This picture taken from the second floor window after dark (7:50 PM) and lit by the yard light gave us a clue as to who the little orphan cub is. 
Orphaned cubWe believe he or she is a cub of Shy Mom, a new bear that appeared halfway through the summer and stayed until at least September 21. He came to the base of this tree last night reminding us that we regularly put peanuts there for it. We remarked about how small Shy Mom's cubs were when we first saw her. She is not part of the clan and got her name deservedly. Whatever separated the orphan from its mother, it would have known the way here where it fed for over a month. The fact that Shy Mom was still here on September 21 makes us think she was not killed by a hunter. We wonder if the quills were the culprit. They would have prevented the cub from nursing, making it very hungry. It looks thin under the fur. We never saw the cubs closely enough to tell their sexes. We put some formula out for it this afternoon.
Pileated femaleThe cub is here now but we don't know if it ate/drank it from the bowl. The white object in his left ear could be confused with a quill in that light and angle, but I believe it's something manmade. In the binoculars, seeing the flat side, it was a symmetrical oblong object with rounded corners. We're thinking what to do. I'm hesitant to call the DNR and ask permission to capture the cub and remove the quills. I'm afraid the DNR would just come and shoot it or say to let nature take its course.
A happier story was having our ducks in a row today. It's October, so the male leading the line was on time shedding his brown "eclipse" plumage, as it's called, and turning into the handsome duck that male mallards are from October to May. Looking down through the trees from the third floor deck to the mud flat where the ducks gather to splash and preen, a male that is more advanced in the molt gave an admiring glance toward a female standing on tip-toes like a ballerina. He was probably thinking 'You look like an angel!'
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| Mallard ducks | ||
Out the window, the female pileated woodpecker stopped by for the first time in a long time, looking where the suet normally is. We'll have to get some pronto.
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| Fork horn yearling | Doe fawn | Buck fawn |
A fork-horn yearling buck stopped by the sunflower seed tray. Then for size comparison a fawn emerged from the woods. Its spots are replaced by brown fur now. Small antler bumps identify him as a buck. He then went to browse near his mother to show the difference in size.
Thank you for all you do.
Lynn Rogers, Biologist, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center