About 8:20 AM, Tasha had her first experience outside her pen in the big enclosure. As this 2-minute video shows, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0LB6TInjJfI, she was cautious at first, then she began smelling the tips of branches and putting her nose to the ground along bear trails. 
2 year-old Spot, Summer's sonEventually, Holly was released. The two had been making friendly gestures through the fence, but it turned into a chase in the big enclosure. Either Tasha was too cautious or Holly was too pushy. Whatever it was, Tasha ran back into her small pen. Here’s the 26-minute version of Tasha’s big adventure https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eNzrlLuTEeQ. Tomorrow, Sharon will repeat the procedure and we'll see what happens.
At the WRI, Colleens’ cubs mixed with Samantha’s cubs for some interesting interactions. They were cautious but curious about each other with very little actual touching, keeping a white pine trunk between them most of the time. Here are two more ID pictures for Colleen’s cubs Luna and Dawn.
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| Dawn | Colleen | Luna |
KimaniThen, the mystery bear showed up. This time, upon seeing her full chest blaze we recognized her as Kimani, which is an American Indian word for butterfly—like her blaze. She has one male and one female cub. I remember her well. We saw her in the study area with two cubs 2 years ago, but when we came across her resting spot back in the woods, we found a third cub, a male, lying dead nearby. A conservation officer and I checked his carcass carefully. We believe he had been hit by a car and made it only as far as the resting place. The nearest paved roads were 0.65 and 0.85 mile away. The nearest gravel road was a quarter mile away.
Two-year-old Spot, son of Summer, put in an appearance today.
The pontoon ride today was on smooth water and a sunny sky that brought out reflections and colors we don’t always see—like the blue spectrum on the mallard’s speculum. The young bald eagle was out of the nest on a nearby branch.
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| Mallard reflection | Bald eagle juvenile | Intense blue spectrum on Mallard |
A great day.
Thank you for all you do.
Lynn Rogers, Biologist, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center