Peace returns. Lily being seen - UPDATE September 30, 2024
Lily with Four Cubs
With no sign of bear hunters, days are more relaxing. Lily and her four cubs are frequenting a safely located den with her four big cubs. We’ll see if she settles there or finds a better one for the big family. She’s only seen on a trail cam. No person present. Exciting to catch her on the camera. Crossing our fingers that she’ll use the den.
Still seeing some bears at feeding stations, mostly mothers with cubs. . I remember how uncommon it was to see any bears in October. But October starts tomorrow and we’re seeing more than usual. Some are guessing that it’s because daily highs have been nearly 20 degrees warmer than usual. We’ll see if their genetically driven schedules will kick in soon.
Also seeing more birds as migration begins. Over a hundred crows cover the ground at times. All of them will be farther south in 2-3 weeks
Raven
Raven
Crow
Crow
Ravens are about the shyest birds here, but one saw me in the window, walked closer, and let me snap a picture that showed the details of his face and the larger bill with the larger tip that lets a person tell a raven from a crow—in addition to the raven being 2 ½ times the weight of a crow and adult male ravens having a lot of shaggy feathers in the neck area plus a much longer tail than a crow.
Turkey vultures
Turkey vultures, 3 of the 7
Turkey vultures are coming through and seven of them chose a big dead tree as a late afternoon resting spot in the yard here. I’ve never seen that many vultures here. They were just resting. Most of them had their red heads tucked down. To get any detail in a picture, I had to zoom in on just three. One of them was looking away. Another had its head down on its shoulder, and the third had its head hanging low on its breast, which I’d never seen before. They were gone by sundown, although they are said not to migrate at night.
Red Squirrel w/Grass
Red Squirrel
Red squirrel gathers grass
A red squirrel made many trips away from the yard with mouthfuls of grass that I think it was using to line a burrow. I’ve never seen that before.
Blue Jay
Blue Jay
Sharp-shinned Hawk
Sharp-shinned hawk
Sharp-shinned hawks are coming through, stopping off to sit quietly on a branch looking around with their hawk-eyes, and then springing into flight to chase crows (occasionally blue jays). I’ve never seen one actually catch and hang onto a crow. Crows are about three times the weight of a sharp-shinned hawk. Today, the big flock of crows suddenly took flight for what I thought was no good reason, then I saw the sharp-shinned hawk sitting on a nearby branch. It didn’t go after the big flock.
Thank you for all you do,
Lynn Rogers, Biologist, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center
