Black Bears - Minnesota / Lucky & Honey

[Kinderchick]

Honey and Lucky have been denning together again, although they have traded places in the den. Honey is in the back of the den now, where Lucky had previously been and Lucky is now near the entrance door. Apparently Lucky has recently been making some "romantic" advances towards Honey but so far, she has not been one bit interested in being his "Honey". Lots of clacking and blowing on her part.

[Kinderchick]

Apparently, Lucky has had to sleep outdoors for the past few nights, since Honey would not let him back into the den...

"Lucky has settled in a protected snowless area under an overturned stump.  It looks like some of the wild dens we’ve seen.  Meanwhile, Honey seems to be enjoying having the big den to herself."

Here is a video of Honey, with the whole den to herself, playing with her pony ball...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A_E5WqIkMkM&;feature=youtu.be

And here is a video of the stand-off between Honey & Lucky about 2 hours ago, when Lucky finally insisted on returning to the den. Not for the faint of heart! LOL!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ouGWbCoQa_A&feature=youtu.be

[Kinderchick]

Lots of action in Honey & Lucky's den yesterday! Honey went out for a walk in the afternoon, which also gave Lucky an opportunity to go for a walk himself. Honey then came back to the den first and raked much of the shared bedding over to Lucky's side of the den. After that , she proceeded to make herself at home on Lucky's side, by settling right in there. It now seems that she finally got what she seems to have wanted all winter, which is to have the whole den to herself! Lucky tried to come back into his den last night, but Honey would not let him!

For all of the details, here is a link to the blog...

http://www.bearstudy.org/website/research/daily-updates/1545-what-will-lucky-do-update-february-19-2012.html

[Kinderchick]

Honey & Lucky have not been getting along at all this winter. Almost every afternoon, Honey appears restless and keeps blowing and clacking at Lucky, whenever she has a chance. Lucky tries to sleep through her attempts to antagonize him, but this afternoon it just seemed all too much for him. He actually sat up and took a big swipe at her, which seems to have put her in her place, for now. Honey has since calmed down and Lucky appears to have gone back to sleep. Whew!

[Kinderchick]

Honey was very active again this afternoon, raking more bedding and blowing and clacking at Lucky. She even sat up on her hind legs during a few of her "episodes". This didn't appear to disturb Lucky's sleep, though.  

[Kinderchick]

Honey has been quite restless today. The Kinderchicklets were watching this den cam this morning and she was wide awake, playing with her ball, gathering more bedding around her and staring at Lucky (who appeared to be sleeping and didn't budge the whole time), every once in awhile blowing and clacking at him! Almost as if she's trying to get him to move out, even though he was there first.

[The Peregrine Chick]

For those of you who want to know more about the bears in Minnesota there is a show currently running on Animal Planet.  It's the Mutual of Omaha production titled "Bearwalker of the Northwoods" and is about Lynn Rogers the bear biologist who runs the Minnesota black bear research program of whic Lucky, Honey, June, Lily, Hope, Faith (the three Amigos, big Harry, etc) are a part of.

Animal Planet - Bearwalker of the Northwoods
   Thursday (5th) = 8am, 2pm
   Friday (6th) = 5am, 9am
   Saturday (7th) = 7am

Its an amazing show that focuses on June and her sister Juliet and their cubs from 2007 (if I remember correctly) through 2009.  Juliet's cub Dave (the only one of three to survive in 2008) as well as June's 2007 triplets one of whom was/is Lily.  And yes, it talks about the issue of hunting near the research area.  Lynn rewrote bear legislation when he worked in govt a couple of decades ago and was instrumental in reducing the bear season from year-round to just six weeks in the fall.  

If you get a chance to watch the show, do.  If you have a VCR or a PVR, do record it, it is worth the hour to watch it!!

[Kinderchick]

Honey's awake and playing with her rubber ball in the den. Lucky looks to be sound asleep or at least pretending to be, so as not to annoy Honey.

[Kinderchick]

Apparently, Honey & Lucky had "words" again yesterday and today, with lots of blowing and clacking at each other. Also, Honey keeps dragging toys into the den to play with but is not inclined to share them with Lucky.

[Kinderchick]

Lucky & Honey appear to be sleeping soundly, at the moment, but I came across this cute video that was posted on the NABC website in mid-December when Honey left the den to go for a little walk and came back with a toy to play with...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RWie8OYFV5s

[Kinderchick]

Good news! All has been quite in Lucky & Honey's den lately.

[Kinderchick]

Apparently, Lucky and Honey had a skirmish in their den on Christmas Eve...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rb3ZJb9xKeE&;feature=share

And this quote from the NABC website...

"We wonder how it must be for Lucky to have prickly Honey so close and nervous when he wants to sleep.  How must it be for Honey to feel defensive toward Lucky?  Why would she pick his den to spend the winter?"

[Kinderchick]

It seems that for now, Lucky & Honey are keeping their distance in the den they have chosen to share this winter. Three years ago, when they denned together, they snuggled up to each other, but have not been seen to do this yet, this year.

[Kinderchick]

Great news! Lucky & Honey's Den Cam is now up and running at the link below...

http://www.bear.org/livecams/honey-lucky-cam.php

Honey has been rearranging bedding and blowing and chomping in Lucky's direction, but Lucky has been ignoring her, for the most part, trying to get some sleep.

[Kinderchick]

That's a great video of June digging a den! Watching her roll that boulder out was very interesting, not to mention entertaining.