All is Well - UPDATE September 4, 2023
Rocky
Another day over and still no shots heard although we wouldn’t hear a bow hunter.
This morning, Lorie got a nice picture of RC’s lone male cub, now named Rocky, at the base of his favorite tree. RC is the eleventh clan bear mother to be seen with cubs this year. Jim yearling male - 2011 by L. KennedyLorie took the picture with her cell phone from far away, which is the best she could do with this shy cub, but it turned out good anyway. One of Lorie’s specialties is getting pictures of as many bears as possible for the record, which is paying off now as bears show up that haven’t been seen for years. For example, RC’s cub Jim, born in 2010, was last seen as a yearling in 2011. A couple days ago he reappeared after 12 years, and Lorie had this picture of him as a yearling to positively identify him with his plain face that is unusually dark with no eyebrow patches. He knew who we were, too, eating out of her hand as if he was a yearling. We’ve heard what they say about elephants and are now thinking it is bears that never forget.
The eleven clan mothers with cubs this year are:
RC (24) one male named Rocky
Donna (23) with 3 unnamed males;
Summer (14) with 3 unknown sex;
Lucy (7) with 3 females named Lea, Lilo, and Leilani;
Sallyann (5) with 2 female cubs named Gigi and Greta and a cub of unknown sex that disappeared early;
JM (5) with a lone cub of unknown sex;
Olive ((4) with a male and a female both unnamed;
Kaiya (4) with 2 cubs of unknown sex;
Arly (4) with 2 cubs of unknown sex;
Andrea (3) with a male named Snowball and 2 females names Twinkie and Cupcake;
Ivy (3) with 2 unnamed females and 1 unnamed male.
Most of these mothers showed up late because of the good berry crop and the cubs are still shy. Everyone is trying hard to learn the sexes and think of names with the cubs mostly up in trees where it is hard to determine sexes.
Meanwhile, at the Bear Center, the bears are blissfully enjoying their tubs and food without a thought about the time of year. Sharon shows seven nice picture of Lucky, Holly, and Tasha here
https://bear.org/bear-news-september-2-2023/Thank you for all you do.
Lynn Rogers, Biologist, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center
