Lily looks away - June 27, 2012Lily was inaccessible last evening but was within a mile of a road this morning, working an old clear-cut for ant pupae. We homed in on her signal with the usual greetings, hoping she would save us some steps by coming to us. She was too busy to care. Finally, when we got so close we wondered why we couldn’t see her, she cautiously appeared behind some bushes, paused, looked, and listened. We rustled the plastic bag of nuts as a final signal that it was a feeding situation. Then she fully understood. She came confidently, sat down patiently, and fell into the routine of nuts in exchange for tugging and twisting on her radio-collar. She ignored the man-handling and concentrated on the treat. To use two hands, the researcher put the nuts on the ground. She lay down, ignoring the researcher’s sometimes fast and unpredictable movements. It has all become part of the process and all to be ignored. With the GPS batteries replaced, it was “Thank you, bear” and walking away. Lily ignored us and scanned the opposite horizon with her eyes and ears—probably in response to a chipmunk or squirrel.
RC - June 27, 201213-year-old RC put in her first appearance of the year in the study area, followed by 3 cubs. She has lived in the center of the study area her entire life, has had more time than most to become accustomed to people, but is seldom seen as she goes about her life in the woods, supplementing her diet at feeding stations as needed. She has survived all those years without a radio-collar except for brief periods wearing one when she was younger. She finally came to at a feeding station today. We got an excited call and rushed over to get a picture before she disappeared.
Honey enjoys the pond - June 27, 2012At the Bear Center on this very hot, humid day, the bears enjoyed the pond and the visitors enjoyed the air conditioning. Today was a long awaited visit from Michigan by Lynn’s oldest daughter Kate, her husband Adam, and their 7-year-old daughter Veronica.
Lynn and Veronica - June 27, 2012In the Cub Room, ‘Grampa Bear’ was out-colored by young Veronica both in creativity and staying within the lines. While Lynn tried to stay within the lines on the bear he was coloring, Veronica colored the same bear picture her own way, adding a goldfish in the bear’s mouth, a sun at the top of the picture, and a reflection of the sun in water at the bottom of the picture. She knew that a tongue flick was a sign of friendship, so she drew a tongue sticking out. Then, she put all the pictures they colored together and designed a cover for the “book,” using tape as the binding. Grampa Bear was impressed.
It was a great day.
Thank you for all you do.
—Lynn Rogers and Sue Mansfield, Biologists, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center