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Fern, Braveheart, Ted - UPDATE May 12, 2016

Regarding 4-year-old Fern and 14-year-old Bravheart, I just received these emails:
Fern: “We just had Fern, no cubbies with her. Clearly lactating. Ted close-upTed close-upWe followed her just a little to the vacant property next to us. She was nervous about that, so we didn't push it, we want her to bring her family when she is ready.”:
Braveheart: “We also had Braveheart with Gen and Porter this morning, no Stratton.”

My interpretation is that Fern has cubs and Braveheart has not had family break-up yet. Also, Stratton continues to stray, which I don’t believe is a worry.

Ted sticking his tongue outTed sticks his tongue outAt the Bear Center, Ted was a sweetheart, as usual. He made his friendly sounds throughout my time with him. It was treat time for him as we tried to get him in position for a picture with the sun at our back so his eyes would show nicely. Everyone tried as hard as they could. I couldn’t get Ted to look at me until Sharon got behind me with the food bucket at the end, and that’s one of the shots here. Most of the time I was wondering how Jim Stroner does so well getting pictures for the calendar. He gets perfect eye shots. Earlier in the video here, I’m trying to get a shot up at Ted with blue sky behind him, but he came too close for me to use my longer lens and had to use my little Canon G11 with the scratched up lens. The scratches showed up in the picture and Ted stuck his tongue out at me. I’ll have to ask Jim how he does it.

Ted's Photo Shoot: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G7s7wM0s-cA

Out in the woods, bear foods are coming up. I saw three scats today—all full of nothing but vegetation. Big-leaf aster is at the perfect stage for bear food. Peavine is coming up and is probably delectable at this stage, but that is a food they will continue eating even when it is mature. With bear food coming on like that, no wonder we’re not seeing many bears here yet.

Peavine Big leaf aster Herring gull
 Peavine  Big-leaf aster  Herring gull

Out the window, the least-tame gull is looking in at me and talking. He is recognizable by the big red dots on his bill and by having a big nostril opening on the right side of his bill and a skinny opening on the left.

Thank you for all you do.

Lynn Rogers, Biologist, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center


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