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Lily still searching

Lily still searching

October 8, 2010 – 8:15 PM CDT

Lily_-_20101008

Braveheart remains deep in the remote cedar swamp.  We really hope she doesn’t den there.  It’s a difficult area to get to even in good weather!  Sue isn’t eager to go back.

Juliet and her cubs are still hanging tight at the den she used last year.  We wonder what it must be like for her cubs to be back at the den they were born in.

No GPS readings from Jo today.  That likely means she rested in her den.  She may have reached out to pull in some of the bedding she had raked into piles on either side of the entrance.  She could have done that without coming out far enough to activate the GPS unit.

Hope_-_20101008Lily’s GPS stopped transmitting about 10:30 AM.  We figured it was just under her chin and we waited for her to scratch it around again.  Didn’t happen.  Late this afternoon, Sue went out to ‘make things right’ and got more than she bargained for.  Lily and Hope were on the move headed west.  Sue caught up with them and found Lily’s GPS had quit prematurely so replaced it.

Sue noticed a bit of dirt on Lily’s nose but there was no den in sight.  Later Lily nosed around under a downed tree and dug briefly at the soil underneath before moving on.  This leads us to believe Lily may still be looking for the perfect spot to den.  We think the one she already dug is perfect—roomy, high and dry, picturesque, located in an open area good for filming.  But Lily likely has different standards.  Perhaps it’s too open for her.  The one Sue watched her begin to dig nearby was in a gnarly balsam thicket amongst downed trees.  Well hidden.  Makes us wonder.

As we write this (8:00 PM), Lily is still moving, though her movements seem erratic.  She had been headed west when Sue caught up with her, then she traveled southeast, then west again.  We’ll see where she settles for the night.

We’re still working on that pizza, and there may even be some left for tomorrow’s breakfast!

We’ve enjoyed catching a bit of the silliness happening around the WRI fundraising effort.  You folks certainly know how to put the FUN in fundraising!  All much appreciated.

Thank you for all you do.

—Lynn Rogers and Sue Mansfield, Biologists, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center


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