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Tuesday, October 18, 2016

Dancing Bears in Autumn

I know that winter is almost here when I start finding Shyla soaking up the warmth of sun puddles.

This is the time when the vegetation around us turns brown, readying itself for freezing air and snow.


It's also the time of year when bears have one last flurry of activity. On 10/2, a bear approached a sad bear-marking tree. It's "sad" because mountain bikers decided to widen a trail, and they cut off all its branches. It's just ahead of the bear in this photo.

These marking trees are so important to bears that they keep marking them, even after humans have denuded them.

This is a beautiful sow!

A few miles away, trail cams captured other bears marking trees like crazy. A small sow first marked a tree. Then, Milton Sr. did his own dance. Milton Sr. is the long-term big male of our area. He was badly injured a few years ago, and another big male ("Tiny") tried to take over the territory. Since then, they've both patrolled the area, often getting into "marking wars" where one marks over the other one's scent as often as they can. That happened in this video.

If you need a good laugh at the bear antics or just want to see some wild bears in action, enjoy the video!
Happy very late autumn from the Rockies!

16 comments:

  1. It's always fun seeing those amazing bears...and beautiful Shyla!

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  2. So great to see them looking healthy and fat going into winter. Have you seen the cubs from the den lately?

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  3. They all look ready for winter! What a gorgeous trio!

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  4. Thank you for sharing these wonderful bear dancing picture with us

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  5. The bears are sooooo beautiful, and its fun to watch them!
    love
    tweedles

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  6. We love watching the bear videos! Thank you, KB☺

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  7. the bears are just great... in any way.... and the mama always wants to pet them... so I'm glad we see them only via your blog LOL

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  8. OMG I can't stop laughing, those two bears are hilarious... I thought Milton would knock the tree down. I love it.. I can see after watching the video why they need the limbs left on the tree. mankind has a way of destroying things for their own comfort..

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  9. These bear videos are always my favorite. Poor bears, having to deal with stupid people.

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  10. We love seeing your dancing bears. Those poor trees really take a beating from the bears. Too bad the bikers messed with the tree too.

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  11. So fun to watch the dancing bears!!!
    hugs
    Mr bailey, Hazel & Mabel

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  12. Yes, Mother Nature is giving us all the signs! It's coming, ready or not!

    Your Pals,

    Murphy & Stanley

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  13. You could put that bear dancing to music!

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  14. The bears made me chuckle (and it hurts to laugh thanks to a day at the gym!)

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  15. Awesome! Ted (my husband) is a big fan of your wildlife pics and video. He just watched the video with me and it was a treat for me to watch him laugh. "That's a BIG bear" he said when Milton appeared. Thanks for sharing these amazing captures.

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