Holly Helps Lucky...or Not - UPDATE October 25, 2014

Eagle across Woods LakeHolly didn’t quite understand the straw transfer project Lucky was working on. Lucky had discovered the treasure trove of straw at the cabin den a hundred feet from his/their bunker den and began raking it all the way to the bunker den. Holly helped Lucky’s endeavor by raking straw out of the cabin den, presumably for Lucky to rake up the hill to the bunker den. But then Holly had another idea. She carried mouthfuls back nearly to the cabin den and put it in a pile outside that pen. Lucky must have wondered what she was up to.

IGray fox at scale 10/24/14n the wild, cubs helped moms rake leaves into dens only to have the moms rake the leaves out and rake them back in her own way. On the other hand, orphaned cubs made perfectly good beds in dens on their own.

Gray fox at WRI 10/24/14The early morning gray fox and raccoon pictures on and near the wooden scale box got missed for last night’s update about the wildlife that shares the food on the scale. We also mentioned how wary the eagles and ravens are here in the woods. Only 12 miles away, ravens ignore people passing by on sidewalks as the ravens croak away unconcerned. Today, an eagle whose white head was too obvious to pass up was perched 0.11 mile away across Woods Lake. That was far enough that the eagle did not fly when I got up from my computer (working on Northwoods Ecology Hall exhibits) and rested my camera on the railing for a quick shot. That was the excitement for this day. The eagle migration will continue into November.

Raccoon at WRI 10/24/14The new leader of the Speakers Bureau ran into unforeseen circumstances and had to step down, so a new leader is needed as soon as possible. As an advocate for black bears and a member of the Speakers Bureau, the leader will oversee 20-30 volunteers who present a pre-designed, 45-minute PowerPoint presentation entitled ‘For the Love of Bears’ to local schools, libraries, nature centers, and other community organizations around the world. The full position description and application is at http://www.bear.org/website/volunteer.html. If you already have an application in our database, there is no need to submit a new one. Just email your interest to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Thank you for all you do.

Lynn Rogers, Biologist, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center

All photos taken today unless otherwise noted.

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