The talk this year is how few bears are being seen, and that includes at diversionary feeding sites. Wild foods, which they prefer are super abundant and looking like they will continue with greater diversity as we get into the peak weeks. We were optimistic for a good food year this spring when berry blossoms were not killed by late spring frosts. Then we worried that young berries would shrivel with the below average rain of June. They survived, and now we’re seeing a bonanza of abundant foods with more to come.
Chokecherries
A super crop of juneberries (serviceberries, Amelanchier spp.) is still with us with blueberries coming on strong. We also have wild red raspberries (Rubus idaeus) and wild strawberries (Fragaria virginiana) and a bumper crop of chokecherries (Prunus virginiana) and, most importantly, beaked hazelnuts (Corylus cornuta) coming on.
 Wild strawberries |
 Beaked hazelnut |
Diversionary feeding sites are not only having fewer visits than usual. Many of the familiar bears have yet to be seen at all with an increased variety of wild foods on the horizon as berry season approaches its peak.
We misidentified the bear we called Jake. He is Cedric, a non-clan bear with an unusually short lower jaw. We’re now keeping our eyes open for the real Jake and his brother Blake.
Thank you for all you do,
Lynn Rogers, Biologist, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center