Quiet, In A Way
Update May 18, 2010 – 6:37 PM CDT
It was a relatively quiet day for bears. With temperatures in the high 70’s, most of the bears took a break and rested. But first, let’s set the stage.
Lily’s littermate Cal crossed divided Highway 53 about 9 PM last night, continuing on his way northwest. At 1:39 AM, he rested 1.3 miles west of the highway, about a quarter mile south of Murphy Lake. He is still there now 17 hours later. This was after spending most of yesterday resting. Is he resting up for another big move—maybe back north? We watch and wonder. We also wonder what he will do when he passes the many houses and probable bird feeders on the west short of Murphy Lake if he continues northward tonight. We assume he will wait until dark before making his move through or near the residential area that stands in his way. Bears on the move like this all too often find themselves in residential areas. As they peacefully try to move through, they too often are treed by dogs or people and are shot by officials who say they “had” to protect the public from the scared bear. Hopefully, Cal will make it through okay tonight.
At the same time Cal became active and crossed the highway, Lily moved out of her forest retreat in the residential area and used the darkness as cover to return to the more remote area she had left a couple days ago when June visited there. June again made things interesting there last night by arriving at Lily’s bedding area in the wee hours of the night. June then moved up the hill from Lily and spent the night. When we visited Lily today, she was surprisingly relaxed. We posted a new video taken today of Lily and Hope at http://www.bear.org/website/lily-a-hope/den-cam-video-clips.html
We don’t know if June was accompanied by a male or not. June moved 1.6 miles away in the morning but then spent the rest of the day in one place. Her sudden change from ceaseless travel to a day of rest makes us wonder. Did she finally need a day of rest or has she finally attracted a male and doesn’t have to be laying down scent trails all over the place now.
Little Ty stayed around his big white pine, either up in the branches or eating dandelions around the base. We chuckled as he stomped his 55 pounds around scent-marking like a big bear!
Two of Lily’s cousins, Dot and Donna, were radio-collared recently. Both are 10-year-old females from Blackheart’s first litter back in 2000. The collaring fell to petite, 73-year-old Nancy Krause. Nancy spent most of her life afraid of bears. She learned about them and now is part of the research team, radio-collaring bears without tranquilizers. Dot and Donna both spent the day resting.
Braveheart also had a day of rest. We assume she is still with One-eyed Jack like she was yesterday. We will check on her tomorrow.
After this day of unusually sedentary bears across the board, we wonder what tomorrow will bring.
Thank you for putting the debt reduction thermometer over $165,000 today—a significant amount. We appreciate your support so much.
—Lynn Rogers and Sue Mansfield, Biologists, North American Bear Center
PS: Last minute updates (8:12 PM CDT) Cal started moving about 6:30 PM. First he headed south then west—away from the residential area. We hiked in to June’s location and found her with Big Harry, the same bear she mated with for her last litter. On this calm, warm (75F) evening, the melodic trill of American toads fills the air—loud—along with spring peepers, the first gray treefrogs, and the calls of warblers now returning (including an uncommon Cape May Warbler). First hummingbird. Beavers splashing in the lake outside the window. The lake calm and reflective. A magical evening made even better by the lack of mosquitoes and black flies in this dry spring.