Sunday, May 14,2023

Bears!

The wolf watching was slow this morning. Nothing interesting happened, but I did learn why the pups are late coming out of the den. Rick McIntyre, the wolf expert, has behavior notes going back to just after the reintroduction. This pack dug out the den we are watching – we call it the sage den – about 10 years ago. Rick went back in his notes and discovered that each year they have used that den, the pups didn't emerge until about 2 weeks after all the others. The thought is that the exit from the den is so steeply sloped, they can't climb out of it until they are bigger. So, we probably have another week or so to wait.

Meanwhile, I've been seeing bears. 7 separate bears, all grizzlies yesterday and 10 today – 7 grizzlies and 3 black bears.

The black bears were interesting. I was going up to investigate the peregrine falcon nest near Calcite Springs. On the way, at Rainy Lake was a bear jam – a mom black bear and 2 yearling cubs:

On the way back, the jam was still there and the bears were much closer to the road. They crossed right in front of my truck:

These black bears pay almost no attention to the cars and people. It seems the females like that area because they know the people won't hurt them, but the males are afraid of the road. That keeps the cubs safe. So, there are always 2 or 3 families of black bears in the area each year.