Sharon It was a workday for the Black Bear Field Course and us. Lynn and the group tracked down Sharon and her 2 new cubs in the territory she established last year outside the main study area. Lynn removed her radio-collar in accordance with the new lowered limit on radio-collars (12). In saying goodbye to her, Lynn thought about her life.
Sharon's cubs in red pineSharon was part of Juliet’s litter of Sharon, Shirley, and the Boy Named Sue born in 2010 that was part of the BBC documentary My Bear Family. In 2011, we followed the family through family breakup and watched Sharon and Shirley stake claims to areas within and adjacent to Juliet’s territory. In 2012, we removed Shirley’s radio-collar when the DNR reduced the number of radio-collars to 15. That fall, we learned Shirley was killed by a hunter.
Sharon climbs to check cubsWe continued to radio-track Sharon, following her last fall to the den where she gave birth to the two cubs we saw today for the first time high in a red pine. Sharon was courted by Bill last spring and her cubs both have light faces like Bill did, so perhaps they are his. A video of thier courtship can be seen at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R1OYe9whhSE. We may never see Sharon or her cubs again in their distant territory. We wish them well.
Sharon alert to dangerOn this day of farewell, Sharon gave the group a glimpse of bear life and language. She grunted sweetly to her cubs, then climbed adeptly to the treetop to check on them. While in the tree, she perked up to something off to our left, climbed and slid down the tree with amazing speed, and ran in the direction of the perceived danger. It could have been no more than a red squirrel, but Sharon demonstrated her motherly instincts. We left, thanking her. From the road, knowing where the cubs were up the tree on a ridge, we knew where to aim binoculars. They were still where we left them. Sharon’s pronouncement of danger and rush to investigate it 20 minutes earlier may still have been affecting them.
Aster searches for nutsSue
Aster with new collar bushwhacked three-quarters of a mile to catch up to Aster and replace her ‘cub’ collar with a GPS equipped one—then hiked to a trail and walked twice as far on the trail rather than bushwhack back. Getting the old collar off wasn’t a problem, but getting the new one on was. Sue was wishing she had packed some sweetened condensed milk—it sure helped get Faith collared yesterday! Persistence paid off. Once Aster tired of raising her paw to push the collar away, the collaring went quickly. GPS data are now streaming from Lily, Jewel, Juliet, Faith, and Aster.
Lorie lowers Sandy into denIn the afternoon, Lynn and the group checked on 4-year-old Star and her first litter. We’d heard only one cub voice in the den earlier this spring and we were anxious to confirm the cub count. Her radio-signal led us to her empty den. Well, not exactly empty. The den had a foot of icy water and a lot of bedding. A group member heroically tried to fish through the icy mess while Research Assistant Lorie Kennedy held her feet, but the collar evidently was too far into the den. We’ll go back with a rake and a hoe.
Star's wet denIt was an action-filled day trekking far through the different types of bear habitat, getting a lot done, and seeing bear behaviors few have seen.
Black ice on Woods LakeFirst sightings of wildlife for this year included a Chipping Sparrow (Spizella passerina), a Broad-winged Hawk (Buteo platypterus), and a Red-tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis). We heard the first frogs of the year—wood frogs, spring peepers, and chorus frogs. Usually wood frogs are heard much earlier than the other two, but the record late spring delayed them until the time the other frogs start calling.
RC and yearlingThe temperature on this beautiful day reached 71F, starting frogs calling and turning lake ice black. We saw the temperature records for this past April, which showed an average temperature of 30F, nine degrees below the average. No wonder the lakes haven’t melted.
This evening we had our first bear visit—RC and her 2 yearlings.
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.