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Lily, Spanky, Color, and More - UPDATE October 17, 2024

Aspens on driveway

Lily is not done checking her old den with her cubs. The camera spotted one of her cubs there four days ago, but it also spotted a non-clan mother with three cubs there yesterday. Waiting on edge to see if Lily might add a chapter to her life by claiming the den for the winter.

Spanky 10-16Spanky 10-16

A call and photo sent here today shows Spanky on a nice bed, raked into what we suspect is his den for the winter. The landowner will be checking to see.

Color is at its peak now with leaves beginning to fall fast with the below freezing nights. Under the aspens, the driveway is covered with yellow leaves with many more yet to fall from the trees overhead.

A taste of Ely snow by Eric Sherman 10-13-24A taste of Ely snow by Eric Sherman 10-13-24

Local photographer Eric Sherman saw this beautiful taste of winter some 30 miles east-southeast of here this past Sunday while I was looking at the late-turning leaves without a thought of snow.

Rusty blackbird femaleRusty blackbird female

Birds coming through now include this female rusty blackbird in fall plumage who seemed to say “This is who I am” as she posed showing her yellow eye, gray rump patch, rusty crown, and buffy eyebrow patch.

 Blue JayBlue Jay  CrowCrow

Over a hundred crows visit each day, but the most colorful birds are still the blue jays, the crows’ bright blue cousins in the family Corvidae. Blue jays stop by to fill their throat pouches (a.k.a. gular pouches) with bits of sunflower seeds as this one has done. His head is tilted back because he or she has just swallowed a beakful.

Waiting to hear who, if any, claims the den the two moms are checking.

Thank you for all you do,
Lynn Rogers, Biologist, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center


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