Lily et al. are still in the spot they moved to a little after 4 PM two days ago, but Lily seems restless to move to a new place across a bay. She has made three trips out onto the ice there. One was about 4:30 last evening. Another was between 8:30 and 9:30 PM last night, and another a little after noon today. The ice is disappearing, so she will have a hard time crossing with the family now. Much of that bay is probably open. We don’t blame her for wanting to cross while there still was ice. The narrows is only 30 yards across. Walking around the bay is nearly a mile. Pictures are from April 22.
Jo is staying put where she is, foraging out about 150 yards like Lily is mostly doing in her spot.
Lynn and Donna took Easter off to go down to Minneapolis to see his daughter and son-in-law and grandson. Lynn and Donna went birding by the heron rookery near where Shingle Creek empties into the Mississippi in northeast Minneapolis. A highlight was a bright cardinal singing close-up in full sunlight—brilliant. There are no cardinals around Ely. Herons and robins were building nests. A grackle sat on a nest while another (presumably the mate) dive-bombed a heron gathering twigs too near the nest. Yellow-rumped warblers were everywhere in full migration, and a mink prowled along shore with no concern. It is often easier to see wildlife in cities where they are used to seeing people.
On the other hand, one of the advantages of walking in the woods near Ely is that we have never seen a deer tick. The only ticks we have seen are the larger, more visible ticks in the Dermacentor genus that don’t carry Lyme disease. Deer ticks are more common farther south. The truth is: we feel very safe in the Northwoods. There is really not much here that can hurt us. That means we have no problem walking with bears at night when people in other parts of the country might have to worry about poisonous snakes, poisonous spiders, poison ivy, poison oak, deer ticks, thorny plants, etc. We can put our hands and feet about anywhere without a worry.
Later, Lynn got to sit next to his 17-month-old grandson in church. The only problem was that they sat where the speakers were not clear, so when the pastor said, “and the most important point is…” Lynn couldn’t hear what it was, and some of the words he did hear were probably not what the pastor said. Next time, they’ll all sit closer to the front.
A Lily fan discovered this link to a helpful article about two teachers who met through Lily and are educating and working for protection http://abcnewspapers.com/2011/04/23/bears-unite-a-pair-of-north-carolina-and-minnesota-teachers/.
The International Wolf Center is holding third place in the Chase Community Giving voting contest, just 22 votes out of second place. You have put the Wolf Center solidly in the money, and the IWC administrators are saying how much they appreciate your help. It is gratifying to see their written thank you’s for the effort you are making. It just makes us want to work all the harder to put effort where it is appreciated. Here’s how to vote for the Wolf Center. First, go to this link http://www.facebook.com/ChaseCommunityGiving and click “Like.” Then go to this link http://apps.facebook.com/chasecommunitygiving/charities/411543539-international and register your vote for the International Wolf Center. Each of us gets only one vote through May 4.
In the Readers Digest contest to win money for Ely, you have Ely solidly in 6th place with 496,129 votes, just 1,350 behind 5th place. That means we’re in the money. To vote 10 times in a row each day, the link is http://wehearyouamerica.readersdigest.com/town.jsp?town=ELY&state=MN. This contest runs through May 16.
Dana Coleman’s first grade class initiated a petition to have the American black bear named Minnesota’s state mammal. This is an amazing opportunity for students across Minnesota to learn about their state government. The link to the class’s petition is http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/BlackBear-MNState-Mammal/.
You are making a major effort in the voting and we very much appreciate your generosity in the bidding for Carol Decker’s number 1 of 350 signed and numbered print of Lily and Hope. Moe, the winner at $750, has turned back the picture to make it available to everyone through an auction process coming up. Thank you, Moe.
An update on the update: by the time we finished writing, Lily et al. reversed and moved a half mile to one of her favorite areas of last spring. It’s an area where Hope spent a lot of time when she was alone in late June last year. We’ll see what they do next.
Thank all of you for all you are doing.
—Lynn Rogers and Sue Mansfield, Biologists, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center