Tracks of 3 otters - March 31, 2012
June with new collar - March 31, 2012June was first on our agenda today. As we hiked in to her we found otter tracks in the snow—3 sets of tracks! The snow from yesterday has mostly melted with a temperature around 40F, so we are back into spring again. Those of us who love reading the stories left by tracks in the snow were happy for one more chance to indulge our passion.
We hadn’t seen June since we found her in a den last fall. We were surprised to find her and her yearlings Aster and Aspen in their den today. They probably retreated to the den when they heard us coming, but June readily came out when she realized it was us.
June's moss bed - March 31, 2012
The yearlings hung around by the den and June approached us. We easily changed her radio-collar to a new numbered one and collected a hair sample—both requirements of our new permit. We also gave her a GPS so we can start watching her movements as they post every 10 minutes on our computer.
Aspen - March 31, 2012
The yearlings ran off when a sudden noise spooked them. Eventually, June went after them and led them back to the den area. Her den was dry with no sign of flooding in the immediate area.
Aster - March 31, 2012
It was obvious from the plethora of bear sign in the area that the bears have been out of their den for some time—willows and alders were broken down, branches on a leaning cedar tree had been stripped off, a huge bed of club moss was 30 feet from the den, and there were fecal plugs and numerous fresh scats. That’s probably why June’s radio-signal showed so much activity lately. Now we know some of what they were doing. We collected scats and fecal plugs and took pictures and videos. When we left, the family was resting together in the well-used bed of club moss.
Jo with new collar - March 31, 2012
Then it was on to Jo and her yearling Victoria for more of the same. They had left their den on March 18—as evidenced by the images on the trail camera they dragged into their culvert den. We easily found them near where we radio-located them on March 25, showing that they are still confining their activities to a small area, like June and Lily are doing with their yearlings. Jo was good enough to let us put the new radio-collar on her and collect the hair sample. We spent a bit of time with them and found they had been tearing apart logs for grubs. We were running out of light so when they wandered into a dark balsam thicket we bid them “Thank you, bears” and headed back to the truck.
Victoria - March 31, 2012
March 31 marks the day Lily and Hope moved outside their den in 2010. Hope, Herbie, and Fern all have the same birthday—January 22—but Fern and Herbie are a day older than Hope was on March 31 because of Leap Year and the extra day in February. Will we be seeing Jewel, Fern, and Herbie moving out soon? The cubs are getting stronger and even MORE fun to watch. Jewel has her paws full.
Today we were reminded about all that the various groups, teams, and projects are doing as a result of Lily and clan bringing us together. With all that in mind and seeing volunteer applications coming in, we say, “Thank you for all you do.”
—Lynn Rogers and Sue Mansfield, Biologists, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center