HollyHolly willingly came out of her pen at 8:45 AM and stayed out most of the day. She explored the woods and spent time up her refuge deadfall. At 1:10 PM, Honey surprised her with a big rush. Holly wisely was near one of the trees she had practiced climbing the other day and leaped up the tree. Honey stood up and slapped the trunk. She was not friendly to Lucky at first, either, but they developed a relationship and even denned together one winter.
Holly eats peanutsWe now think we wrongly accused Lucky of playing too rough with Holly a few days ago. Based on what we have seen since then, we think it most likely it was an altercation with Honey that put Holly in such a fearful mood and made her reluctant to leave her safe pen for a couple days.
Holly reacts to her reflectionTo give Holly more freedom to explore, the staff led Honey to her pen. Ted had just entered his pen, and Lucky was not let out yet. Holly had a half hour of total freedom from about 1:30 to 2 PM. She surprised everyone by readily coming down to the open viewing area and spending the half hour getting to know the prime foraging area. She enjoyed red grapes (she doesn’t care for green grapes) and raw peanuts in the shell. She got on the scale and weighed 85 pounds—having gained 4 pounds since May 30th.
Holly forages near pondHolly’s greatest concern was her reflection in the windows of the viewing area. She didn’t grow up seeing her reflection in water whenever she drinks like wild bears do, but it didn’t take long for her to realize that the reflection was her own and ignore it.
She even did some stomp-walking. Did her reflection trigger a need to assert herself? Or was she feeling confident and making the big enclosure her home?
Holly gets weighedA big question was how she would respond to Lucky. At 2 PM, it was Lucky’s turn to be out. He ambled down to the viewing area to check for food. Holly spotted him coming just as Lucky saw her. Lucky hurried to meet her but Holly was faster. She wasn’t ready to meet friendly Lucky without a fence between them and no trees to climb. She scampered for the forest.
Another highlight today was midday when Ted visited Honey at her wooden den by the windows. Honey came partway out to meet him and they were calmly nose-to-nose.
Loppy and Lily - June 2Mike and Lorie downloaded hundreds of pictures from the landowner’s trail cam at the feeding site Aster, Cole, and Ember used last fall. Good information and a big question. It will take time for us to completely go through the images, but we easily identified Aster in some and Lily in others. Interestingly, the cam caught a picture of Lily and Loppy! He is easy to recognize with his floppy right ear and battered left ear. Other pictures were of a pine marten, flying squirrels, and a raccoon.
Loppy - June 2The big question is where are Cole and Ember? Did 3-year-old Aster or 7-year-old Lily chase them off? We have no idea. Hopefully we will learn the answer.
Elsewhere in the woods, Juliet, Jewel, Lily, and Aster all seem okay.
White-tailed deer mountThe Black Bear Field Courses have spaces open for 1 person each in the courses starting June 29 and July 27 and spaces open for 2 people each in the courses starting August 17 and August 24. We’re looking forward to life-changing courses without the DNR restrictions of the last couple years.
In honor of Dad, shop at AmazonSmile through 6/15/14 and Amazon will donate an extra $5 to the North American Bear Center. Click here for more information.
A nice white-tailed buck mount arrived today for the Northwoods Ecology Hall, donated by Lily Fans. 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.