6:07 she's awake, head furthest from camera
doing some scratching with her right hind paw

Thanks everyone for the news of Lily ~` it will be so exciting and interesting to see the birth ~~~i look forward to that . I bookmarked the link .

Bev .

from their facebook page.....

Update – January 18, 8:25 PM ET

Yesterday at 8:50pm
Today, we checked the progress of another pregnant female, Lily’s cousin 10-year-old Donna. We’ve known her since she was a cub of Blackheart in “The Man Who Walks With Bears” produced for Animal Planet by Doug Hajicek, the same man who put together this den cam operation.

Donna raised litters of 2 cubs at age 3 and 5, then lost a litter at age 7, and raised another 2-cub litter at age 8. She is doing the same as Lily—waiting to give birth and bringing in more bedding to get ready. The picture shows the trail from her den to a clump of balsam fir saplings where she bit off boughs to bring into the den.

We suspected one of Lily’s forays outside was to defecate. Donna did the same. In front of her den is a neat pile of droppings. It will be interesting to collect them in spring and determine the contents. This brings up two issues for a future update—the fecal plug and how bears often go the many months of hibernation without eating, drinking, urinating, and defecating.

It will be an exciting next few days as these bears give birth. Hopefully, Lily will come through with the others. What should we look for? How big is a newborn black bear cub? The average weight is 11-13 ounces (301-364 grams), depending upon the region. Some have weighed up to a pound (453 grams) or as little as 9 ounces (255 grams). Length from the tip of the nose to the tip of the tail averages 9.4 inches (238 mm), but some have been as short as 8.2 inches (209 mm) or as long as 11.2 inches (285 mm). Hair 1-3 mm long covers the body except the ears.

Thank you to the many people who are watching and reporting. A couple people sent video of Lily licking, chewing a root, trying to cover it with bedding, or generally rearranging the bedding. We haven’t seen or heard cubs yet, but we are beginning to feel the excitement as the days go by. We look forward to the day when there is no longer any question about what we are seeing.

January 19th.
10:12 a.m.

Lily is awake and spending quite a bit of time licking and scratching at her belly.
She's concentrating on the spot on her right side just below her front leg.
She appears very restless.

10:17 am
Giving her chin a good scratch.

10:20 am
She has her nose right up to the camera and sniffing at it...almost blocked the view.
I was wondering if she was planning to lick it as well

10:24 am
She pawing at the grass and pulling it into her den.

Lily is still active and moving the nesting material around


The second picture shows where she is moving it closer to the cam ~~Bev .

From Lily's twitter page
http://twitter.com/LilyBlackBear
Pulled a rubber band off the camera setup, and brought balsam branches into the den.

Here is the most recent update.
FB Update – January 19, 8:12 PM ET

Yesterday at 7:20pm
"Today, Lily went out and bit a balsam fir bough off a tree and brought it into the den—just like her Aunt Donna has been doing (see update for 1-18-10). She chewed it into smaller pieces for bedding. She also brought in one of the rubber bands that holds the camera in place and tried to chew it into smaller pieces. She gave up and raked it into the bedding. I’m sure people were concerned. If she did swallow it, it would pass through. It’s not something the cubs could or would ingest. It’s possible she defecated when she was outside, just like her Aunt Donna has been doing. Could defecation at this time of year is partly due to pressure on the colon from late term fetuses? Bears continue to make feces during winter even without food intake—just like starving people do. It comes from dead cells sloughed off the digestive tract and sometimes includes bits of bedding and hair ingested while grooming."

—Lynn Rogers, Ph.D.

I have edited only to post what is about the bear's activity today.... the rest of the article can be read on the FB page : http://www.facebook.com/notes/lily-the- ... 477?ref=mf

jwn

Lily rearranging her bedding, pulling some down towards her