Carolyn's two cubsMay first, May Day, is also known as Workers’ Day and it looks like Carolyn bear has some work cut out for her. She is the first mother with cubs I’ve heard of around here this year. The picture I was emailed shows the cubs in a white pine looking healthy. We don’t know the sexes yet, but things are getting exciting. Five-year-old Carolyn is Shadow’s great granddaughter. This is her second litter. The lineage is Shadow, Blackheart, Donna, and Carolyn—plus cubs. Everyone is keeping an eye out to see where they go next, what sexes they are, any markings, etc.
For the scrapping bears in the video last night, I finally got to hear the sounds, and they weren’t having fun. It is too early for mating activity, but males emerge with peak testosterone. I don’t know what they were scrapping about.
A confession is that I mistakenly called the bear Flynn "Floyd" in the update last night. There is no bear named Floyd. (we fixed the update)
Someone asked about Avian Influenza up here, and this map from mid-April shows none, thank goodness. Distribution of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza in North America, 2021/2022 | U.S. Geological Survey (usgs.gov)
Thank you for all you do,
Lynn Rogers, Biologist, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center