Snow
May 7, 2010 – 7:47 PM CDT
It’s colder today than it was in March. 32 F with snow. We worry what this cold will do to the fruiting buds developing on key bear food plants. Late frosts are one of the biggest causes of wild berry failures here in northeastern Minnesota. This early spring very likely could be setting plants up for early blooming and major failure. On the other hand, the leaves and blossoms have not proceeded as fast as it looked like they would at first and might now be only a week and a half early rather than the 3 weeks it was looking like a month ago.
We are seeing family breakups earlier than anything we have recorded before. Bow indeed has split from her yearling Ty. Today, we saw Ty alone looking quickly and nervously in all directions. He was so skittish he ended up climbing a big white pine and staying up there for hours (still there now at 7:47 PM).
Lily and Hope held tight in a small area, as usual, while Braveheart and June and their yearlings each moved over 2 miles.
Tonight we posted video from yesterday of Lily’s bluster at http://www.bear.org/website/lily-a-hope/den-cam-video-clips.html.
Sue Mansfield, Donna Rogers, and Donna Andrews are looking forward to Mother’s Day and love the flowers that came today.
Thank you for your contributions.
—Lynn Rogers and Sue Mansfield, Biologists, North American Bear Center