Faith - April 29, 2012Sue Mansfield and BBC Producer Chris Howard checked out Lily and Faith’s den of this past winter. Chris, an experienced climber, had little trouble navigating the 7-foot deep steep rock entrance to the den. He found the side room where June, Aster, and Aspen had secluded themselves when Lynn looked for them a couple weeks ago. He saw the bed where Lily and Faith had spent the winter and 5’ 8.5” tall Chris could actually stand up in that part of the den. As he looked around, he found a blue-spotted salamander (Ambystoma laterale), then saw 2 more active in the snow and ice that still remains in crevices of the deep rocky floor.
Blue-spotted salamander- April 29, 2012Earlier in the day, it seemed that Lily and June were on a collision course at the clover patch they both frequent, but Lily’s GPS showed she and Faith passed June by and headed south. June’s GPS showed her to be active in a small area, so Sue and Chris decided to join June, Aster, and Aspen to see what they were up to. By the time they located them, the bears had moved away from the ‘small area’ and both Aster and June had fresh blood on their muzzles. Sue and Chris stuck with them hoping to learn more.
Aspen runs off with deer leg - April 29, 2012The yearlings were foraging on their own, while June was mostly just heading slowly east. The whole family dug the red-rot wood out of birch logs to feast on big white grubs. At one point Aster rejoined the group with downy feathers sticking to her face and nose—that one remains a mystery! June found a deer leg bone that was little more than fur and tendons. She chewed on it briefly before the yearlings took it over. Aspen tried over and over to pull a foot-long tendon from a knee joint. As he pulled, the tough, slippery tendon just pulled out of his mouth. He tried to bite it off at the bone. Same result. Aster made it a tug-of-war over the leg and tried to bite off a smaller tendon down near the hoof. No wonder the wolves had left the tendons.
June - April 29, 2012As the family settled in together to work on the deer leg, Sue and Chris headed back to the area where there had been a concentration of June’s GPS points earlier in the day. Their search found nothing so they gave up and began back—then decided to look one more time and had success. They found an area of fresh blood and deer hair. Pieces of hide were strewn around and trails streaked with blood showed where pieces of the deer had been dragged off. June must have found where wolves had killed a deer, dismembered it, and dragged it off. She and her yearlings likely fed some on what little was left behind.
Lily and rumen contents - April 29, 2012While Sue and Chris were surveying the area, Lily and Faith appeared on the scene! Lily checked the area out and then fed on the rumen contents. The rumen is usually filled with vegetation that is of no interest to wolves, so it typically is left behind. Lily was not about to pass up the rumen. To her, it was filled with the same fresh young greens that she would be seeking if they weren’t all gathered together in one rumen. She and Faith both dug in. We didn’t realize bears did that.
Lily licks rumen contents - April 29, 2012The day started with soundman Martyn Stewart going out at 3 AM to set up his microphone to catch the dawn chorus on this windless morning. He especially wanted to capture the long, mellow call of the loon for the Hope Education Building. He went back to bed with his headset on. At dawn, half asleep, he recognized the trumpeting of Trumpeter Swans (Cygnus buccinators) circling little Woods Lake. To our knowledge, it was the first time swans had come to Woods Lake, but Martyn knew the sound from his recordings elsewhere in North America. Jim Stroner was startled awake and got up in time to see them land.
At the Research Center, Bow’s yearling daughter Daisy stepped on the scale (an even 50 pounds). She was alone and very skittish. Four evenings ago, Daisy and her brother Drew were here together. Again, no mother. We wondered if family breakup could possibly have happened already in this record early spring. Two things made us withhold judgment. Daisy was calling out as if for her mother, and the siblings were still together. Usually, they split at family breakup. Now we saw Daisy being super skittish with no brother and no mother. Has the family split up? Time will tell. We’re waiting to see if Bow shows up and if she is with a male.
A call just now from WCCO-TV was about a young bear shot by authorities in St Paul. Although the sex was not reported, the likely explanation for its presence is that it was a young male dispersing far from its mother’s territory. We suspect it came up the forested edge of the Mississippi 17-20 miles from Wisconsin and became hopelessly entangled in the maze of St Paul residences. Females are much less likely to move such long distances, but you can never say never.
Another video of June and her yearlings from April 26 is posted at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZoQC-XHPtIM.
Thank you for all you do.
—Lynn Rogers and Sue Mansfield, Biologists, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center