Beautiful 12-year-old Donna with her distinctively marked face - March 20, 2012With the tales of yesterday not yet told, we are in from the field late again with new stories yet to tell. Also, we want to answer your questions about the size and weights of the fecal plugs from Jewel and now Jo (from yesterday).
Today, was more checking dens to see what bears are doing in this record warm period. Donna and her yearlings were tucked in as usual in their dry den under a big boulder (a “glacial erratic”) perched on top of a hill. It’s likely still cool in their den. Donna looked at us with calm interest but didn’t seem to have the energy to come out and let us put her collar back on her and take her heart rate. Even though she has 3 yearlings with her, the trail cam outside her den is still intact—unlike the one we put at Jo’s den! Hopefully the cam pictures will give us a better idea of the activities of Donna’s family.
Braveheart's den - March 20, 2012
Cedar tree stripped of bark for bedding near Braveheart's den - March 20, 2012On to Braveheart and her yearlings. Their den was under the roots of a fallen clump of cedars in a beautiful cedar grove. Braveheart is typically hard to approach. She has the habit of eluding us and slipping away without a glimpse or a sound. She and the yearlings did that today after we walked a mile and a quarter to her den. She left her collar in the den—minus the GPS unit that neither of us could find after sifting through the mounds of bedding. Being in a cedar swamp meant the den was wet, and there was a puddle in the bottom of their bed, which is probably why they were resting snuggled together in a bed outside the den. We say “resting snuggled together” from the warmth still in the bed and the size of the warm area. We called and called but she didn’t show.
Herbie with Fern behind - March 18, 2012
Fern climbs on Herbie - March 18, 2012Slipping away like that is typical of Braveheart. She doesn’t believe “It’s me, bear” until she has had time to slip around behind us, check our back trail, and have time for it to sink in that it’s the old researchers again. Then she is calm as ever. The picture of Lynn sitting working on the collar of a big calm bear is with Braveheart after homing in on her radio signals for over an hour as she circled. Other times she’s gone up trees until she recognized us. Then she comes down and is her usual calm self. Walking with her, once she knows who it is, is interesting. The same bear that can be so elusive before identifying us can be so calm that when Lynn lost her in a dense raspberry patch and was scanning all over for her, he didn’t know she was standing quietly next to him until she took a step. Today, with her collar in the den, we didn’t know which way to go to find her, and she didn’t come to us. After a half hour, we had to leave to get out of the woods by dark.
We picked off our first tick today and heard our first spring peepers this evening.
Thank you for all you do.
—Lynn Rogers and Sue Mansfield, Biologists, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center
ANNOUNCEMENT: The NABC online Gift Shop (http://www.bear.org/website/gift-shop.html) will be closed for a week starting March 25 through the end of the month while Bear Center staff complete the inventory. Our Web Technician is taking advantage of this down time to upgrade web store. The web store will open April 1st with a whole new look!