June sniffs the air - Aug 15, 2012After saying goodbye to another great group of Black Bear Field Course participants around midday, we found June eating raspberries (Rubus idaeus) that are quickly becoming scarce. A scat she dropped showed a few unripe mountain ash (Sorbus americana) berries, which usually are not eaten until after the first frost in late September or early October. Mountain ash berries in her scat this early is another sign of scarce food.
Spikenard - Aug 15, 2012As we hiked back to our vehicle after leaving June, we found a nice patch of spikenard (Aralia racemosa) beginning to ripen. Bears eat the berries, but it is not a common plant in the study area.
Shadow - July 14, 2011The Bear Fun and Facts Team focused on Shadow today, another bear that is apparently out working hard for scarce food. No one has seen her at any feeding station lately. The Bear Fun and Facts Team is doing a great job of summarizing what is known about the research bears they feature on Lily the Black Bear’s Facebook page. Today, it’s Shadow at http://www.facebook.com/notes/lily-the-black-bear/meet-shadow/10151364102244478 complete with many pictures.
Unripe mountain ash - Aug 15, 2012At the Bear Center today, Lynn and Curator Donna Andrews had a nice talk with the owner of Ted and Honey. She and her husband are the people who lovingly raised Ted and Honey from cubs and were distraught when an insurance company said they had to get rid of the bears to keep their insurance. They turned the bears over to us in spring 2007—a godsend. Today we felt very good when she expressed her gratitude to the North American Bear Center for the care her bears get, the forest they roam, and the education that results from their lives. We are just as grateful to her and her husband for making it possible.
We learned something else we are thankful for. We learned that Lily Fans volunteered 3,136 hours in July alone. Using Minnesota's equivalent value of volunteer time, which lists volunteer work as being worth $21.62 per hour, volunteers provided $67,800 of volunteer time to the NABC/WRI.
Many thanks for all you are doing!
—Lynn Rogers and Sue Mansfield, Biologists, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center