NABC webcam is streaming
April 22, 2010 – 9:06 PM CDT
GPS locations showed it to be a busy day for the bears, but researchers were mainly able to watch on computer screens today due to a press of other work. Lily moved to a new location—the same place she tried to make two dens last fall. It’s 0.55 miles from where she and Hope have been bedded recently. Again, it is on the tip of a peninsula off the beaten path of bears that are becoming ever more active as vegetation (food) emerges from the forest floor.
Jo, the 2-year-old female who possibly could give birth this coming winter, explored around, visiting places she used last year. We made brief contact with Jo and recorded a heart rate of 92, which sounds high but is normal for a bear her age. Jo is just one year younger than Lily and could possibly have cubs next winter. However, her chances may be reduced because she was forced out of her culvert den during the early melt and lost more weight overwinter than is usual.
June and her yearlings Jewel and Jordan are probably in their last month together and were active today.
Today, we got the streaming video webcam going at the Bear Center and added live chat to the page as well. We’ll be tweaking the webcam and the webpage over the next few days to improve it.
Spring sounds are deafening as piped in from the outside microphone here at the field station. Peepers, American toad, a barred owl, hooded merganser mating calls, ravens, song sparrows, red-winged blackbirds and more. All unbelievably early in this record warm spring.
Thank you again for your continuing support.
More video from yesterday’s visit with Lily and Hope has been posted at http://www.bear.org/website/lily-a-hope/den-cam-video-clips.html.
—Lynn Rogers and Sue Mansfield, Biologists, North American Bear Center