LuckyThe frosty night a couple weeks ago during the height of the blossoms did not kill the blossoms—at least on the blueberry and juneberry bushes I’ve seen. Most of the blueberry blossoms have now turned into little green berries as pictured. Same for juneberries.
Blueberries - 6/5/15Here at the WRI, we’re having regular sightings of bears, mostly young ones like Mike, Lorie, Fern, Sophie, Veronica, and occasional sightings of RC and Aspen (Fern is here now in the rain and Bow just showed made her first appearance and is lactating (165 pounds)).
At the same time, a news broadcast warned of major bear problems across northeastern Minnesota especially around Grand Marais and Ely due to a lack of wild foods. The Conservation Officer in Grand Marais (80 miles from Ely) said he has never seen so many bears. 
Robin in Cedar - 6/5/15The satisfying thing about this is that we haven’t heard of any problems in and around the community of Eagles Nest. With a dozen people feeding here, there are no bad food times. The bears here are gaining weight nicely and are not desperate. http://www.wdio.com/article/stories/S3815662.shtml?cat=11806
Planting garden at NABCMore good news comes from the Bear Center where staff, interns, and a Bear Educator are helping Donna Rogers plant a garden to attract bumblebees, butterflies, and other pollinators. The garden will be along the Bear Center wall visible from the viewing balcony.
Encouraging pollinationBeautiful mornings yesterday and today made me keep a camera in my pocket in case the good light revealed bits of beauty, which it did.
It was a morning where everything looked nice—the forest in the Bear Enclosure, a road I’ll be driving with Bear Course participants, a mirror smooth pond with reflections, and a turkey vulture in a forest setting so pretty I had to include the trees around the bird.
Out the windows at the Bear Center, a robin on the bears’ cedar chip pile revealed how clean the staff is keeping the Bear Center windows as I snapped a picture through one.
It was a good day with good productivity for the Ecology Hall and a good meeting with leaders of the Wolf Center to see how we can cross-promote to get people in each other’s doors.
Along with all that, I saw how generously Lily Fans are helping us obtain hazelnuts (without shells) so we can get bears on the scale, check them, and identify them. The bears respond better to hazelnuts than anything we have.
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| Red Squirrel - 6/5/15 | Turkey Vulture from a distance | Vulture up-close - 6/5/15 |
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| Forest in the enclosure - 6/5/15 | Reflections in pond - 6/5/15 | Railroad Grade - 6/5/15 |
Thank you for all you do.
Lynn Rogers, Biologist, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center
All photos taken today unless otherwise noted.