Green plants become mature and bears don't prefer them as much, but ant pupae become abundant. Bears switch to a favorite diet of ant pupae. Bears now begin to fatten up for winter as carbohydrate-rich berries get ripe. It's mating season. Males roam widely to find females without cubs.
Cubs begin eating solid food.
Lactating mothers stop losing weight, and others are gaining weight slowly. Cherries, blueberries, serviceberries, wild sarsaparilla berries and raspberries begin ripening and become the major bear foods. All bears gain weight rapidly if their natural foods are in good supply. Viburnum berries, dogwood berries, wild plums, hawthorn berries, mountain-ash berries, and hazelnuts ripen. Bears switch to hazelnuts if the nuts are abundant, otherwise continue feeding on berries.