Quill didn't show all day yesterday. I went home early, about 7 PM, but the trail camera showed that he didn't come until about 1 AM, ate a lot of walnuts and drank half his formula. 
Quill at the feederAbout 7:30 AM, he was back to finish his formula. The trail cam showed that there is no competition for the formula. The fox came in the middle of the night but was interested only in the date mash that it is looking at. The pine marten comes for the date mash from time to time, jumping up to the platform up to the right of it in the trail cam picture to manipulate it. She moves her jaws like the mash is sticking to the roof of her mouth. But she doesn't pay any attention to the formula. Midday today the female pine marten paused for a picture out the window on the platform. Blue jays are lined up on the feeder by day to get black oil sunflower seeds, but they don't touch the formula. My dirty, rusty van is in the background.
Pine marten femaleAt the Bear Center today, Ted took a nice walk seen here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fag4-AZC58U&feature=youtu.be. His coat looks great. He might miss the visitors though, as this was the last day the Bear Center was open for a few months now. Ted will be down and lethargic for most of that time, though.
Tasha might be settling in earlier than I would have thought, coming from Kentucky. She isn't seen much. They're going to check which den she is in, if she is in a den.
Lucky and Holly are reluctant to get up and come out of the cement bunker they share.
Cabin on Google EarthInquiring Lily Fan minds want to know. A Lily Fan wrote asking for a map and how far the lakes are from the WRI Cabin. The map and the trail cam shows a lot. Woods Lake to the northwest is about 40 yards from the cabin. The beaver dam is at the south tip of the part that hooks down toward the cabin only 25 yards from the back of the cabin. Eagles Nest Lake One is 110 yards to the southeast.
The trail cam pictures show little Quill on a feeder by the living room window. It has three troughs in it--the far one with date mash, the middle one is mostly empty with a scoop of walnuts toward evening for Quill, and the near one has black oil sunflower seeds with Quill's formula bowl setting on them. That's why Quill is by that trough.
Out the window, a gray fox heard something and stood up alert between my van and the front deck.
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| Gray fox on alert | ...and at the food trough | Blue jays eating their fill |
With October almost over, I am thinking of how thankful we are of everyone who purchased memberships in support of the Bear Center. You are greatly appreciated. If you have been meaning to but haven't yet gotten around to it, there are still 2 days left to get your free calendar by doing so!
Thank you for all you do.
Lynn Rogers, Biologist, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center