When I drove in to the WRI in time for breakfast, excited course participants and Mike Johnson greeted me with news that 
UrsulaOne-eyed Jack had arrived. Always welcome news. He is the favorite of many. And he will now make 8 new friends. Jack was already an adult when we first met him in 2003, making him in his twenties now. This is the bear that made the most ferocious bear face I have ever seen to another bear and is one of the contestants in the mating battle video that plays in the Bear Center. He is the favorite of many and one of the most trustworthy bears I know. He is always a joy.
Common merganserLater the phone rang. A neighbor said “A mother with four cubs just arrived. Bring everyone over quick. We mobilized. There were two mothers. I was hoping she would be—Lily or Ursula. It was Ursula solving a mystery. I thought I had seen her with four cubs a couple weeks ago but couldn’t be sure it was her. This time Mike Johnson and I knew immediately that it was her with her second litter of four. This gentle 14-year-old has a history that goes back to our meeting in her birth den on April 3, 2005. She is also one of the most trustworthy bears I know.
On the pontoon boat ride today, I was glad to see a common merganser with her brood sitting on a log.
A good day all around.
Thank you for all you do.
Lynn Rogers, Biologist, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center