Holly and Lucky are back to last year. After months of no physical interaction, they are back to yesteryear, and it almost looks romantic. We know that testosterone begins to surge in late winter.
Pine marten (McMillin, J. M., U. S. Seal, L. L. Rogers, and A. W. Erickson. 1976. Annual testosterone rhythm in the black bear (Ursus americanus). Biology of Reproduction 15:163-167.) But Lucky was castrated. Do females also have a surge of hormones in late winter? Did Lucky get a whiff of something that jogged his memory? At 6:00 minutes into this 10-minute video, Lucky gives a hint of that. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vpN6zSRh5vE. At 7:37 into the video, Holly shows that she has removed all 7 pads on her left hind foot—the main foot pad, the heel pad, and all five toe pads.
In part 2, a 3 ½ minute video, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dHnjLk46LDA Holly and Lucky continue their interactions. At the end, Holly lays back to rest, and Lucky lays his head on her belly to do the same.
ChickadeeIn this 4-minute video of Ted, he is eating snow and then raking through his voluminous straw near the entrance. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5vP067Vr-Lk&feature=share
A Lily Fan asked if I could include the picture of Ted that I mentioned in last night’s update. I found it.
Red squirrelOut the window, before sun-up, Ms Marten went past the window to the date mash. I wondered what a flash picture would look like. I couldn’t take that through the window. As I quietly opened the door, Ms Marten was alert. I took a quick flash picture that sent Ms Marten running. She disappeared. Then I saw her coming down a white pine head first to the deck. To my surprise, she calmly came back, ignoring me, and hopped up to the date mash and ignored the next flash, shown here. The picture showed the identifying pattern of fur on her chest.
Ted hugging Lynn 6-21-14Later, out the window, a chickadee showed how it nibbles bits from a sunflower seed heart while holding the seed with its feet.
A red squirrel with a forepaw lifted showed the common pose that precedes a charge. The squirrel is looking toward an approaching competitor the instant before launch.
My Lily Fan source came through with more information on date mash at this link http://www.fao.org/docrep/t0681e/t0681e09.htm.
Thank you for all you do.
Lynn Rogers, Biologist, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center