Make that 19 bears

The season is a'changing. I know that winter is on the way when my shadow becomes a tall and skinny caricature of me and K looks like a lion sitting next to me.

It was 40 degrees when I headed out this morning, most definitely not balmy summer weather.

Last fall, for reasons that I'd prefer to forget, I didn't have wildlife cameras on the main animal routes. Because I am fascinated by learning where our wildlife go as the seasons change, losing that chunk of data was disappointing. This year is different because I've strategically staked out the animal routes to keep collecting photos. I'm learning that the bears have started moving around like ants in a colony. They're following their mating season routes - but their goal now is to eat as much as possible before hibernation.

Lots of people around here think that we have 1-2 bears in the area. My cameras have told me that, so far this year, at least 19 individual bears have been in our forest. I'm being very conservative in that count - never counting a bear as a new individual unless I am absolutely sure. Moreover, I feel sure that shy bears are lurking in the forest, avoiding my cameras - so the actual census is probably higher.

On a recent evening, I captured photos of our third sow with cub(s). Based on my first photo of her huge head, I would have guessed that she was a male.

As she walked past my camera, her front paws showed a distinctive feature of a bear walk, their toes point inward.

It's most obvious if you look at her left front paw in the next photo.

Then, five seconds later, this powerful sow's cub followed obediently behind her.

And, being a curious youngster, he paused to glance toward the camera.

It's not too common for a bear to have only one cub, unless its the sow's first litter (unlikely based on the size of this sow) or she lost a cub earlier in the season. Perhaps another cub scampered behind the camera. I hope that we see them again this season to find out.

A day later, a big fat bear with a black glossy coat who I think that we've seen before passed a bear whammy tree. He headed directly for the base of it.

He seemed to purposely arch his back upward to rub it on the overhanging branches of the adjacent tree as his nose started to sniff the base of the whammy tree.

 He was fascinated with the whammy tree. I'll spare you the many photos of him sniffing it.

Later that night, I captured another photo some distance away. I think that it's the same bear, probably foraging as he traveled slowly through the forest since it's high eating season for bears.

Early the next morning, Socks returned!!!!!! You might remember Socks from mating season, when we saw many appearances by him just after his mother had paired up with a suitor, and consequently, her yearling cubs had to leave her.

The first photo showed his black socks most obviously. He was sniffing the overhanging branches that the huge bear had rubbed his arched back on just a few hours earlier.

Next, Socks investigated the bear whammy tree, sniffing its trunk carefully.

After a quick perusal, he hightailed it away from the tree. I'm guessing that he could smell the dominance of the huge bear who had stood in the same spot earlier.

Here's the most intriguing part. Another bear was following Socks. I think that the soft red glow from my camera scared the bear because I captured only one photo of him/her. You can barely see the bear head and muzzle in the far right of the photo below.

I wonder if this bear is Socks' littermate. Alternatively, the researchers in Ely, Minnesota have documented cases of unrelated yearling males banding together for the season after they leave their mothers. This bear could be another young male. A final idea is that it's a more dominant bear who is chasing Socks out of his/her territory.

I hope that we get more glimpses into this ursine world!