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After a bear-poor May things have become exciting again at the Alutaguse  observation hut and in camera view. During the last week bears have been in place every evening, sometimes several different individuals.

Lately the observation grounds have been visited most often by a mating pair 

 

 
... and an apparently young honey-lover.

 

Towards the end of May a 1,5 years old whelp visited the hut surroundings a couple of times, but no recording seems to have been made of it.

In early spring a largish female or a young male feasted on the corn.

In addition we have managed to see a young male, evidently passing by on migration. He behaved timidly and did not stay for long at the observation grounds.

And fortunately our fears about Sven being lost proved groundless. The man himself has not appeared in view of the cameras but he is there. Triin saw him in the evening of June 4th when English nature enthusiasts were in the hut. Some time after the bridal couple had disappeared from sight a „mountain“ appeared among the bushes. Sven walked across the grounds, did not show any interest in the food and was busy with territory marking. He rubbed himself against trees and spread his scent. Why Sven has not appeared in camera view we can only conjecture. Maybe he has dragged a seal aside and is peacefully eating further away.

The behaviour of the other bears also indicates the presence of someone dangerous. They look constantly towards the shrubs and sniff the air. Yesterday for instance Looduskalender forum member  Fleur recorded a moment when a young bear suddenly fled in panic.

 

Unfortunately Fleur’s recording broke off a little to early, and the fact that a minute later another bear rushed after him was not recorded. He rushed at great speed among the shrubs further away and was seen only for a moment. Was the pursuer Sven? Maybe, but unhappily the ultimate truth will stay unknown.

So things work out in nature, you never know when it is the right moment to record  and when to break off. I had stopped my recording several minutes before Fleur and was just watching how the young bear smacked and ate corn. The sudden flight and pursuit was not predicted by anything at the moment. But the pursuer was noticed by Triin too (known as Mannike in the Looduskalender forum) and the parents of forum member Manu.

So according to my count this year about 6-7 different bears have been seen around the hut. We look forward to further developments with great interest.

You can read about the doings of bears in late spring in the earlier blogs about brown bears in May and June pruunkaru mais and pruunkaru juunis.