AsterJust after midnight this morning (October 7), Jewel arrived at her mother June’s den of the winter before last. Jewel never spent a winter there, but bears investigate den sites throughout spring, summer and fall, and they have great memories for locations. The den is only 400 yards from the den where she was born. We’ll be watching to see if she picks either of these.
Then, at just after 5 AM, Aster arrived in the vicinity of her den of last year. We wondered how she would dig a den. She won’t have to if the den is still intact. Yesterday, Aster was able to rest her foot on the ground and seemed to be putting weight on it, although she raised it up to walk on three legs. She’s making progress in just over a month. She’s been supplementing her food at a feeding site. Now, we’re wondering if she will produce cubs this January.
Also, last night at about 9 PM, Ursula made a 2.6-mile direct move to what we are “guessing” is a den. She arrived just after midnight and has has remained there. We’ll be watching her movements, or lack of them. It seems a little early for a mother with cubs to settle down.
Faith is a mystery. She has remained far from civilization this entire year. Likely, she has seen no one but us when we met up with her for battery changes. It would take half a day to walk in to where she is in a huge tangled cedar swamp. She has been there for weeks, moving about as if foraging—3-leaf Solomon Seal berries? Alder leaves?, Wild Calla leaves? We wish we could go to her.
Lily has not yet settled down. Eli and Ellie are probably the culprits in that, wanting more to eat when mom wants to settle down.
Of course, pregnant Juliet has been at a den since September 14.
That leaves Star and Fern to check on by telemetry. They don’t have GPS units, so they aren’t providing the constant data on their movements.
Exciting news from the Pond Chat Mod group! There are spots open for Pond Chat Moderators. This fast-paced chat room is devoted to educating visitors about the NABC resident bears and the WRI study bears. For a job description go to http://www.bear.org/website/open-volunteer-positions.html. To apply, complete the Application found at https://www.volgistics.com/ex/portal.dll/ap?AP=1352689360.
We were surprised and happy to see the legal fund thermometer standing at $80,000 today. Thank you!
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.