Lucky back in the den with Honey - Feb 21, 2012Lucky made it back in the den with Honey. It was tense. He tried and exited. Honey settled down. Next try, he made it in. Honey fussed loudly. Lucky was cool. He whined and moaned submissively. He looked away like big males do when their prospective mate says she isn’t ready. Eventually, Honey calmed down and Lucky did the same, relaxing and sleeping on what appeared to be the lion’s share of the straw.
Faith's feet in the air as she plays with Lily - Feb 21, 2012In Lily’s den, Lily and Faith played for 30 minutes. Faith nursed—a lot, making us want to put a Den Cam in another den with a mother and yearling(s). Do they all nurse this much? We want to see.
Jewel's cubs come up for air - Feb 21, 2012Jewel’s cubs are growing! And putting in grand appearances today with temperatures up around 30 F. Video of them from yesterday is posted at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xX_PknnWejU.
Below is yet another in the 2005 June Bear series.
Thank you for all you do.
—Lynn Rogers and Sue Mansfield, Biologists, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center
Date: July 12, 2005
Today was another in a string of very hot days and I hoped June would spend some time in the water because the opportunity to wade would be welcomed! Her signal was coming from an area that was not going to be easy to get to no matter where I parked. Her signal was confusing but I was pretty sure I knew about where she was and time was running out to meet up with her by 9:30 AM so I parked on Murray Road and hurried off rather than trying to find another road that might get me closer. I used the small foot-bridge to cross East Two River and hiked a half mile in to connect with June at 9:43 AM.
Four minutes after meeting up with June she defecated. Her scat was full of gritty, sand-like seeds as well as some green berries – it was clear she had been foraging on blueberries early in the morning. I was still raring to go when June stopped to nurse her cubs at 10:08 AM, but they had likely been up and foraging since before sunrise and they proceeded to sleep soundly for 1 hour and 4 minutes. The cubs were panting heavily at rates of 103 and 113 per minute while June’s breaths were 56 per minute. June woke first and began to groom Pete as he slept. When Pete woke he started to nurse but June broke off the nursing and headed off. I was surprised how quickly George woke up from his sound sleep to join the family.
The family foraged heavily until 12:12 PM when June stopped to nurse the cubs. Blueberries and Juneberries seemed to be the focus of their foraging – as well as some wild sarsaparilla.
Of note:
- I noticed June standing on two legs to forage on Juneberries rather than pulling the bush down to sit on it as she has done in the past. I wondered if this was one way of getting a few berries for herself before the cubs come along. When she did pull a bush down the cubs usually immediately came running.
- Ant pupae were actively sought after and relished when found – but there wasn’t much ant-producing woody debris in this area.
Although she stopped to nurse the cubs at 12:12 PM they did not sleep and were active again at 12:20 PM. They covered 1.01 miles before I lost them when they crossed a deep open wetland at 2:40 PM.
During this time:
- There was more woody debris in this area which meant feeding on ant pupae – often in preference to the blueberries nearby.
- June worked hard to excavate around one stump – working from several angles. When she finally accessed the ant pupae one of her cubs joined her and complained loudly as he tried to push his way in. The cub initiated a fight for this food source and June finally gave it up – but not before one last bite to the cub’s back. It appeared vicious – but June’s bites were controlled. The cub immediately turned around and threatened June. I happened to be videoing June as she worked the stump so I have footage of this mother-cub spat.
- A heavy feeding on blueberries in the open sun on this hot day was followed by a 2 minute soak in a nearby wallow at the edge of a black ash swamp
When June and her cubs entered the open wetland at 2:40 PM I started after them. Soon the water was nearly waist deep and I was unsure what was ahead of me. June had hurried across and I could see her cubs scurry up a tree on the other side. I carry a lot of equipment that can’t get wet – receiver, camcorder, digital camera, digital voice recorder, etc. – so I opted out of the wetland crossing. I had hoped for water on this hot day – but this was more water than I could deal with. It was too early to give up the walk so I checked a map, guessed at her travel route, and hiked out to a road in an attempt to intercept her. I found June at 3:09 PM at the base of the tree I had seen her cubs climb – seems they hadn’t come down. The cubs came down to nurse at 3:42 PM and then June headed north to the East Two River that drains Eagles Nest Lake No 2 and they covered 2.06 miles before she nursed her cubs again at 6:55 PM.
During this time:
- June meandered downstream feeding on jewelweed – crossing the stream several times. This is one of the few areas around where there is also jack-in-the-pulpit and June fed some on this as well.
- The main focus of foraging during this time was ant pupae.
- June fed intensively on what was a new plant to me – dwarf bilberry. The berries are small and not abundant – but she obviously favored them. She lay down on her belly and pushed herself around as she fed – carefully manipulating the small plants with her paws to locate the berries.
I left June at 7:12 PM – right after she nursed her cubs. She was headed out into a clear-cut and likely continued to forage on ant pupae into the night. In retrospect, the most notable thing about this walk was the lack of playing June did with her cubs. I recorded 6 instances of playing this day as compared to 30 on July 5 and 33 on July 6. This was a day of very serious foraging for the whole family.