Ring-necked DucksOvernight, the patches of snow we’ve been watching in the woods melted. By 5 PM today, the last patch of ice on the lakes around here was finally gone and ring-necked ducks had moved in. In the picture, we can see the rusty ring around the neck that give this duck its name.
The only snow left now is where people have piled it. One of those piles is still 8 feet high. That, too, will melt.
In the woods, bears without cubs are roaming. In the last two days, Aster used an area 2.0 miles long, and Lily used an area 2.71 miles long. Mothers with cubs are using smaller areas. Juliet and her cubs Ray, Bernard, and Charlie used an area only a quarter mile long. We have only one day of GPS locations for Jewel and her 3 cubs, and those are all in an area 0.11 mile long.
The wide-ranging travels by Lily make us wonder if she is in estrus as she was at this time in 2012, having already separated from Faith on May 7. But that year (2012) had an unusually early spring. This spring was late. Will that make a difference? Lily was still with Eli and Ellie these past couple days as evidenced by Lily’s grunting when Sue and Jim visited them. We hope Lily gives us an opportunity to see whether she is still with her yearlings in the next few days.
At the Bear Center, Sharon Herrell and Judy Thon went in with Holly to give her the bottle (https://www.youtube.com/watch?
Odometer - May 11We will be dismantling Juliet’s Den Cam soon. Along that line, we got an email from a kindergarten teacher in California saying, “I have had a hard time teaching my kinders this year w/o the live den cams. It is hard for young children to understand why.” We say it is hard for us to understand why, too.
Last night Lynn was about to experience a moment he had waited for months to see. People were betting he’d be on his cell phone and miss it. He was. As the odometer turned to ten 2’s in a row, he was on the phone, so the picture is not as astounding as it could have been.
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.