Juliet and yearlings still togetherToday, Lynn flew to Chicago to meet his wife Donna for a mini-vacation as they drive back to Ely together. Here, Lorie readied more GPS units as spares to ensure we get as much location data as possible this summer. We will have GPS units on 11 bears if we can get collars back on Donna, Braveheart, and Daisy. It will be a juggling match to keep all units going! However, the location data we get from the units makes it well worth the effort.
When I was gathering nearly daily radio-telemetry data for my thesis (2004-2006), I traveled as much as 100 miles a day—much of it on back logging roads—to locate all the radio-collared bears. At the end of the summer, I was happy to have 50 locations on each bear. Last summer we got over 11,000 GPS locations on June alone. We realize how much we missed with the old method.
Other than a quick check of Fern’s radio-signal to confirm she was still with Jewel, the rain kept us in today. Both Faith and Aster need new GPS batteries, but this weather is not conducive to connecting with a skittish young bear. Even though we have ‘walked with’ both of them when they were still with their mothers, now that they are on their own, it’s a far different story.
We learned long ago that we can’t walk with yearling bears after family break-up. If we’re lucky, we can join up with them in the woods. But try walking with them, and they run off. Yearlings are hyper-alert for danger so we leave them to figure out their place in the bear world on their own.
As 2-year-olds, they are more confident, but it still takes time for them to trust us enough to dependably let us approach. And a day like today is not the time to build trust. The rain and wind make it hard for bears to sort out real danger from the background noises. As Lynn says “Bears are ruled by fear and food…in that order.”
Lorie and I watched as RC and her yearlings came into the yard this evening. The two yearlings were VERY skittish—whipping their heads around and constantly ready to run to the nearest tree. RC was more sure of herself, but still very alert.
A resident of the study area sent pictures of Juliet and her yearlings. It’s helpful because it lets us know the family is still together. We are charting all bear families and hope to determine the timing of family breakup as closely as we can. So far all families are still together.
Thank you for all you do.
—Sue Mansfield, Biologist, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center
All photos taken today unless otherwise noted.