Sybil looking askance - Sept 21, 2012 Today we finished the job we started yesterday—getting Juliet back on the map. We located her in the same general area as yesterday and plowed through a thick alder, willow, and dogwood swamp to get to her. The drought ensured there were no puddles to step in, but the dark gray clouds delivered enough rain to soak us.
Juliet's cubs approaching - Sept 21, 2012As we closed in and her signal got louder, we came to a small grove of cedar trees with an open understory. It was a relief to be out of the thick brush—and Juliet seemed to be evading us—so we decided to stay put in hopes Juliet would come to us. It took nearly half an hour, but it worked.
Juliet and cubs feed on pecan among the brown cedar leaves - Sept 21, 2012We spotted Juliet first, but, once the family knew it was safe, the cubs were the first to arrive. It’s a challenge to photograph cubs that are in constant motion! We spread nuts for the cubs to keep them occupied while we worked on Juliet. There were plenty of nuts to go around but all three cubs vocalized the entire time as they were eating. As near as we can make out, the vocalization means “mine, mine, mine,…” and it’s the norm for cubs competing for food this time of year. That’s why we took special note in the Sept 14 update that Jewel’s cubs did not vocalize while feeding. In the midst of the racket, Juliet fed calmly on nuts and patiently let us tug on her collar to slip the new GPS unit into its case, zip it up, and flip the flap over the zipper.
A nice article about the ground-breaking is at http://www.duluthnewstribune.com/event/article/id/244054/.
Juliet - Sept 21, 2012Today, we saw the proofs of the 2013 Calendar. Stunning. It even surpasses last year’s Shadow’s Clan Calendar. Each and every one of Jim Stroner’s photos of 32 research bears, including cubs, is gripping. The fur is sharp. The light is pleasing, and the well-lit eyes let us see the bears’ souls. It is some of the best bear photography we have ever seen. Lily, Faith, Jewel, Herbie, Fern, June, Juliet and all the other research bears you know are included. For each month, the featured bears are described in a paragraph perfectly written by Lily Fans on the Bear Fun and Facts team (Thank you). In addition, the bear year is broken up into monthly summaries of phenology and activities. As you can tell, we are proud of the job the calendar team did in producing Shadow’s Clan 2013. This is the only big wall calendar we’re making for 2013. Ted, Lucky, and Honey will have a 1-page poster calendar of similar quality.
Thank you for all you do.
—Lynn Rogers and Sue Mansfield, Biologists, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center