With the scarce rain through most of June, we were worried about the berry crops and the bears, but apparently there was enough rain at the right time to produce what the pictures show here. A favorite early food Juneberries (a.k.a Serviceberries, Amelanchier sp.) looking robust. The bushes are loaded.
Lowbush blueberries
Blueberries come later and last longer but are doing fine already—good plump Lowbush Blueberries (Vaccinium angustifolium).
Deer in summer coatSo now we know why the bears have been slow to show up—mainly the juneberries. We’ll see what develops.
A couple other odds and ends out the window:
White-tailed deer are now completely shed out with the new short hairs of summer with no underfur looking sleek and a nice color.
Mallard ducks that come for grass also find the yard a place to rest. Here are a dozen spaced out taking it easy. One male still retains a lot of his mating plumage but the rest are a combination of females, juveniles, and males in non-mating plumage, all of which are hard to tell apart.
 Raven Juvenile |
 Mallards |
Raven fledglings have been out and about the last week to week and a half with enough juvenile plumage on the belly to recognize them as such, especially when they beg food from their parents. The young ones seem more trusting, standing on the railing with me at my desk in plain sight and them just looking and not flying away as most adults would.
Watching for bears.
Thank you for all you do,
Lynn Rogers, Biologist, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center