Lily in her den The goal today was to get Lily’s Den Cam going again. We failed. Tomorrow we will return—but only to the den shed—with an expert who we believe has a solution to the ongoing communication problems. Here’s what happened today.
When we arrived at her den at 2:34 PM, Lily was nursing her cubs. Both cubs were humming along with good, strong voices, telling mom not to move, and she didn’t. Lynn couldn’t see Lily when he peered into the den but he could see that the wall of wood chips she raked up over a month ago is gone. We had wondered how long Lily could refrain from rearranging her bedding.
Lily licks snow With the cubs occupying Lily, Lynn began repositioning the camera. Then the cubs finished nursing and became quiet—probably sleeping. Temporarily released from her motherly duties on this mild day, Lily checked out the repositioned camera, brushed it aside, and came out to say hello. She’d heard “It’s me bear” from both of us as we arrived, so she knew who was there. We offered her a grape but she wasn’t interested. She just stood and looked around. Eventually she ate a single grape and began licking up the newly fallen snow. That was the only grape she ate.
Lily eats more snow before returning to her cubs She looked at Lynn a couple times as he finished working on the camera and as he dug the microphone out of nearly a foot of snow. She was unconcerned. The situation was the same routine as our previous visit on December 30th—nothing to worry about. She ate more snow. We left at 2:54 PM as she continued to eat snow before returning to the quiet cubs. The cubs’ fur provides good insulation now, so they aren’t as dependent on Lily to keep them warm.
The 'new' Lily Den Cam view The camera came back online long enough for us to get screen capture and a few seconds of video. The view into the den is much improved! It looks like Lily bumped the tube on her way back in, but even so, it’s better than the wall of wood chips we’ve watched for the last month. The brief video is posted at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=omMxzQTPtYg.
Lynn and Sue haul empty propane tanks to the truck Seeing Lily’s calm trust made us feel incredibly privileged. It is that trust and familiarity that allows us to place a camera in her den so easily. The camera routine is old hat to her in this fourth year of partnering with her for research and education. We can’t imagine a better partner unless it would be her mother June who is inaccessible again this winter. Seeing Lily’s beautiful face and calm look was satisfying beyond words.
Fern and Herbie peer over JewelWe missed the opportunity to take video of her as she emerged through the new snow at her den entrance and ate snow. Jim Stroner’s pictures of it will be treasured.
You put the Hope Learning Center over the $10,000 mark in the GiveMN Valentines for the Hope Learning Center campaign! Wonderful. Additional donations will be used for the tables and chairs the students will use in the Multimedia Classroom. We have 3 days to go to Valentine’s Day! http://givemn.razoo.com/story/Valentines-For-The-Hope-Learning-Center.
We can't forget Jewel! A video of her and the yearlings is posted at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCYvqBwzODY.
Thank you for all you do. Thank you for all you’ve done!
—Lynn Rogers and Sue Mansfield, Biologists, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center
All pictures taken today unless otherwise noted.