North American Bear Center

We enjoyed the Bear Center this year on our visit to Ely.  This center has acreage for the 4 resident bears to live.  The bears Lucky, Honey, Holly and Ted are residents.  Honey is 19, Ted 18, Lucky 8 and Holly 2 years.  Ted was in an enclosed area while Lucky the other resident male was outside.

Ted

Ted

You will see them in my photos. The Bear Center is beautiful inside and out. We spent hours here reading and studying about Black Bears as well as bears in general.  The outside viewing area is wonderful. You have the opportunity to photograph as well as observe the bears. There is a great nature trail you can walk and the trees and plants are identified for you. We found this information to be very informative and helpful in learning the native plants and trees of the area. We enjoyed the tour offered to go behind the scenes and see how things are done at the Bear center.  One of the missions of the center is to educate humans about living and sharing the environment with black bears.  As people learn more about black bears, they become more tolerant.  Today, people are allowing black bears to repopulate parts of America where bears had not lived in a long time. Please visit the North American Bear Center if you visit the Ely, Minnesota area. Blessings!

Holly

Holly

Honey

Honey

Outdoor area, Bear Center

Honey

Lucky

Lucky

Lucky

Lucky

Bird Sightings on The Kawishiwi River

Our trip to Ely Minnesota introduced us to wonderful friends as well as abundant wildlife.  This writing was a sunny morning a few days after we arrived.  Rain had kept us indoors and we were feeling excited to go birding.  A fellow birder, Bill Tefft, had shown us this sight on a "Wednesday Bird Walk" from the welcome center. This area was on Burch Lake and the Kawishiwi

Northern Parula

Yellow-rumped Warbler

Yellow-bellied Sapsucker

Least Flycatcher

Black and White Warbler

Chestnut-sided Warbler

Yellow Warbler

Magnolia Warbler

Common Grackle

Red-breasted Nuthatch

Black-capped Chickadee

River at the dam.  We parked, grabbed our gear and walked down the path to the water. Birds greeted us flying in many directions. We managed to get our cameras set up and began trying to photograph the small warblers moving so very fast through the trees.  I remember thinking "this is a birder's dream come true, yellow birds flitting everywhere".  This was taking place around 8:30 a.m..  It was morning feeding for them and pure excitement for us.  I am sure most of you are aware that many Warblers spend their nesting and summers in this northern part of the United States.  This is August so many are leaving or will be leaving soon to move south for the winter.  We spent four hours in this utopia and then enjoyed a picnic lunch sitting by the river.  It was as perfect a day as we could be given on this earth.  We counted 27 species that surrounded us in this small area. Amazing, we were Blessed!