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Friday, May 26, 2017

How the flowers and bears fared during our huge snowstorm

It's flower Friday but we have only a few flowers blooming after the big melt from our storm. Look at the green grass around Shyla this morning!

Believe it or not, some barrel cacti flowers survived beneath 3 feet of snow! I took this photo yesterday when the cacti emerged from under the melting snow.


And a few Pasqueflowers also survived. Their season is ending.
The snow hasn't melted from north-facing slopes so I haven't been able to check on the Fairy Slipper orchids that I wrote about last Friday. I hope that we still have some!

As some of you know, I love our bears as much as our flowers so I was eager to see how they'd done through the storm. No bears seemed to be moving about during the worst of the storm and aftermath. However, within a few days after it, they were back to their normal activities.

I made a video of Bandit (the camera destroyer) taking a bath, marking a tree, and then threatening a camera just before the storm. Phew, he didn't truly attack it. The video also includes a bear taking an ICE bath after the storm. Snow was melting into a spring, and the water couldn't have been much more than 32°F!

What I love most of all is that there are hotbeds of bear activity that most people have no idea exist. Bears have their normal activities, including bathing and tree-marking. Sometimes a person will walk through, and the bears disappear. As soon as the person is gone, they reappear. It's amazing to get to see what the bears do when there aren't people around! 

I hope that you enjoy the video either here or at Youtube.

Happy Flower Friday!

17 comments:

  1. The first flowers are a gorgeous color!

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  2. I just love your videos of bears and I wonder if the huffing is because the water is so cold. they are amazing and the tree tricks make me giggle

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    1. I wondered the same thing about the huffing. That water must have been incredibly cold.

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  3. We have some lovely daffodils at our old house and it never failed, they would pop their heads up and some storm would come and drop snow on them. I'm glad your flowers were able to survive.

    We have an animal trail behind our house, I know because we've seen deer run it, and one of my goals is to get a camera back there and see what else might be using it. The videos of the bears are so cool.

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  4. Those cacti blooms are so brilliant!
    KZK

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  5. Love the pasque flower! It is so beautiful!

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  6. Hope your north side flowers survived. The first bear bath seemed to suggest Bandit had a Mohawk! LOL Have a great weekend and try to stay dry. 😃

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  7. Pretty flowers and a clean bear...priceless!

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  8. We're so glad to see that the bears and at least some of the flowers survived the storm! It's amazing that all of that snow melted so quickly.
    Jan, Wag 'n Woof Pets

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  9. I suspect we walk past many things we do not see! Great shots!

    Your Pals,

    Murphy & Stanley

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  10. We wonder how the people would react if they knew how close bears were...BOL!

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  11. Your barrel cacti flowers are amazing, but Bandit's tree marking dance definitely takes top billing, What a cutie!!

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  12. Bathing and dancing, oh my! I do so love your bear videos. And, of course, those courageous flowers. And last, but not least, dear sweet Shyla.

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  13. The cacti are such a pretty and vibrant color! We don't think Bandit likes being watched by those trail cameras:) And bears sure do know how to relax and be still in the water, icy cold or not.

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  14. the snow can act like an insulator - Our grass stayed green under our deep snow despite below freezing temps!
    hugs
    Mr Bailey, Hazel & Mabel

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  15. oh how I love the bear videos......

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  16. That Bandit is one wild little bear cub!

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