Monday, February 6, 2012

she sleeps in deep woods



surrounded by roots, nesting in the warm dry earth. here is a rare view of the bear hidden in her den; this is the north maine woods—the largest forest east of the mississippi—where she is having a delicious snooze, dreaming her wonderful winter dreams. she is a hibernating wild maine black bear and her name is lugnut. (not a very feminine name—i would have preferred "daisy" or "apple" or something.)

on january 16, 2012 lugnut gave birth to two cubs. when you click below you will also be able to see the cubs being born.

go here and you arrive inside her cozy nook, and the live streaming video camera will introduce you to mother and cubs. [click rectangle on lower right of video for full screen.] visit when you can and don't be discouraged if, at first, nothing's going on. truthfully, it can be kind of boring in a midwinter den. lugnut sleeps a lot (do you see her side rise and fall as she breathes?). try again later—believe me, she does wake up to stretch, yawn, shift position, and tend to her babies—and then you might, if you're lucky (like i was), see mama bear, and sometimes the little ones, quite clearly, very up close and personal.

as the cubs grow and become more active, and as we head into spring, there will be lots more to see before the bears leave their den.

i hope you enjoy this rare peek at a miracle of nature in the place i love called maine.

~thanks, denny, for telling me about lugnut.

2 comments:

Jayne said...

This is just darling. The north Maine woods are stunning, and so peaceful. Any black bear should be happy to have it as his home.

My family has a place in Maine (northwest of Bangor) and I always love traveling up their in the summer. Someday, we'll get it winterized (I hope!)

Thanks for stopping by Suburban Soliloquy. Please don't hesitate to join the conversation. :)

mignon said...

jayne—thanks for dropping in and commenting on the bears. i'll tune into the soliloquy again, too. -mignon