Jewel mouths a twig - Jan 29, 2012Maybe we missed something, but when we were tuned in, everything seemed relatively peaceful in the 3 dens. Faith’s bawling to nurse seemed more subdued than we’ve heard. Lucky and Honey didn’t argue, and Jewel and cubs slept so soundly at times that Jewel’s breathing slowed to 3 ¼ breaths per minute and we could hear her snoring. The Den-Watch Team will let us know the full story of today eventually, but that’s how it seemed to us.
Jewel tends cub - Jan 29, 2012Apparently thinking of less peaceful times in Jewel’s den, a Lily fan sent some ideas for classes on parenting for bears. ‘Teach your toddler to express his/her innermost feelings.’ ‘What to do about tantrums.’ ‘Handling competition between twins.’ ‘How to react if you accidentally sit on your child.’ ‘Coping with Days when you don't seem to have enough nipples.’ We had to chuckle!
A video of yesterday’s activity in Jewel’s den is posted at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QoXsXZzoX2Q .
Below is another write-up of a walk with June bear in 2005 and a few more pictures of Jewel.
Thank you for all you do.
—Lynn Rogers and Sue Mansfield, Biologists, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center
Jewel stretches out - Jan 29, 2012Today was a day of surprises. The first surprise was radio-locating Blackheart and her 2 female yearlings in an area I had never found them before. Interestingly, they were on a ridge in the middle of Dot’s territory – the same ridge that had been occupied last summer by Dot’s yearlings, Cinder and Trueheart. Blackheart (age 8) is Dot’s (age 5) mother. Cinder was hit and killed while crossing the Hwy 169 a few days ago, and Trueheart is uncollared and has not been seen since last fall, so she may have not made it through the hunting season.
The day’s second surprise is a longer story. The day started off clear and sunny but clouded up by mid-afternoon. The lighting was perfect for videoing so I headed out to get footage of June and her cubs. At 4:30 PM I located June’s signal in the same area where I spent time with her yesterday so I parked and began readying my gear. Before I was ready, I noticed June walking down Trygg Road towards me. No cubs were in sight but I didn’t think too much of it as it isn’t unusual for her to leave them in a tree while she forages nearby.
Jewel yawns with long tongue - Jan 29, 2012I fed her a few nuts and then began following her – figuring she would lead me to her cubs. She walked down a driveway to an unoccupied cabin on the shore. She back-rubbed a utility pole in the yard and headed for the next cabin down the shore. I held back in the woods while she inspected the yards of next two cabins. I lost sight of her and headed back to the road where I located her in a power corridor. I called to her and she sat down to watch my approach. She was sitting near a utility pole and I suspect she had been marking it. She marked two more utility poles along the corridor by sitting at the base and rubbing her head and neck on the pole then standing to rub her neck and chest. At one pole she briefly jumped up and clung to the pole to sniff a bear-bitten area. I was fortunate to catch this on video.
June seemed ‘on a mission’ and was moving away from the area where I suspected her cubs were. Whatever was she up to? She was traveling through areas I recognized from our walks last summer and she was straddling many small trees and bushes. At one point she lay down and chewed on something, but, because I was behind her, I was unable to see what it was. I stepped around her in an attempt to see but she got up and walked off hurriedly. I followed, and, when she finally put down what she was carrying, I found it was the jawbone of a deer fawn. As I was looking at it I realized she had put it down in an area where there were other fawn remains. She sniffed the area and then headed out again. I then began to wonder if perhaps she had come to this area looking for fawns. She did spend some time in this area sniffing intently – but in retrospect I suspect she was scenting the animal that killed the fawn rather then searching out more fawns. Perhaps another bear had killed the fawn.
Jewel's eyes reflect light - Jan 29, 2012June continued on through her territory, bounding through the more open areas with me jogging along trying to keep her in sight. At times she would stop dead in her tracks and spend a long time sniffing branches. She was dripping urine and straddling trees to leave her scent as she traveled. I came to anticipate her doing this and was finally able to get video footage of her straddle-marking behavior.
I finally lost her over a mile from where we started our jaunt. I hurried back along an ATV trial to get my car in order to continue to monitor her movements.
She was heading into a remote area where few roads were available for getting good radio-signals. My first guess of where she was headed was wrong so I hurriedly drove around the lake to get better readings. As soon as I realized she was headed back towards where we started our walk, I drove back to park in my original spot and monitored her travels from there. At 8:41 PM, I watched as she stepped from the woods onto Trygg Road, crossed over and headed down the same driveway where we had started our walk together. By the time I got to the driveway she was just moving away from the utility pole she had previously marked and I suspect she had marked it again. She seemed to be retracing her steps. Again I followed her towards the other cabins then scooted back to the road to wait for her. She quickly appeared at the end of another driveway with her cubs in tow. She must have left her cubs in a tree behind one of the cabins. The cubs were eager to nurse and she quickly crossed the road in front of my car and into the woods on the other side. I followed and found she had plopped down just inside the woods to nurse the hungry cubs. I had videoed her crossing the road with her cubs and I also videoed this reunion of mother and cubs after their 4-1/4 hour separation. As soon as the cubs were sated she moved off deeper into the woods and I bid them farewell.