Dandelion: The weed that feeds

WILDLIFE WATCHING — I was driving through Canada’s Kootenay National Park in spring early in the morning one year when I spotted a black bear paralleling the highway in the vegetation along the road.  I stopped and watched. The bear walked for a quarter mile eating the blossoms off dandelions like a kid in a candy store.

A few days ago, I filled my second tag in Washington’s spring gobbler hunt.  When I checked the crop of my tom, it was full of dandelion blossoms.  He’d been taking advantage of the spring bloom.

Dandelion’s are the weed that feeds wildlife.