Strawberry (left) & dewberry (right) seedsAs promised, below are notes from one of my early walks with June. This was my 3rd walk in the woods with her and we were still working things out. She thought all plastic bags held nuts, and I was still learning to negotiate tense situations—and still working on my own fear of being so close to a large animal. Our working relationship has come a long way since these early walks.
Thank you for all you do.
—Sue Mansfield, Biologist, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center
Date: July 17, 2004
Duration: 1603 – 1900 hrs
Bear: June
Observer: S. Mansfield
I found June resting on moss in a grove of balsam saplings, watching my approach. She did not get up when I arrived, and I worked my way through the balsams to sit 4’ away from her. A few minutes later she got up and sniffed the moss where she had been laying on her belly and then laid down facing away from me. She rested and slept for nearly an hour before suddenly getting up and coming directly to me. She turned and left as I stood up.
She crawled under a multi-trunked downed cedar and defecated. I took one look and knew it was not going to be a fun scat to retrieve – but little did I know how hard it would be. She moved out from under the tree and sat nearby. The entire area was a mass of downed cedars and I was afraid I would lose her if I didn’t move quickly so I broke off a couple branches and worked my way in to where the scat was.
Of course my getting out a plastic bag attracted her attention and she came right back in. Because I hadn’t fed her the nuts and scat-markers yet I did so at this time. At first she balked at the marker-laced marshmallows but she did take them once the few nuts I brought were gone. She didn’t leave though... and I felt trapped – literally backed into a corner by a bear that seemed to think there was more food somewhere here! It made for some tense moments but we both made it through.
We worked our way out of the tightest spot to one where there was a little more maneuverability – but she still kept at me. She cuffed my foot and I yelled ‘NO’ at her. She huffed a bit and bounded off a short ways to investigate another downed cedar. She seemed uncomfortable with my following her – perhaps some trust had been broken, but I was feeling a little uncomfortable and untrusting too! We persevered.
I followed her for the next hour and a half as she fed on: ant pupae, dewberry, strawberries, bunchberries (unripe), wild lettuce, and clover. She also stumbled upon a ground-nesting bird nest and consumed the contents. I am not sure whether the nest contained eggs or nestlings. Towards the end of our walk she began straddling small saplings as she moved about.
A total of 4 scats were collected during this walk.