June and her cubs Lily, Cal and Bud - June 16, 2007An ermine (a.k.a. short-tailed weasel, Mustela erminia), checked out Ted’s and Honey’s dens today. Quick-acting Lily Fans captured the visits on video. At Ted’s den a 33-second video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQFzPekQaLU shows the weasel approaching from the direction of Lucky’s and/or Holly’s dens and scampering around on Ted’s straw briefly before heading out in the direction of Honey’s wooden window den at 13:27. Five minutes later, a Lily Fan captured video of it approaching Honey’s den http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MhArwg1n9Qs. At the end of that 2-minute video, the weasel races off with a vole, possibly the one I watched exploring around Honey’s den a couple days ago.
The 5-minute flashback https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PfYeZnlHQh4 is of June nursing her cubs on June 16, 2007, without a hint that a person (Sue) is there with a camera. None of the bears pay any attention to her—not a glance. Their acceptance was a result of our spending many hours the past winter at the entrance of their den videoing the family. At first, the cubs were hidden under June, then they were venturing out from under her, eventually opening their eyes, and accepting us as part of the woodwork. When they got flooded out of that den for a couple days in April, they allowed us to video the family huddled together soaking wet with June licking water from the cubs’ coats. A log 2 feet from the family helped us get steady shots that are now part of the Bear Center exhibits. It allowed us to see things we would never have dreamed before using our trust-based approach. The video from that winter and spring helped spread some reality about black bears worldwide as part of 9 TV programs.
But back to June 16, 2007. The cubs are each nursing following a nipple order we saw established in the den. Peaceful. June rests a paw on each of the two cubs on her chest—Cal using the left set of two nipples and Lily using the right set. Bud took his set between June’s hind legs. Each cub constantly went back and forth between the two nipples each had taken ownership of. Eventually, they stopped their motor-like hum. Milk was likely running out. Lily seemed the most aware of her surroundings and looked around a few times. A sound startled them. June suddenly sat up. The cubs scattered for trees. Almost immediately, all recognized there was no danger and regrouped. Cal started for Lily’s set of nipples, and Lily chased him away. Cal then attempted to nurse from his rightful set of nipples while June was standing.
This brief window into black bear life ended with an ovenbird, a kind of ground-dwelling warbler, giving it’s loud call—a familiar sound the bears ignore.
The hundreds of hours of video we took is an unparalleled record of black bear life in the wild. It lets us all see details we might have missed in the field. One of the goals is to put the videos into a book as links to show what is being described on the pages. It is a way for people to learn so much more than could be learned from words alone—or even from pictures.
But today, the focus was again on touch-screen kiosks for the Northwoods Ecology Hall.
A team of Lily Fans and volunteer researchers/writers are gathering and arranging the information (including pictures and videos) so people can easily navigate through it using the kiosks. At this point, the team is focusing on local wildlife—178 birds, 55 mammals, 10 Fish, 7 frogs, 3 salamanders, 2 snakes, and a toad—with more to be added. Huge, but more topics will be added about local plant and trees, local environmental history, the influence of local human history, and where to see local wildlife and other nature highlights.
As I was writing this, the outside microphone caught two large animals arguing. The speaker is on my desk, so the sounds came through loud. The outside lights showed it to be two foxes—at least one of them a gray fox. Both disappeared into the darkness by the time I grabbed a camera and the right pair of glasses.
Holly has arranged the leaves the staff gave her yesterday from local sources. I have to admit forgetting to add that video to the update last night. It was a video that made people smile seeing how she eagerly gathered the leaves in. It finally got added to last night’s update about 10 AM today.
Thank you for all you do.
Lynn Rogers, Biologist, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center