Juliet has eaten snow around the entrance of her den - Feb 14, 2012 For Jewel and Juliet, their valentines to themselves were snow treats. Jewel had a major session of eating snow from 12:02 PM to 12:40 PM plus other times. A couple hours later, we checked to see what Juliet was up to. Same thing—as the picture of her den shows. 2-3 square feet of snow had just been removed from in front of the entrance. Juliet was a sweetheart, tending her cubs unconcerned about the visit. We were impressed at the chorus of hums with very little squawking. Is it because she is an experienced mother or have her cubs simply worked out nipple order. It was a mellow sound.
Many thanks for the Valentine’s Day donations for radio-collars and GPS equipment. You’re being generous, and that feels very good right now. The extra money you're sending can go for such things as 'page charges' and/or general operations. Page charges are what scientific journals charge for publishing if they accept the paper. Writing like mad these days. The Valentines for Shadow’s Clan fundraiser continues until midnight ET at http://givemn.razoo.com/story/Valentinesforshadowsclan.
Another walk with June from 2005 is posted below.
Thank you so much for all you did today and every day.
—Lynn Rogers and Sue Mansfield, Biologists, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center
Date: July 1, 2005
My plan was to just spend time with the family observing and videoing. I did not bring my CyberTracker unit nor did I attempt moment by moment data collection. I even resisted the temptation to collect scats – except for one wee small cub scat. This was just going to be easy bear time – as easy as bushwhacking in dense hazel understory can be!
June and Pete came readily for the nuts I brought, but George was not with them. Soon I could hear George bawling. June initially seemed unconcerned – she’s generally pretty relaxed about everything including her mothering – but then took off in his direction. Pete began to follow but quickly turned back towards the food. June soon returned with George. After finishing the nuts, June headed off – stopping to drink at a pool among some rocks.
June wandered some at first – seemingly aimless. At one point she climbed a red maple and stood among its branches looking around. She bit off a small branch before descending. Under the 4 foot high bracken fern it was hard to see her cubs, but they seemed to be foraging in the area. Gone are the days when the cubs spent endless hours sparring and wrestling – nearly all of their time is now spent foraging.
During the next 4 hours June and her cubs covered 1.63 miles and foraged nearly non-stop. Foraging was concentrated on Juneberries, hazelnuts, and ant pupae. The only vegetation eaten was clover growing in the middle of a logging road.
Of note:
- At one point June was ripping apart the base of a balsam tree to feed on ant pupae. One cub was vocalizing and trying to push past June to get the pupae. The other cub came over but did not join in the fray.
- June rolled a huge rock while looking for ant pupae in an opening.
- The cubs found a deer leg and carried it around.