Adventures of the Blue-eyed Bear

The Blue-eyed Bear has been busy of late attempting to keep up with a new friend. This little energetic  friend just showed up and moved onto the B-E Bear’s berg. So far the they are both still afloat. What Adventures will they have?!

More poop, more blaeberries, more bumblebees!

The Blue-eyed bear is enjoying her time in the Land of the Scots where some Scottish bees (Bumbus monticola) have shown her the fruiting blaeberry bushes. These berries are similar to the blueberries that B-E Bear loves. She’s eaten so many berries her eyes are bluer then ever. But, our intrepid bear is also giving something back to her new bee friends. Yes, her bear poop will help keep the bee habitat healthy and spread the seeds of the bleaberry creating new bee habitat. Ah! what a wonderful natural cycle.

It seems that the B-E has learned that certain Humans on this island are also  making an effort to maintain and spread bumblebee habitat. They are members of the Bumblebee Conservation Trust and the sisters do appreciate their work. Check out their offerings at http://www.bumblebeeconservation.org.

The Buzz Around

For the bumble bee and the honey bee it is the females that work together with the queen to support the brood  or next generation as well as defend the hive or nest. The Blue-eyed Bear being a rather solitary animal learned from the bee the importance of sisterly support.

These sister worker bees also play a vital role in the pollination of plants that are essential to a good bear diet. The Blue-eyed Bear loves blueberries, and tomatoes, and almonds all of which need bees to fruit. For that matter the B-E Bear loves honey and doesn’t think she can get along with out it. So after hearing from some Arctic  bees ( yes there are polar bees) that some bees were in danger of dying out she  under took her third  adventure to journey to the lands of Eng and Scot were bumble bees are under grave threat.

After landing on the rocky coast  at the northern most edge of the Land of Scot, the Blue-eyed Bear met up with the Bleaberry Bumble Bee (Bombus morticola). the  Blue-eyed Bear called this Scottish Bee “BBB” for short. This little Bee told the B-E Bear where she could find Bleaberry bushes, their much like blueberries, and are fruiting right now. The Bear was glad cause she was famished after her long trek. BBB communicated this news the the Bear  by doing a little Scottish jig. Now it is known that Honey Bees dance to communicate were flowers are producing nectar to their hive sisters, (see The Dancing Bee by Karl von Frisch). But no one’s recorded dancing bee-havior for Bumble Bees. But why shouldn’t Bumble Bees Dance! The Blue-eyed Bear thinks BBB’s dance is Sweeet!

BBB tells the Blue-eyed Bear where to go!

BBB also told the B-E Bear some good news about humans who are helping to preserve Bee habitat. And BBB told the bear how she could help. Stay tuned for more Bee Bear Adventures!

The Blue-eyed Bear gets some advice from Dzunukwa.

The Blue-eyed bear always consults the the spirits of place for bits of  wisdom that help her along on her journeys. In her travels through the Northwest Coast of North America she sought out Dzunukwa, a giantess who lives in the deep forests. Dzunukwa is a supposed to be stupid and slow and eat little children. That might all just be a bad rap cause she guards some wonderful treasures. (Dzunukwa is also a Kuawkiutl crest, so you can often see her mask  as part of a totem pole or other expressions of First Nations art ). B-E Bear thinks one of Dzunukwa’s treasures is her advice on how to survive in-spite of Human hubris towards this creation. Dzunukwa can tell the Blue-eyed bear  how to be a Wild Woman in this age. Now thats a true treasure!

The Blue-eyed Bear’s first adventure after leaving the Arctic was going to Washington DC to see the inauguration of a new US President. Her hope was to urge the President to cool the Earth. It was pretty cold in Washington that January, but it seems things have been getting hotter ever since. The Bear still sees this President as the only hope for the planet. Otherwise, certain very loud Americans who are selfish enough to suggest that the wild place the Bear was born is nothing but a wasteland may prevail. And the Bear will certainly have no home with them.

Americans are a strange species. The Bear has heard that some Americans will not eat fish or other sea creatures because they think that fish swim in their own excrement. Well, the Bear sees Americans breathing in their own polluting excrement all the time and so has vowed not to eat them or any other  humans! Unless of course she is forced to do so through starvation.

  

Traveling with Friends

The blue-eyed bear relies on orca friends to travel across the oceans. Orca live in all the world oceans from the arctic to the tropics so they are perfect means of conveyance for the bear. Orca are the top predators of the oceans, just as the bear is also top predator on land and ice. Together they become the Sea Bear a mythic figure for some North American, Northwest coast Native Nations. As the adventures of the blue-eyed bear progress, she relies on the orca to move from continent to continent in search of home. One of the first places the bear had the orca drop her after leaving the arctic was east coast of the United States and that is another story!