Lily and cubs outside the denThe big excitement today was watching Lily and her cubs on the outside PTZ camera. Three days of melting snow dripping into her den was too much. She crawled out to dry off. She and the cubs were in and out of the den 3 times. Ellie and Eli practiced their climbing on rugged sticks around the entrance. Lily surveyed her surroundings, chewed sticks and bark, and dragged the balsam boughs we'd placed over the Den Cam tube opening back to the den entrance. She took at least one back in with her.
Water runs down Lily's noseAs darkness fell, Lily returned to the den. The cubs lingered outside for a few minutes before joining her. We discovered the outside PTZ camera picks up the infrared light that the Den Cam emits, so we zoomed the outside camera in as far as we could to allow a view into the den during the night.
Lily and cubs - infrared viewThe blurry Den Cam picture from Lily licking the lens is a problem. Up till now, we have had the Den Cam switched to infrared mode day and night because the image was better and more consistent. 
Soggy cubsBut now that Lily has ‘goobered-up’ the lens, it’s actually much clearer in regular daylight mode. Cleaning the lens seems like the logical thing to do, but we are hesitant to visit the den so close to the time she may leave. We want to see when she naturally emerges this snowy year compared with other years. 
Soggy cubWe’ll deal with the blurriness as best we can by switching off the infrared during the daytime.
We have never seen such well-developed cubs in a den this time of year. Thinking back to the days of den visits, tranquilizers and ear-tagging, the cubs were nothing like we are seeing here. 
Lily and cubs outside It seems like just a few days ago when the cubs were wobbly and were falling down to the lower level below the camera and squawking about it. This morning, Eli hustled by the camera a couple times, confident and coordinated, and then JUMPED down to the lower floor. Rapid progress.
Lily and cubs outsideLily must be producing a lot of good milk. Does one cub nurse more steadily with more of the contented hum? Both are doing well, though. What will this good start mean to them in the future? In studies of other animals, good starts have carried benefits into adulthood and the next generation.
Lily and cubs outsideThe cubs are ready to follow, although they might not do that well yet in soft snow, which is melting fast in the sun and 53F temperature today.
Lily and cubs outsideToday, we had a visit from 10 Americorps volunteers who want to help the Bear Center. What a great selfless bunch of young people (18-23 years old). You might have heard them when we introduced them to Ted through the fence. They loved him. Lucky heard the happy voices and came down to say hi, too. Honey stayed in her den.
Today's highlight videos of Lily and her cubs will be posted tomorrow.
Thank you for all you do.
—Lynn Rogers and Sue Mansfield, Biologists, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center
All photos taken today unless otherwise noted.