Loons w/sky reflection
The final member of the gray-haired group finally showed up last evening when Big Harry, the perennial mate of June in years past, joined the gray-haired group of Shadow, Guy, Burt, and Jack.
Loon w/forest reflection
Today was a wonderful day of sharing the excitement of bears with like-minded course participants. Good weather told us this was also a day for a two-hour pontoon boat ride to see other nature. I don’t know if I have seen loons more relaxed. 
Blueberries struggleAs we floated quietly, they came near, pausing to groom, shake water off their wings, or just cruise by in water that looked blue if it reflected the sky or green if it reflecting the forest. The sun brought out the red in their eyes. It was a nice time of relaxing on the water after the excitement of bears in this year of scarce food in the forest. The blueberry picture shows the general scarcity and small size of them in this year of late frost and severe drought. Despite the generally scarce wild food, we watched a bear find a chokecherry sapling and quickly strip it of its berries—a small meal in this year of generally shriveled berries.
Thank you for all you do.
Lynn Rogers, Biologist, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center