The Black Bear Appears!

I've noticed that our dogs have been obsessed with scents recently.

They are always turning their noses in exactly the same direction - the direction where I know the bears like to spend their time.

As a photographer, I've been settling for profiles of the dogs, as they cannot be deterred from the scents.

Today, Shyla and I were near the top of a ridge, and I know that there's a bear den and bear trees just over the ridge. She did this almost the entire time, with her nose pointed toward the bear area.

So, I made a special trip to a trail camera where I get the most black bear photos, and voila!!!!

This is a young bear, who I've seen in the past. His "mane" that sticks straight up along his spine is my identifying mark. This year, as you can see the above photo, he has another identifying mark. He has quite a wound on his right hip and butt. It looks almost healed so I'm guessing that it happened last year. He seemed to be moving fine. I captured photos of him here, and then about 2 miles away a fairly short time later.

He marked this tree!

I made a video of this bear at the two sites where I got photos of him. It's a rapid-fire compilation of still photos, taken 2 per second. You can watch it here or at Youtube.

I find bears to be the most fascinating animals in our forest. When I see the first one of the year, I know it's truly spring. All of a sudden, the forest feels more alive to me. I know that bears are hard at work - raising cubs, finding mates, and foraging for food.

At the end of today's bike ride, Shyla looked like the definition of happiness, reflecting my sky high mood!