Jewel on the move While yearlings like Fern must feel they’ve lost the care and protection they’ve depended on their whole young lives, other bears are searching for partners to create new families.
Jewel foragingToday, Fern was in the heart of her mother’s territory where she and Jewel have spent so much time together. We didn’t see her and hope she was functioning better, foraging for greens, on this less windy day.
Jewel was everywhere but in her territory. Estrous females often have an urge to travel, laying down scent trails for males to follow to them. Since yesterday noon, she covered something over 15 miles, ranging into areas we have never known her to explore. This afternoon, we parked where we could watch without disturbing her to see if she had a companion yet. She didn’t. She was ambling steadily down a forest road taking occasional bites of clover from the roadside.
Wookchuck with 3 of her 5 youngShe ended the day some 2.5 miles outside her territory after making a big circle around it—and only a quarter mile from where we saw big Victor yesterday. We checked the area this evening and found the scene of a major bear fight like we’ve only seen during mating season. Gobs of fur and signs of a scuffle covered an area of 57 x 33 feet.
Dot follows big male - June 5, 2013Two miles away, Dot was spotted with a partner last night. On Lynn’s way home about 9 PM, he spotted her maybe 80 yards into the forest paralleling Highway 169 moving east. She was miles outside her usual area and only 5 miles from Ely. Surprisingly, instead of the male following her, big 13-year-old Dot was following him—and looked small behind him! We didn’t recognize him. It wasn’t Victor or Harry and probably not Jack. Light was fading. 
Yellow-bellied SapsuckerThe picture is of her falling behind him momentarily as the male hurried to the highway and was about to sprint across it during a lull in traffic. Dot hurried to catch up and made a car stop. We know other females that have been killed like that. A quarter mile on, her GPS readings formed a large cluster where they may have stopped and mated.
Two-year-old Faith is traveling even more than the others and has kept it up for nearly two weeks now. She may have a dual purpose. She may also be assessing possibilities for a territory. The area where she grew up is a little crowded with 12-year-old June, 6-year-old Lily, 2-year-old Aster, and now 1-year-old Fern all jockeying for space.
Mating season is an exciting time.
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.