Rainy Day
May 13, 2010 – 8:59 PM CDT
Today we got a much-needed soaking rain—not particularly conducive to field work! We caught up on office work as we watched the bears’ movement by GPS from the computer. Braveheart, followed by One-eyed Jack, moved a couple miles in the morning and then remained in a patch of black ash swamp from 1:13 PM until we realized Braveheart was not transmitting and went out to change her GPS unit at 6:28 PM. Bite marks on it—including on the ‘off’ button—together with Braveheart’s calmer behavior toward Jack, told the story. We suspect they finally quit walking and turned to mating in the black ash swamp. When males mount females, they usually bite the back of the neck, which is where the GPS unit sits.
Jack was calmer, too. He just sat about 15 feet away as we changed Braveheart’s GPS unit. It was raining, which makes it sound like rustling all around. So, instead of watching us, he scanned the forest as if looking for approaching competitors. Jack has lost 69 pounds since April 9 to weigh only 463. He’ll continue to lose weight through the mating season and should lose about as much as he lost during 6 months of hibernation. The photo is a Braveheart’s-eye-view of Jack scanning the forest.
June also started the day active, heading miles into her roadless area. Then her GPS signals stopped. After visiting Braveheart, we listened for and heard June’s radio signal. Contact seemed possible. Although the signal was coming from only 3 miles away, it took a 14-mile drive around a lake to intercept her. We changed her GPS unit and watched for males to see if it was a bear we recognized. We watched for 13 minutes after June moved on and saw nothing. June had headed down an ATV trail and her GPS readings confirmed that she continued along the trail until she reached a road and then walked along the road. Her rate of travel was 1.63 miles per hour. This is considerably faster than the 1.0 miles per hour rate we have come to expect from bears traveling through the woods.
Then back to the Research Center, wet, to write a quick update and on to our respective homes.
Lily and Hope continued their pattern of remaining in an area a couple hundred yards in diameter on this rainy day. We posted another video clip (Hope’s Antics) at http://www.bear.org/website/lily-a-hope/den-cam-video-clips.html of yesterday’s visit with her.
Thank you for your contributions.
—Lynn Rogers and Sue Mansfield, Biologists, North American Bear Center