Our improved view!Juliet and cubs were in an out of the den today, and Juliet was doing an unusual amount of grunting to the cubs. Is she saying she wants to leave? Getting three cubs all moving in the same direction is a challenge even for an experienced mother. It’s a pretty safe bet they’ll leave the den soon. We haven’t been out to the den for weeks, so we don’t know the snow situation, but with 60 degrees and melting, Juliet should lead the cubs to a white pine soon.
We hope they stay a few days yet, though, because Juliet kindly moved the camera into a much better position. We can see the bears, capture video, and record time budgets of family activity before emergence.
First Herring Gull this yearBirds are returning. Our herring gull put in its first appearance of the year about 6:30 PM. The first dark-eyed junco was April 14, along with snow buntings about that time.
Sunlight filtering inTwo days ago, Donna Rogers saw the first northern flicker we’ve seen reported. She saw it just as a Coopers Hawk swooped in, caught it in flight, and the two fell to the ground with wings flapping. The hawk walked the flicker under a porch. Donna watched quietly from an Ely sidewalk maybe 20 feet away. The hawk looked at Donna, released the flicker, and the birds flew off in opposite directions. We’ve noticed that birds newly arrived from the south are often tired and less prone to take flight, which could make them easier targets for hawks trying to refuel after their own migrations.
Aster made a brief excursion to a nearby snowmobile trail but returned to her den area—likely deterred by the snow cover. It will take a few more days like today to shrink the snowpack.
Lily and her yearlings appear to have a bed just south of their den site. Their activities have been within a 150-yard diameter area.
At the Bear Center, Holly was very active playing with her duck tonight just before 8 pm, as seen in this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?
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Thank you for all you do.
—Lynn Rogers and Sue Mansfield, Biologists, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center