Bear and Wildlife Viewing Update: Tues, July 6

6am and 6pm tours are seeing 10+ bears

Bear sightings continue to be consistently the highest of the last 3 years!

12pm is better on cooler, cloudy and/or rainy days

Other wildlife seen on tours...Coastal Black-tailed deer and newborn fawns, coyote, red-tailed hawk, grouse and newborn chicks, and snowshoe hare.

Bear Activity Synopsis:

July begins the second half of the bear's breeding season...this is the dangerous half when males shift their search for girlfriends to mothers with cubs. Moms do not breed when they have cubs but, if males are successful in killing cubs, mothers would then respond to their own biological drive and accept males about 15 days later to replace cubs. Mothers defend cubs by keeping cubs close to large trees for climbing and fighting off approaching males. We have 11 newborn cubs in the ski area and are still 11 for 11 cubs! Bears are beginning to search for insects to supplement their grazing diet with animal protein. Bears tear apart tree stumps and rotten logs for concentrations of carpenter ants/larva and tear into beehives for larva, honeycomb, and the bees themselves...it's great to watch mothers and cubs rip into tree stumps! Bears continue to move to cooler, mid-mountain elevations to graze new, easily digested green-up and we are seeing bears climb high into large cottonwood trees for catkin feeding...a truly memorable experience! 

Berries are ripening in the valley...keep your fingers crossed for a warm, sunny summer!

Blackcomb mothers' are... Zoe+2 cubs

Whistler-north mothers' are... Elly+2 cubs, Katie+2 cubs, and Alice+2 cubs

Whistler-west (creekside) mothers' are... Brownie+2 cubs and Daisy+1 cub

There are 10+ breeding single, girlfriends...that might be the reason why we haven't lost any new cubs so far.

Zoe's 2, 5.5 month old cubs at mid-mountain on Blackcomb (Mike Allen 7-2010).