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Bear Update:

First movements to winter den

Bear Researcher, Whistler Black Bear Project

At the base of a steep, timbered rock outcrop an immature female black bear stands. Her small paws disappear beneath the powder snowfall. Her slender dog-like snout and small narrow head sway slowly from one direction to the next, nostrils flaring as if to activate her internal GPS navigation.

She is confident in her path of travel, having traversed this ridge many times with her mother and brother the year before. These dark, timbered and shallow-soiled forests are home to many bee and wasp nests.

She stops to itch an irritating twinge in her left ear. Looking into the dense forest of small diameter trees she remembers her brother tugging and tearing at the shallow root masses, the explosion of bees, and the reward of honeycomb and larva. She remembers the way both of them would dance around, biting at the attacking colonial hymenopterans defending the sweet smells of honeycomb and larva.

She arcs her nose – a bobcat’s been here. Nosing through the snow and conifer needles she can detect the small storage caches of conifer seeds stockpiled by squirrels for winter. Not really to her liking.

She stands and shakes off light snowfall accumulation from her shoulders. The rich brown guard hairs glisten as the icing disperses. Her coat rolls from one side to another – the thickness of the under fur is there and protective, but the fat is not. She stands and feels the mere 42 kilograms – what she weighed as an 11-month old cub entering the den last fall with her mother and brother. Her 23-month old body now is underweight and she knows it. But what else can she do? She has travelled and foraged as much of her mother’s territory as she dars. She crossed boundaries here and there and in doing so encountered many other bears – much bigger than her.

She takes the 17 kg she has gained since spring, minus the 2 kg she lost during September and October (after summer berries), and continues her ascent through the sub alpine forest.

The remaining clouds part as the female yearling reaches the top of the ridge. The snow is deeper, to nearly 45 cm. She continues just inside the forest edge where snow has barely covered the freezing ground. Suddenly she stops. A food scent erupts. She back-tracks and walks in a circle, allowing her nose to lead. She scrapes away surface snow with her right forepaw and discovers an exposed root. Root and ground have been torn up. She pushes her nose into the ground. The scent of honeycomb floods her nostrils.

She pushes harder and claws with more determination. Confident it’s there she pulls her nose out and gently turns her right forepaw again so that her row of claws are parallel to the slope, hooks into the root and pulls back at the once subterranean nest. The reward is stuck on her claws – a small chunk of honeycomb and residue nest paper.

The 42 kg yearling black bear immediately consumes the tiny morsel of late season. She continues to scrape out the nest but finds nothing more. She licks her lips, sniffs around, and walks away – but with nose at the ready for any potential food source. She continues on another 500 metres and finds three more such nests with as little as the first, before her path crosses a strong male scent. She stops and manoeuvres into the trees. Her hairs bristle while she raises her nose scenting the mountain slope. He was here not long ago but is moving downhill across her path. She moves on, leaving the apposing male’s scent behind.

In the late afternoon she reaches a small cluster of large boulders, above which is loose rock. The area’s sight and scent are familiar. She descends deeper into the forest below the boulders, about 40-metres down, and slides through a dense clump of second growth sub-alpine fir. This is the spot. The musky scent of rotten wood, sawdust, ant trails, and squirrel/rat droppings fill her nostrils.

Before her is a standing dead tree. She walks around the circumference of the tree. Not a large tree, it’s roughly 90-cm in diameter (at breast height; 1.3 metres). The flared basal cavity of a tree is more than large enough for her first-year size. Confident that there is no intruding scent, she disappears inside. Seconds later a clump of sawdust and a few larger clumps of dead wood are flung through the opening of the entrance. The one-year old female adjusts her sleeping quarters, scraping out a depression at the core of rotten wood. She wriggles and claws at the sides and surface of the basal cavity until, feeling satisfied, she collapses on the constructed bed. The form of her small, immature body fits perfectly into the modified contours of the basal cavity’s depression. The cavity is hollowed much higher than she requires but only centimetres of space exist now between the lower walls and her body.

Through the night she periodically consumes small pieces of wood and sawdust, conifer needles, and pebbles and flecks of dirt. Fatigue finally consumes her and she fights to keep her eyes open. She is still hungry. She has searched everywhere. She dreads the coming winter. But she’s so tired… last attempts at understanding… what happened this fall? Her thoughts and anxieties become disorientated images lost in sleep and muscle fatigue.

Sometime later, during early morning hours, she awoke to an entrance full of stars. They remind her of berries – berries everywhere. She tries to bite at them but drifts quickly into sleep.

November Bears

Bears usually begin moving to winter dens in November through mid-December. The onset of snowfall, especially in the valley, helps push bears into denning areas. There are at least 26 bears still active in the valley or on adjacent lower mountain slopes.

The first bear tracked to a den was on Oct. 26. The bear left the lush grazing areas on Peak to Creek ski trail as grasses were covered by early snow and moved into a den on the north slope of Whistler Mountain.

Snowfall to the valley is ideal for snow-trailing the movements of bears. Most bears will bed down during the first valley snowfalls because they realize early snowfalls usually melt, allowing them to resume grazing.

The outlook for bears this winter is good for survival but low (to zero) for cub production. I have never documented cubs entering dens so underweight (15 kg vs. 35 kg) and pregnant females entering dens after losing 5-10 kg weight since berry drop in early September. I will monitor occupied dens and winter-active bears closely this winter to document progress during hibernation or winter activity following the worst natural fall food shortage in 11 years.

Remember, do not use bird/squirrel feeders and store garbage and recycling inside, away from bears.

Questions or information about black bears contact Michael Allen at 604-902-1660 or mallen_coastbear@direct.ca. Thanks to Pique Newsmagazine for sponsorship of Bear Update columns.