Photos and text copyright Romping and Rolling in the Rockies 2009-2017.

All photographs and text within this blog are copyrighted.

You may not copy or repost any photos or text without specific permission from the author of this blog. When in doubt, please ask.

Tuesday, July 25, 2017

Mother and cub - bathing!

My trail cameras picked up lots and lots of footage of bears throughout June until early July. Both big male bears and mother-cub pairs were marching along the Black Bear Trail. I think that this photo is the male bear, Bandit, who demolished one of my trail cams earlier this year.

One of our biggest male bears, Milton, was on a mission, marching east to west over many hours. He marked every single bear marking tree that he passed. Then, he departed the area where I have cams. I'm quite worried about him because he was heading in the general direction of a place where a very large male bear was killed a day later. I doubt that it was him but I will worry until he shows up on my cams again. He's been around since I started using trail cams almost a decade ago.

I plan to make a video of Milton's journey and tree marking but, for now, I wanted to share a photo of him vociferously marking a poor stunted bear tree.
I truly hope that we see Milton again. A lot of bears are getting in trouble in Colorado because our late May snowstorm that followed very warm weather killed a lot of their natural foods. They are turning to human food sources.... so I'll be worrying about all of them.

On a lighter note, our mother bear who has a cub this year has been visiting water holes. I'm not surprised because it's been hot and dry. The two of them want to drink and cool off!

I made a video of their escapades, including some of the most extensive bathing I've ever seen by a bear. The mother bear carefully cleaned her face, behind her ears, and even a paw! The odd thing is that her bath water was the stinkiest of any around here. I don't have a clue why she'd prefer to bathe in that water hole rather than a clean one. I almost gag if I even splash some of the stinky water on my leg while checking my cam!

Here's the video. You can also watch it at Youtube.


Please let all our bears stay safe. For locals, please bring in food sources, and learn from your mistake if a bear does find food at your home. Please don't blame the bear and sentence him or her to death by reporting the bear. Instead, tighten up your defenses so that it doesn't happen again.

Let's take the responsibility on ourselves to keep our bears alive through this very lean period. They are amazing creatures!

20 comments:

  1. I do hope Milton will be okay and that all the Bears will stay safe. People should never ever feed wildlife and here in Florida we have so many people that do so many crazy things and then it puts the four animals in the way of civilization and they get killed for the for doing what is normal to them

    ReplyDelete
  2. You are like me. I worry about all the wildlife, especially the ones you come to "know." I hope all your area bears stay safe, and that people give them the space, and respect they deserve.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Oh, baby bears.... they're so cute but so vulnerable! I worry for our wildlife too! Makes my heart hurt to think of the stupid things people do to put wildlife in jeopardy.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hari Om
    What's not to adore?!! YAM xx

    ReplyDelete
  5. Mama Bear was sure thorough about her bath☺

    ReplyDelete
  6. Very thorough washing, and the cub, just testing at this stage? not too hot, not too cold, but maybe not just right? The second water hole looked so clean and fresh.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The second water hole would be my choice. It is very clean water from a spring. I've been surprised by how little this cub actually goes in the water. Most cubs have siblings. Perhaps that helps the pair of cubs to learn to play in the water.

      Delete
  7. Whenever I hear of a bear or cat being removed, I silently weep. We've invaded their habitat and they get punished by all too often being euthanized. I wish peeps were better stewards of these wilderness areas and stopped creating more problems for the wildlife. Loved the video-looked more like a cooling off session than a bath. 🐻

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I completely agree. I try very hard to speak for the animals in my neck of the woods, imploring others to view us as the invaders in the homes of the bears and cats.

      Delete
  8. It is fun to see those big critters just being themselves!

    ReplyDelete
  9. OMD, that is so cool! I hopes Milton is okays...I likes that the Mama Bear likes the stinky stuffs! Always more funs to roll in the stinky stuffs! BOL!!!
    Kisses,
    Ruby ♥

    ReplyDelete
  10. Very cool. We love the bear videos, more please:)

    ReplyDelete
  11. We never cease to be amazed at the footage you get on those trail cams!!

    Your Pals,

    Murphy & Stanley

    ReplyDelete
  12. We think the dogs would prefer the stinky water. We hope the bears can stay safe and fine enough food.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Beautiful. I love your advice regarding keeping the bears safe.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Those bears are so neat! I hope they all stay safe out there. Humans are dangerous.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Those bears are so beautiful! Sometimes they don't even look real, more like something from a Hollywood movie. Humans need to respect these wonderful creatures and realize that killing them is not a solution.

    ReplyDelete
  16. We see a lot of that around here....people that are irresponsible leaving bird seed and other trash/food out, and then they get upset when bears hang around. :(

    ReplyDelete

If you are a Blogger registered user, you can skip the step asking you to verify that you are not a spammer. For posts older than 5 days, I have comment moderation turned on.

Thanks for your comments!!!!!