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| Chat - Monday, March 26, 2012; Hello Eagle Friends | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Mar 26 2012, 06:11 AM (585 Views) | |
| Harpo516 | Mar 26 2012, 11:57 AM Post #16 |
Eagle Guardian
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 Karen
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| Topa Topa Hikers | Mar 26 2012, 04:04 PM Post #17 |
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Eagle Guardian
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 http://www.iws.org/interactive_nestchat_allUstream.html |
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| Artsy Mom | Mar 26 2012, 06:10 PM Post #18 |
Eagle Guardian
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 First egg laid in the Maine nest tonight    for video (:46)Hope the female understands she needs to help incubate it 
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| Artsy Mom | Mar 26 2012, 06:11 PM Post #19 |
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Eagle Guardian
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Thanks for the reminder about  Topa It was nice to see him 'LIVE'
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| Harpo516 | Mar 26 2012, 06:20 PM Post #20 |
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Eagle Guardian
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hey barb - I'm still trying to talk ES into doing this   looks like you guys are having some great fun! |
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| Topa Topa Hikers | Mar 26 2012, 07:00 PM Post #21 |
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Eagle Guardian
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The sky is so pretty tonight.
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| Artsy Mom | Mar 27 2012, 07:20 AM Post #22 |
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Eagle Guardian
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Lily the Black Bear – UPDATE March 26, 2012 Lily and Faith leave the den area  Lily with her new collar - March 26, 2012 First, we checked on June from afar by telemetry. The radio signal was from the general direction of her den (which is likely flooded), and the signal varied greatly in strength showing she was active and still wearing her radio-collar. Willow and wild calla grow near her den—both are early spring bear foods June and her yearlings may be foraging on. We plan to connect with them soon to see what we can learn from them about bears coping with this early spring. We will also assess yearling female Aster’s receptiveness to being collared.  Searching for Lily - March 26, 2012 Then we were on to find Lily and Faith. We located them over a half mile from the den. If they come back to it, we’ll be surprised. But they have surprised us a lot these past couple years as we learn along with you. Viewers of the Lily Den Cam today were treated to a squirrel visiting the den and a snowshoe hare hopping by—but no bears.  Lily sniffs Sue - March 26, 2012 Lily and Faith surprised us today by how long we had to walk in circles trying to glimpse Lily and Faith as we said “It’s me, bear. Don’t run. You’re okay. It’s me.” Finally, Lily came to us and was fine. We changed her radio-collar and gave her a GPS unit that will send her locations to our computers every 10 minutes. She couldn’t have been better about the man-handling as we twisted the old collar upright, used a nut-driver to remove it, and then fitted the new one around her neck.  Lily and Faith forage - March 26, 2012 Through it all, Faith stayed far back, mostly out of sight. We didn’t know why they (especially Faith) were so slow to accept us. Once Faith understood the situation, she was her usual self, too. There was quite a bit of wind, which makes the whole forest sound like a rustling, dangerous place. They were constantly looking this way and that while they were with us. They were comfortable with us, of course, once they knew the situation, but making the initial contact was difficult. We were glad to see their wariness, and we were glad to finally see their acceptance of us, confirming the value of our trust-based approach. We’re not ready to radio-collar Faith yet, but we experimented to see Faith’s reaction by pretending to put Lily’s old collar on her. We believe she’ll accept a radio-collar when the time is right.  Jewel eats willow catkins in den - March 26, 2012 Jewel surprised us today by bringing a willow branch back into the den and eating the catkins! Lots of play today in the den. The cubs are getting stronger and more coordinated. We saw your good questions about who the other radio-collared bears are. Thirteen of the fourteen radio-collared bears are pictured and described in the Shadow’s Clan 2012 calendar in the web store. 12-year-old Dot is the only radio-collared bear not pictured. She is mentioned, but she wouldn’t sit for a picture like she obligingly did for the update a couple days ago. In all, the calendar has pictures and facts for 43 of the bears being studied. The calendar is 12 x 24 inches as it hangs, so the pictures are big and sharp. What we like about the calendar is that every picture lets you look into the eyes of the bear and get a feel for what that bear is like.  Jewel and cubs - March 26, 2012 Other questions were about why we have a limit on the number of radio-collars. This is something new that seriously hinders our ability to get the scientific sample sizes of bear behavior needed to publish in peer-reviewed journals. Anecdotes are no longer publishable. The top journals require comprehensive manuscripts rich in data. For behavioral research like we are doing, that takes years, especially with animals that have slow reproductive rates. For some research it is important to follow complete families—which has now become difficult. Bears are doubly hard because they are difficult to observe in their forest environment. That’s why we tried the Jane Goodall trust-based approach which is proving so successful. This new type of research that we pioneered is the only way to observe individuals over time in reasonable sample sizes.  Jewel the contortionist - March 26, 2012 Previously, we could radio-collar as many bears as we wanted within our study area, and we could determine the study area. We made mistakes that made the DNR change that rule. Lynn takes full responsibility for the mistakes. First, he urged Lily Fans to write letters asking for protection of radio-collared bears. This created a huge burden of work for DNR officials and legislators and created a backlash. When Hope was killed, Lynn made the mistake of asking the head mods (the people who monitor comments on Facebook and Pond Chat) to grant some leeway in the comments of grieving Lily Fans. At about the same time, he directed that all those who had been banned from Lily’s Facebook Page be unbanned—a good thing but bad timing. Another problem was that there sometimes were too few mods to monitor Lily’s Facebook Page. As a result, some comments were made about hunters that shouldn’t have been. This led to the DNR taking steps to restrict research that creates emotional attachments to individual bears and leads to rancor against hunters and calls for protection of radio-collared bears. The restrictions on radio-collars, den cams, and den visits in our new permit are part of that. Other new conditions make it easier to identify and possibly remove radio-collared bears that eat from bird feeders or otherwise generate complaints.  Fern and Herbie attempt an escape - March 26, 2012 We were disappointed that a few “Lily Fans” lobbied hard against our research and continue to do so. When we decided to give the public the opportunity to learn directly from wild bears along with us, we thought people would see what black bears are really like and work for the good of bears, as most Lily Fans do. We didn’t foresee that a few people would work very hard to destroy our research and the research bears they claim to love. We continue to do the best we can under the new circumstances. The DNR has made it clear that they are watching the comments on Facebook as part of deciding whether we will be given a research permit for 2013. Nothing is ever perfect—not research, not people, not us. All we can do is continue to do the best research possible under the circumstances and do our best to share what the bears have to teach. Our focus is on bear conservation in their increasingly urbanized environment. We treasure the support from so many of you beyond what you ever will know. Thank you for all you do. —Lynn Rogers and Sue Mansfield, Biologists, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center |
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8:42 AM Jul 13