A Lily Fan captured 4 good minutes of Holly working on her hind foot pads. The lens looks like it’s been licked but she is right in front of it where we can see what she is doing.
Pine siskins It’s the best look I’ve ever had of how a bear goes about removing its foot pads https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=radaElU_4dw.
A Lily Fan was good to suggest that the Bear Center Gift Shop carry bear-proof merchandise for people heading out on a camping trip in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, which is what some will be doing before or after the Black Bear Field Courses. We used to carry bear-proof food canisters and the good, weak pepper spray (Halt) that makes anyone king of the forest. That’s the pepper spray I tested back in about 1980 when it had never been tested face to face with wild bears (Rogers, L. L. 1984. Reactions of free-ranging black bears to capsaicin spray repellent. Wildlife Society Bulletin 12(1):59-61). I’ll check to see if we still carry these items. Good idea. Thank you! Send more.
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| Pine Siskins | ||
Out the window, it was obvious that chickadees weren’t going to piles of sunflower seeds that pine siskins had taken over. Being able to dominate a food source as a flock might be a reason siskins form flocks in winter. Chickadees are more loners. They group up around feeders, but they behave as loners. Then we saw why the chickadees are hesitant. The siskins are courageous. If there is only one or two siskins, chickadees will try to grab a seed and fly off to eat it. But a flock is more than they want to deal with. When a chickadee tries to join them, some of the siskins raise their long wings and open their longish beaks to say “No!” Sometimes, siskins do that to each other, too. The pictures tell the story. One of the pictures shows a chickadee landing where there is only one siskin at the pile and another harmlessly flying past. Another of the pictures shows a chickadee veering off, apparently deciding that discretion is the better part of valor. In the background is the siskin that said “No” with raised wings and open beak.
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| Pine Siskins | ||
A Lily Fan alerted us that the 3-hour series “The Bear Family and Me” aired today between 11 AM and 2 PM and again between 5 and 8 PM on Twin Cities Public Television Channel 2. I’m glad to hear it aired. I don’t know if it is airing again.
Thank you for all you do.
Lynn Rogers, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center