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Tuesday, September 10, 2013

Bathing Bears

I am sadly admitting to myself that the days of lots of bear trail camera footage are coming to a close. I do love "seeing" our bears living out their everyday lives through trail cameras. Bears have such interesting personalities and behaviors that I never tire of watching them in action. I suspect that they are staying in even more remote areas now as hunters are patrolling the bears' normally completely isolated hangouts.

I have a video from a couple of weeks ago of Mabel and her cub each taking a bath in a spring. Then, a couple of days later, a huge and healthy male got wet in the spring. This is the first appearance of this male bear this season. It might be the bear who I've called "Tiny" in the past, who spends his autumns and winters in our area. Comparing his huge size to Mabel's size is astounding!

Enjoy the video either here or at Youtube!


I feel as if the sun is setting on this year's bear season. However, I do still have some bear footage that I haven't shared yet. I'll save it for a little while so I have something to look forward to!
This was a sunset in the San Juan Mountains of Colorado that we witnessed a few weeks ago.
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26 comments:

  1. UnknownSeptember 10, 2013 at 4:09 PM

    Oh my!! "Tiny" is absolutely HUGE compared to Mabel and the cub. That is incredible.

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  2. Ziggy StardustSeptember 10, 2013 at 4:16 PM

    Wow that was really a treat to see. Thank you!!


    Anne and Sasha

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  3. MurphySeptember 10, 2013 at 5:02 PM

    We think if we had an animal camera with this kind of location we'd never get anything else done! How far is this from your home?

    Your Pals,

    Murphy & Stanley

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  4. Hailey and Zaphod and their LadySeptember 10, 2013 at 6:32 PM

    I will miss the bears, but look forward to this footage!

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  5. bichonpawzSeptember 10, 2013 at 7:01 PM

    We have the same question as Murphy! Is it pretty close to your home? Just love watching these bears!! That "tiny" bear is a GIANT, SUPER-sized bear!! Curious...why does he shake his head so much? Thank you so much for sharing a part of the world with us that we'd never get to see! xo Jeanne, Chloe and LadyBug

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  6. NCmountainwomanSeptember 10, 2013 at 8:12 PM

    I'm hoping you will find another den and capture the dazed mother coming out occasionally. I do so love the bears. We have a sow and two cubs who have been spotted frequently one street over from us. They've been around for several days now although we haven't seen any evidence of them. Early this morning the girls started barking on the deck. We wondered if they caught a scent of something since that is so atypical of them.

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  7. Taffy September 10, 2013 at 8:26 PM

    I loved watching the cub...he just looks so sweet! I love seeing these videos.

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  8. Millie and WalterSeptember 10, 2013 at 8:56 PM

    Such amazing footage. That male is enormous compared to the female. Thanks for sharing.

    Cindy

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  9. GOOSESeptember 10, 2013 at 9:02 PM

    Tiny is HUGE! What fun to watch these amazing creatures.
    Blessings,
    Goose

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  10. Two French BulldogsSeptember 10, 2013 at 9:13 PM

    We love watching those bears too. So interesting
    Benny & Lily

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  11. Jo's WorldSeptember 10, 2013 at 9:20 PM

    Tiny needs a bigger tub, don't you think? The Mom bear really enjoys her swim/bath, wonder if getting Tiny's scent was what spooked her.

    Loads of fun to see them and it seems like a short season to me!

    Cheers and hugs,

    Jo

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  12. KBSeptember 10, 2013 at 9:33 PM

    A couple of you asked how far this spot is from my house. It's about 2-3 miles as the crow flies. However, I try to visit the spot as rarely as possible so that I don't leave my scent there too often.

    I "discovered" the animal activity in this puddle this year, and the videos of the bears in the puddle have delighted me!

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  13. Carola BartzSeptember 10, 2013 at 9:35 PM

    "Tiny" is not that tiny anymore! Wow, quite the big guy! Wonderful footage of these amazing animals - thank you so much for sharing.

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  14. DukeSeptember 11, 2013 at 3:37 AM

    We love watching videos of the bears! Tiny was sure shaking his head a lot. Water inside his ear?

    Love ya lots♥
    Mitch and Molly

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  15. MelonSeptember 11, 2013 at 8:08 AM

    Not only catching up on, but very much enjoying, your posts. I'll try to leave everything in one comment, except maybe your most recent post or two, because I figure one complete message would be preferable for you to one-line comments being left on old posts (correct me if I'm wrong!).

    Your blog gives me an idea of what to expect and aim for at the end of the journey of dog training and dog photographing, haha!

    I've recently been realising how lovely Lab ears are - I just want to give both of your guys, especially a couple of those pictures of R, a good scritch on the ears.

    Sorry to hear of your back pain, but I'm sure you know that you are, as always, an inspiration in fighting pain, whether physical or emotional like my own.

    Lovely video of activity at that pool. Thanks for sharing it with us.
    Melon

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  16. AnonymousSeptember 11, 2013 at 8:09 AM

    How cool. It will be sad when winter sets in and everyone has gone to bed. This summer has gone sooooo fast.

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  17. The Army of FourSeptember 11, 2013 at 8:52 AM

    The bears are awesome - but that sunset blows me away!!! So beautiful!
    KZK

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  18. Dream Valley RanchSeptember 11, 2013 at 10:01 AM

    Love swimming bears!! So cute!

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  19. QuinnSeptember 11, 2013 at 12:13 PM

    They all look so healthy! Good to see.

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  20. houndstoothSeptember 11, 2013 at 1:49 PM

    Tiny looks HUGE compared to the mother. Holy cow! She was swimming and he barely got his belly wet. Do you think this means that she's a younger bear, or is she as big as she will get? What's the usual size discrepancy between male and female bears?

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  21. Lindsjö taxarSeptember 11, 2013 at 2:00 PM

    The bears are Lovely. Saw 2 TV programs from USA MOntana, a English guy who followed the bears and they had collars on. Hope and Lily ...it was very interesting. THe sad thing was that one was shot, Sara, by a hunter. Question was why shoot a bear with a collar when they are so many without? The have a program and research to get to know how they live.

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  22. RubySeptember 11, 2013 at 6:19 PM

    Holy Bear Poops!!! Those are just AMAZIN' videos!!!!! That big male made Mom and baby look tiny!
    What a great little bathing hole.
    And I do love that sun set pic...very cool!
    Kisses,
    Ruby ♥

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  23. KBSeptember 11, 2013 at 6:45 PM

    To answer a few questions... First, that's a fairly typical male-female difference in size, although Mabel is a bit on the small size for an adult sow. Typically, she might be 175-200 lbs before hibernation while the males are much bigger, reaching full size around 12 years old. I'm betting that "Tiny" is about 500-600 lbs.

    Lindjo: That was a very sad story about Lily and Hope. I've visited the researcher who you're referring to and I've observed Lily (and some of their other research bears). Unfortunately, in the past few days, another of their research bears was shot by a hunter. So sad...

    Ruby: I don't know why Tiny was shaking his head. I guessed that he might have a bug or a piece of grass (like a foxtail) in his ear. But, it could've been water.

    And, yes, Tiny needs a bigger bathtub!!!!!

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  24. Bella Roxy & MacduiSeptember 12, 2013 at 12:21 AM

    The bears certainly enjoy that spring..and the male is HUGE!

    XXXOOO Daisy, Bella & Roxy

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  25. AngusSeptember 13, 2013 at 12:20 PM

    What a sunset ! Life never stops giving.

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  26. MaxmomSeptember 15, 2013 at 3:27 AM

    Hi there KB,
    I just had to scroll back and look through all your posts since the big storms. Wow, amazing photographs! I am pleased that you guys are 'higher' up the mountain, but my heart goes out to those who have been seriously affected.
    Be safe, dear friend.
    Lots of love
    MAXMOM IN SA
    PS You are right - since I've been following your blog (2009), I've never seen pictures like that with the blanket of clouds over your landscape.

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