Grinder and Coola emerge from Hibernation!

Grinder and Coola, our two resident Grizzly Bears, have emerged from their 2009/2010 hibernation period at the Grouse Mountain Refuge for Endangered Wildlife.

This was their ninth hibernation - all have taken place at the Refuge.

Grinder, being the bold, head strong bear, was the first to emerge and was followed shortly by Coola (shown to the left).

After a little over four months in hibernation, the bears were ready to rumble and immediately started to run and play in the snow. It's always one of their most energetic days of the year and for the rest of the afternoon Grinder and Coola were seen wrestling each other or rubbing their coats, dirty from hibernation, in the clean snow. Of course, they are also out of shape, so these periods of activities were followed by some serious bear napping!

The term 'hibernation' is a bit of a misnomer when talking about bears. Grizzly Bears are not true hibernators and instead enter a period of deep sleep more correctly called Winter Dormancy. During this period they do not defecate, urinate, eat or drink, however their body temperature and heart rate does not drop as drastically as true hibernators, instead they slow down. Also, bears quite often go for 'sleep walks' during the winter to stretch their muscles and keep their bones strong.

We will soon be switching our hibernation cameras out onto the habitats to allow Grinder and Coola's fans to watch them in action in their habitat. Please stay tuned!

Hummingbirds return to Grouse Mountain!

Yesterday marked the first sighting of 2010 of Hummingbirds on Grouse Mountain!

For the past five years Grouse Mountain has sponsored a Hummingbird Monitoring Project that has led to interesting research and findings about hummingbirds in a sub-alpine environment.

Every two weeks our wildlife staff go out and count hummingbirds coming to feeders, band each bird with a microscopic bird band and take important measurements and data on the age and sex of the bird. This data is then compiled with other stations throughout Western North America to provide a more complete picture of what is happening with hummingbird populations and migration.

Contrary to the myth, Hummingbirds do not migrate on the backs of other birds - they do the journey all under their own power! The most common hummingbird in the Vancouver area is the Rufous Hummingbird. These amazing birds complete a migration from Mexico to as far north as Alaska each year before doing the return journey in the late summer after they are done breeding. If you consider body size to distance travelled, the Rufous Hummingbird has the longest migration ratio of any bird!

Please watch for these amazing birds at our feeding and monitoring station behind our outdoor plaza (aka Ice Rink) when you next visit Grouse Mountain!

Work Begins on the Hibernation Habitat

For the past week we've been working away at clearing some of the snow and setting up Grinder and Coola's hibernation habitat.

The bears have begun to move around more frequently and have been seen looking out of their den at their habitat. This is to be expected given our slightly warmer temperatures and longer daylight hours.

If all goes to plan the habitat should be ready in the next week or two and the bears will be able to come out and play in the snow. It is always a really exciting day when the bears first emerge. They love the snow and spend most of the day romping around, wrestling and rolling in the snow to clean their fur after a long winter's dormancy.

More updates to follow as we get closer to the date!

The Eye of the Wind and our viewPOD tours have officially begun - Friday February 26, 2010

Tours of the Eye of the Wind and our viewPOD have officially begun. Visitors are now able to ride our elevator cab up to the observation platform and capture some of the most amazing views of Vancouver – not to mention an up-close look at our wind turbine. Most visitors are utterly speechless once they step onto the viewPOD. It’s wonderful to watch people learn and enjoy this structure as much as we do. While the turbine is ready to produce power we have a few upgrades to make at our final electrical connection to the grid but should be in good order to be producing and using power in March.

The commissioning of our wind turbine generator is complete - Friday January 29, 2010

It’s a nice feeling - the commissioning of our wind turbine generator is complete and The Eye of the Wind now officially has the potential to start producing power.  As excited as we are, we have to wait for a few more upgrades at our point of connection before we take that final step to producing and using the power.  In the meantime, our elevator is in the final stages of testing and inspection.  The elevator cabin can run automatically now and has the look and feel of a true elevator.  Take a look at the stunning photo taken from the bottom elevator landing.  This landing is where you enter and exit the base of the tower  -  imagine the sight from the top elevator landing in the viewPOD!