Bears, bears, bears!

K and I had a glorious mountain bike ride yesterday before the snow storm moved in. We served our punishment, meted out by Benny and Lily, for my close call with hypothermia. It was a two day suspension from mountain bike riding. We served it in dog days. Each dog day is 1/7 of a human day. So, we skipped riding for a few hours and then we were free to romp and roll all over the forest!

During our ride, we saw a deer who watched us from within the snow-free pine forest.

I also spotted a ground squirrel who has watched us pass by from his perch on a boulder almost every day since he came out of hibernation in May. I took his photo because I'm guessing that he's gone into hibernation today. Not a bad spot to soak up the sunshine, don't you think?

One day earlier this week, I took a ride up higher in the mountains than our home to enjoy the leaves and the dry trails before our first snowstorm hit today. In the upper right of the photo, you can see the pointy peak that K and I tried to climb a couple of weeks ago and the yellow leaves in the forest below it. We'll make it to the top next year!

The leaves wowed me, from a distance and up close.

The animals are feeling the impending winter just like us humans. A bear named "Tiny" has been on the prowl in our area. This huge bear settled in to investigate in front of one of my trail cameras yesterday morning before sunrise.

It was super windy, which makes bears very nervous because they can't distinguish the sound of footfalls made by approaching animals from the wind rustling the leaves. Tiny repeatedly looked alarmed during his/her almost 3 minute stay in front of my camera.

Finally, after thoroughly investigating the area, Tiny departed with a nervous glance over his/her shoulder. I'll be uploading a video of Tiny's entire visit to the cam when I'm at the library. I'd use up too much of our satellite internet quota if I tried to upload it from home.

Much to my surprise, we had another bear experience yesterday evening. A bear sauntered into our clearing and checked out our bear-proof birdfeeding station. This is about 6 weeks later than we've ever had a bear visit our clearing. His/her arrival:

Then, the ritual of the pole dance. The feeders are hanging from branches off the pole (which is sunk in concrete) 6 feet over his head.

Finally, the bear gave up and walked away. The Runner's ingenious system has outsmarted the bears for many years!

Interestingly, he walked past the birdfeeder again at 2AM, but the camera caught only a photo of his rump. I think that he just walked through our clearing on his way someplace else.

I'm not sure if this was Tiny or some other bear. Based on his humongous size, I suspect that he was Tiny... but I can't be sure. In any case, I'm guessing that the bear who came into our clearing is a male because he clearly was still voracious. Bears become less hungry and lethargic before hibernation. Female bears, especially pregnant ones, are probably either in their dens or relaxing near dens by now. Their appetites are waning toward nonexistent. Males go into hibernation much later so they keep foraging with a vengeance into the fall. That's why I think that the bear in our clearing is a male.

Yes, winter started this morning. Look at the difference in our forest... and the evil eye from the very young buck closest to the camera. I wonder if this is his first winter?

Tomorrow, I'll tell you the story of the rabbit who lived in the boulders behind my house. I'm afraid that he had a hungry visitor...