Sadly, Dobie didn’t show today even though the landowners where he had been spotted stayed home all day to help him. 
Pete and wolfWe wanted to free him of the stick or bone or whatever was causing his problem—both to help him and to learn what could cause such a horrible situation for a bear. Unable to drink, he can’t last long. I’m losing hope.
LouOn a lighter note, we saw a trail cam video of a wolf prancing around playfully in front of a bear over twice its size at a feeding station. The bear didn’t seem interested in playing, and the wolf left.
Then, 8 miles from that encounter, we got pictures of a wolf that began playfully jumping on 13-year-old Pete as Pete tried to eat. The landowners said Pete looked a little annoyed but just kept on eating. Maybe there is more to bear-wolf relations than we had thought from the hostile encounters we’d witnessed. Always learning
We thought Donna’s yearling Lou has an especially handsome face, but Pete and Shadow and some others caused more excitement. They are watching Shadow eat as I write this.
 Loon Flying by Adrian |
 Michelle Lackner |
 Common Mergansers |
Among the highlights of the pontoon ride today were visiting Lily and Hope’s den, watching a family of common mergansers close by the pontoon as they caught minnows and sometimes rode on the mother’s back. This was the first time I saw merganser young riding on their mother’s back. As many as 3 rode on her back at once. Another highlight was seeing author Michelle Lackner who wrote the book ‘Finding Hope’ that is for sale at the Bear Center. Michelle paused her kayaking to answer questions about how she came to write the book about Lily and Hope. The eaglets have fledged from their nest.
Adrian Van Dellen caught a shot of a loon streaking past. Loons can fly 75 miles per hour. So we commend him on this shot.
We had a cancellation in the August 5-8 Black Bear Field Course. If a person or a couple would like to fill the vacancy, call Judy Thon at 612-414-0759 or email her at
Thank you for all you do.
Lynn Rogers, Biologist, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center