Another great day
May 4, 2010 – 9:24 PM CDT
Another great day with a great group of Bear Course folks. We tracked down Braveheart and her two yearlings and watched them from a hill. We stood quietly and watched as they interacted in the valley below. As we hiked in to find them, we came across a group of cedar trees that had recently been stripped of bark. Some of the strips had been used for bedding.
Our next mission was to radio-collar June’s female yearling Jewel before the family breaks up in the next few weeks. With that accomplished, the group recounted how many bears they saw in these couple days: Shadow, the 20-year-old matriarch of the clan we are studying, Shadow’s 2 yearlings, Braveheart and her 2 yearlings, June and her 2 yearlings, Cal (June’s 3-year-old son), 2-year-old female Jo, 485-pound One-eyed Jack, Lily and Hope, and a limping bear that evidently was wounded in the hunting season last fall (total of 15).
A resident of the area heard us tallying up the bears and said, “That’s more bears than most residents here see in a lifetime.” That said a lot. These bears that we can find with telemetry and that trust us to come near them are so wary in general that most residents don’t see them. We feel thankful that we can see and learn from these wild bears that are so elusive under most circumstances.
Sue took the group out to show them many types of bear sign so they can find bear sign in their home states. They came back glowing with new knowledge. Tomorrow is a morning at the Bear Center and meeting Ted, Honey, and Lucky close-up, followed by the graduation ceremony. We totally enjoy these courses. The enthusiasm of the participants enthuses us. Fun.
Today we posted a video of Lily nursing Hope at http://www.bear.org/website/lily-a-hope/den-cam-video-clips.html.
Thank you for your contributions.
—Lynn Rogers and Sue Mansfield, Biologists, North American Bear Center