Black and White Sunday: Black Bear and Cub

I mentioned last week that my trail cameras captured photos and footage of a black bear mother and her cub. I've dubbed this mother bear "Mabel". These photos astounded me because the pair has gained so much weight since we last saw footage of them. Here is Mabel arriving in front of a bear marking tree. It looks to me as if she was lying in a bed of leaves for a while and many of them are stuck to her fur.

A short time later, her cub arrived. This cub is in superb shape for the start of winter. S/he has so much fat!

Then, mom exited the picture while her cub stood up to sniff (and perhaps mark) the tree.

I was lucky enough to capture footage of them in three different locations. The photos above are from the last location. I put together a video that shows them in three different spots along a mile or so walk.

You can enjoy the video here or at Youtube.

I suspect that Mabel and her cub are tucked away, starting their winter snooze now. During an outing the other day, I found bear cub tracks heading toward the bear den that I know so well because it was used by a bear family a few years ago. My fingers are crossed that one of our bear families will choose that den so that we can watch them this winter! It's a big enough den for a whole family!