Tasha got her first straw yesterday and had a blast checking it out. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6CX62keu81Q. The straw might help her
Samantha to choose her den that she is used to; but in talking with Sharon today, I learned that Tasha and Holly are going to have a lot of freedom to roam. Some wild gene could make her decide to den somewhere else. Sharon says she is putting straw by the Rock Den by the viewing area, opening another possibility. I suspect Sharon will put straw by the Window Den that Honey used to den in to see if a bear likes that spot.
The latest weights are: Lucky 483 (up 11 pounds), Holly 286 (down 6 pounds with all her work?), Ted 650 (up 7 pounds), Tasha 195 (up 13 pounds).
Samanthas cub in treeAt the WRI, the day started with Samantha and her four cubs putting in an appearance when it was still dark. Later, the cubs climbed high in a white pine to spend hours resting. Mom was nowhere to be seen. Then a grunt came through the speaker from the outside microphone. She was back. She approached the tree grunting. A cub gave a mellow mew. They all descended and followed her in a line like we read in books. They apparently felt like doing that. It doesn't always work that way. I'd been sitting at the computer too long. I grabbed a camera and went where they were headed--the beaver dam. They gave a totally different response to me there. I was out of place. I was in their private forest. Samantha ran away across the dam. She stopped on the other shore far enough from me to feel safe scanning my side of the shore for her cubs. I took a picture of her with a 200 mm lens. The cubs didn't dare come near me. One climbed a tree to look at me (photo). The others stayed at the base out of sight. I took a picture of the cub with the same long lens. I don't know what the distances were, but the same bears that are so accepting when they expect me were very wary when I was out of place in their world. I got out of their way. Samantha came back and fetched them.
Mallards on beaver damIt made me miss June who taught us so much and learned so much. She knew our voices and routines. We could call her from long distances. She lives on in the Bear Center starring in many of the 66 videos. She knew to ignore us and not look at the camera. The DNR knew how to hurt us on that one, and how to leave us wondering when they lied about it the next day.
Three mallards loafed or dug through the mud in the beaver pond paying little attention to Samantha or me.
We're glad hunting season is winding down.
Lynn Rogers, Biologist, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center