Tiny - a black bear

It's a glorious autumn day here in the Rockies. K and I enjoyed the start of it together, visiting our favorite lookout and having a quiet moment enjoying the view.

There were no more bear visits to my cams after the one whose photo I showed you yesterday. On the last occasion that this bear, who I'll call "Tiny", walked past my cams, Socks (the yearling) and another bear trailed not too far behind. I wanted to see if that same pattern would occur this time, for I suspect that Tiny is Socks' mother. However, that's just a guess based on past photos and patterns of behavior.

Many of you guessed correctly that Tiny was marking the tree holding my trail camera in the photo yesterday. It was not a bear-marking tree (or "whammy" tree) prior to this occasion. I suspect that Tiny smelled my scent all over the area and was establishing that it was *her* territory and not mine by rubbing her scent over the spot where my scent was very strong.

Tiny arrived at my first camera and commenced sniffing the area.

Then, I captured a number of photos of Tiny's back with her fur covering half the lens. During that phase, I'm pretty sure that she was up on her hind legs and rubbing her back against the tree that my camera was lashed to (you can see this phase in the video at the bottom of the post). Just before she stopped marking, we caught a glimpse of her face.

After marking the tree, Tiny showed us her rump as she walked away. Her fur was wet from raindrops clinging to shrubs and plants that hadn't seen the sunshine since our big rain storms.

She sniffed the area some more. I think that you're starting to realize that the name "Tiny" is a bit of a joke.

Finally, this big and beautiful bear walked away, following the same path as I'd followed hours before her.

Soon, she arrived at another of my trail cameras. This is a serious "hot spot" for bears so I have it heavily staked out. All the aspen trees in the area have "bear art" on them - huge claw marks that have turned black over the years.

When she arrived at my next camera, she acted like a sneaky human who wasn't sure that she wanted her photo taken. The cam caught a quick glimpse of her black fur in the far left of the photo below. Then, she paused behind the camera for a long time before moving in front of it. I suspect that she was sniffing the area where I kneel to check the cam.

Finally, she showed her head as she moved in front of the camera.

What a gorgeous bear she is! She is so fat and ready to sleep away the winter. Perhaps she'll give birth to cubs this winter!

 She showed us a muddy hind paw pad as she lumbered into the green forest.

For a size comparison, here's a photo of me taken by the same cam in the same position. I weigh about 110 lbs, and my wheels are 26" diameter. How much do you think that Tiny weighs?

If, indeed, Tiny is a pregnant sow, then we won't be seeing her out and about for much longer. Pregnant sows retreat to their dens much earlier than other bears, especially when they already have huge stores of fat like Tiny does. Wouldn't it be amazing if she chose the den where I have a camera monitoring the entrance? I'd love it.

I compiled all the photos of this bear's excursion into a flipbook video that you can watch here or at Youtube.

Please leave your guesses about her weight in the comments. I don't want to exaggerate her size so I'm interested to hear how big others think that she is. Thanks!