Moving away from the den
March 31, 2010 - 10:36 PM CDT
The unseasonably warm weather continues in northeastern Minnesota. Some lakes are ice-free and the rest aren’t far behind. I checked June’s radio-signal this morning and found her was active and still on the island where she denned with her 2 yearlings, Jewel and Jordan. After today’s ice-melt we should be able to reach her by canoe tomorrow. We need to change her collar to give her one with a GPS transmitter so we can track her movements in detail from our computers at the field station.
We checked on Lily and Hope this morning and found them bedded at the base of a large white birch tree about 25 yards from the den. Lily was calm and relaxed and nursed Hope as we watched. At one point Hope climbed a few feet up the birch tree but came quickly down. She stood up at another birch nearby but did not climb. Birch trees are not good climbing trees for cubs because of their flakey, slippery bark and it‘s surprising to find Lily and Hope bedded near one. Likely it’s the best Lily can do just now because Hope is barely able to follow her. I expect that tomorrow we’ll find them further away as Lily works her way to a good bed tree. Then she’ll likely stay put for a few days until Hope gets stronger and improves her climbing skills.
Hope’s nose is working overtime! She’s already poking it into everything and pawing in the leaf litter after interesting smells.
I looked for scat as I passed Lily’s den. I found at least part of her fecal plug buried under a pile of leaf litter near the first bed she and Hope shared. The scat appeared to have been deliberately covered. I’ve found covered bear scats before in the early spring near bed trees used by mothers with cubs and in the fall near dens.
The red maple buds are swollen and the aspen catkins are expanding. These are both bear foods that are usually available in mid-April. In the ‘Eating Vegetation’ video you’ll see June climbing an aspen to eat male aspen catkins on April 24. It’s hard to know what to make of this unusual spring—and hard to know how it will affect the wild foods bears rely on. Time will tell.
We’re working to convert the current NABC webcam into streaming video so folks can better enjoy the antics of the resident Bear Center bears—Ted, Honey, and Lucky.
Lynn Rogers has been delayed in Minneapolis and won’t make it back north until sometime tomorrow. Hopefully he can update us all on his promo tour to NYC when he returns!
Thank you again for your continued support and encouragement.
—Sue Mansfield, Biologist, North American Bear Center