A Pleasant Day, Ted, Jack, People, and More - UPDATE October 13, 2022
Crow
Midday, I got a call that an old friend was at the Bear Center. I wanted to see him, and I thought I’d also get to see another old friend, Ted
Ted
Ted. I headed out the door with my camera. There was a deer calmly looking at me making me feel like I was okay to be there. At the Bear Center, I found that Ted wanted to see me as much as I wanted to see him. He responded with his usual friendly high-pitched grunts, gave me a good shot of his face, and came to say ‘Hi’ through the fence. Nice to see him and my other friend at the same time. I liked the shot of Ted looking and saying hi from his shelter so much that I cropped it (click here) for a better look at his white hairs now at 25, I am told, which is a year older than I thought. I’m still learning.Red-bellied woodpecker
Red-bellied woodpecker
Back at the Wildlife Research Institute, a surprise was another look at the red-bellied woodpecker. He didn’t say this out loud, but I suspected he didn’t like the picture I took a couple days ago and wanted me to have one with a better look at his eye looking right at the camera.
Then he got scared away by two crows that landed close. The crows started to interact with each other. Then one noticed me and flew away fast, while the other looked at me and seemed to say, ‘Oh, he’s okay; he’s just clicking pictures again as usual.’ So, I clicked the camera while he was still looking with that thought in his head. Crows are generally very wary with ravens even more wary. In fact when I did no more than walk past a window, a flock of ravens at a feeder 67 feet away flew away en masse.Rusty blackbird
Rusty blackbird
For something new, a new group of corvids joined the Corvid Clean-up Crew—a flock of rusty blackbirds on their way south from their Canadian Boreal Forest summer range. One was good to fly past me and let the light catch his rusty head and neck that give him his name.
Jack eating grass
Jack eating grass
Word is that Jack was seen again this evening from 7:10 PM to 7:50 PM eating sunflower seed hearts and then turning to clover, dandelion leaves, and grass as he did a couple evenings ago. Jack’s eye revealed the depth of knowledge and interest among the people who read these updates. I saw one good response after another about the new yellow spot in his eye. As a result, I sent a close-up picture of his eye to a veterinarian who is an eye specialist for even more. Very thankful for the many people with hearts for bears and nature that the bears brought together back in 2010 and continuing today.
Once again, thank you for all you do.
Lynn Rogers, Biologist, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center
