It was officially spring here this evening at 6:21 PM CDT with a temperature of 34 F and a light mist of rain. The weather is due to turn cold again over the next week, so it won’t really feel like spring for some time yet. But the higher sun and longer days brighten our spirits. The good news is the colder days ahead should delay the snow melt which will inevitably drive Lily and her family from their den. This will give Faith and Jason more time to develop before the big move.
The camera continues to draw attention. The flat glass lens likely shows a reflection that has to be licked to make sure what it is. We’d push it farther into the tube, but to get beyond reach of Hope’s tongue, we’d have to push it in so far we’d be seeing more tube than den. We’ll have to get out there and clean it again soon. A fuzzy camera image makes fuzzy data for the Den-watch Team and us. Many folks have sent us suggestions for solutions to the problem—things we will explore for another year. With only a few weeks left we likely won’t be making any major changes to this year’s setup.
A letter today made us doubly appreciate all that the admins do. Among other things, they are a resource for Lily fans and pass on new questions to us to answer in updates. The time they spend monitoring the site and staying up to speed on things is unbelievable.
Lily fans in general are unbelievable with so many of you working on so many things including protection. Another effort is in voting for Ely’s Schools 10 times a day at http://wehearyouamerica.readersdigest.com/town.jsp?town=ELY&state=MN. Today, you added over 10,000 votes to move up a notch to 6th place.
Thank you for all you do.
—Lynn Rogers and Sue Mansfield, Biologists, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center