JuneberriesJuneberries are still abundant and are now dead ripe with practically no green ones coming on. So the Juneberry season will go out with a bang. Most of them are plump and delicious, although a few are now beginning to dry up.
ChokecherriesWhy don’t we include the scientific name of Juneberries beyond the generic Amelanchier? Because extensive hybridization has even the top botanists confused as to which are true species and which of the “species” are actually hybrids.
Chokecherries are suddenly ripe and more abundant than we have seen for years.
Guy and Ty playLily Fans have asked about playful 4-year-old Ty. We saw him today playing with Guy who’s likely twice Ty’s size and age. Guy actually sat while playing with smaller Ty. With mating season over and food abundant, we may see more instances of play between bears.
We caught a glimpse of a large bear in the distance and were able to identify him as Big Harry by his light nose and the bare patch on his rump from an old bullet wound.
Big HarryToday, Jim and Bec searched far and wide for 2-year-old Aster without a beep. Her GPS batteries have expired, so we hardly know where to start looking for her telemetry signals. If they don’t find her tomorrow we may have to fly.
While Jim and Bec did the fieldwork, Lynn spent most of the day working on a publication and Sue caught up on other paperwork. She and Linda Gibson collaborated on getting together video clips for our presentation at the International Conference on Bear Research and Management in Provo, Utah, September 15-20.
Inspector TedAt the Bear Center, the staff worked on an insulated floor for Ted’s chalet for this winter, and Ted gave it his blessing by walking on it.
We’re following a story in an eastern state that’s a lot like the Lily and Hope story. A single cub was abandoned by its mother but kept alive with supplemental food. Now, after being pursued by many males, the mother is gradually accepting the cub back. They’re not together yet but are bedding 20 feet apart. We wonder if Lily and Hope went through a similar gradual reunion before we first saw them fully together. We wonder if this mother will fully accept her cub and get her milk back like Lily did.
A great news article about the value of live den cams to students and teachers is at http://abcnewspapers.com/2013/08/09/former-andover-elementary-teacher-advocates-for-black-bear-researcher/. In it, Dana Coleman advocates for the research and the den cams. When relating how knowledgeable a student was during a trip to the North American Bear Center in Ely, Coleman said, “You want kids to be excited about something. Who knows what will come of it. She could be a researcher, or veterinarian or biologist because of this.”
Another nice article is on the new Friends of the Wildlife Research Institute webpage at http://www.friendsofwri.com/my-story-bear-class.
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.