The Mating Drama Begins
May 8, 2010 – 10:30 PM CDT
The forest this morning was beautiful with the spring green coated with snow. The early spring is producing some unusual sights.
At 8:17 PM last night, with snow falling, yearling Ty, newly on his own, watched from high in a white pine as the scene unfolded below. His Aunt Jo (2) passed underneath followed closely by a big unrelated male—beautiful brown Crackle (6). Soon Ty’s mother Bow (4) appeared with his Cousin Cal (3). Bow proceeded to chase her half sister Jo beyond earshot into the forest. Meanwhile, Cal and Crackle, potential competitors for Bow and Jo, sniffed each other in a friendly way. Bow returned and cavorted with both. She had come to the party with Cal, but she has always been buddies with Crackle, and somehow all three seemed to enjoy each other. Eventually, Bow left followed closely by Crackle who was followed at some distance by Cal. At 11:42 PM, Ty came down from the white pine he had used as refuge for over 10 hours. The whole scenario was the first such activity we ever recorded in snow!
At 5:17 AM, a camera recorded Bow and Cal passing by together in the forest that never sleeps. Crackle was no longer in the picture.
Meanwhile, miles away, Lily and Hope moved about 0.2 miles to a new bed tree. June’s GPS stopped transmitting overnight so we radio-located her and swapped her unit for one with fresh batteries. Interestingly, she was accompanied by only one yearling, Jordan. Jewel was nowhere in sight. We checked her signal and found it active and some distance away. We’re not sure what this means and hope to check tomorrow to see if the family is back together.
The ‘Bearwalker of the Northwoods’ DVDs arrived in Ely late last night. Crews at the Bear Center worked feverishly this morning and filled nearly all the orders before the Post Office closed. The remaining orders are now packed and ready to be delivered to the Post Office Monday morning. We thank you for your patience!
We’re all looking forward to the Mother’s Day festivities planned for tomorrow—and looking forward to meeting as many Lily fans as possible at the Lilypad Picnic this summer.
Thank you for your contributions and memberships.
—Lynn Rogers and Sue Mansfield, Biologists, North American Bear Center