) and spent several minutes getting some light-colored food from a few inches underwater. At 204 yards, the picture is too poor to see what it was.
Thank you for all you do.
Lynn Rogers, Biologist, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center