We installed the 12V amp today to boost the level of the sound on the den cam. The sound can be remotely ‘tweaked’ by PixController and they will likely be adjusting it over the next few days when they catch the bears making sounds that give the engineers some reference. It’s possible the sound is as good as we can do without adequate electricity. It’s louder, but the background hiss could be a problem for Lily fans who are recording data for analysis. Last year’s hum is this year’s hiss.
After two days of rearranging her bedding, Lily has settled down a bit and Hope has again crawled into her snug spot between Lily and the back wall of the den. Hope has to be so glad she has Lily at this point. We are listening to Hope’s contented humming sound that probably means she is suckling as we write.
We had planned to do more at the shed and den today but things got in the way. A 2-hour interview with Backpacker Magazine seemed like it could do the most good for bears today, so Jason went out alone and installed PixController’s amplifier. Then Bill Powers accessed it from Pennsylvania and adjusted the gain remotely. High tech.
We still want to go to the den to check Lily’s nipples for milk and her vulva for swelling. With her hunkering half out of sight, we wonder if we can reposition the camera for a better view of the interactions we are anticipating. Our best guess for a birth date is between January 15 and 22, so we want to reposition the camera well before that—maybe tomorrow.
Some den watchers think Charlotte is back. Others reported more suckling by Hope and another appearance of the vole. For newcomers, welcome! Charlotte is a spider named by Lily fans last winter. This is a different den and a different spider but we can’t tell one spider from another on the Den Cam, so they are all Charlottes. The vole is undoubtedly a southern red-backed vole, which is the common rodent in the lowland habitat where Lily and Hope have their den this winter.
Speaking of lowland, the amount of snow we have already likely means a winter of above-average snow accumulation. That means the lowlands habitat like this alder-cedar-black ash swamp will be unusually wet in spring. We wonder what that will mean for any new cubs Lily might have. We remember Donna’s litter in similar habitat a few years ago. We heard two cub voices before snow melt covered the den floor with 6 inches of water in the deepest spots. Only one cub emerged from the den in March. On the other hand, RC had three cubs in a swamp den that became flooded. She moved them about 5 feet to a patch of high ground and all survived. Years ago, 320’s den became flooded. She emerged and bit many conifer branches from saplings, carried them into the den, and raised the floor of the den above the water level. Her cubs survived, too.
Ted Oakes, producer of ‘The Bear Family and Me’, said the first program had 2.4 million viewers in the UK and the second had 2.7 million. We’re waiting to hear if viewership increased for the 3rd program as word spread. The BBC is excited by these above-average numbers. Average is around 2 million for a program like this. The viewer numbers and the emails we are getting say the programs were well received and changed people’s attitudes about bears. We hope an American network sees the high interest in the UK and airs the programs here.
The list of Lily and Hope fans who made Christmas donations to the Ely Area Food Shelf came out in the Ely Shopper Newspaper today. It included 43 Lily fans or families from 19 states plus Ontario. What a strong and wonderful showing of support for Ely. Your generosity in this was another way of showing what the radio-collared bears bring to Ely and how important it is to give them protection. Thank you.
Thank you for all you do.
—Lynn Rogers and Sue Mansfield, Biologists, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center