Pain and Happiness

Our black dog and I have a lot in common. He has elbow dysplasia and has had multiple elbow surgeries in his life. There's probably another in his future because the elbow clearly hurts him. Similarly, I have a degenerative spine condition. I've had multiple spine surgeries, although I hold out hope that there won't be more. However, I've been having a tough time lately, with pain from both my neck discs and my low back discs radiating into my limbs. Like R, daily life hurts me but I still try to live with joy and purpose.

R is a great example in that regard. As long as R can still run around in the forest, he has joy in his life. For me, as long as I can ride my bike, play with our pack, and study our wildlife, I can be happy regardless of pain. I think that both of us have a harder time with sedentary life than being outside in motion.

Today, I rode my mountain bike to check a few trail cameras after my time outdoors with Shyla. Much to my amazement, I am still seeing a fair bit of bear activity. I think that this year is different from most years because the bears' lower elevation foods failed. Consequently, an unusual number of bears are up here, either foraging on our Kinnikinnick berries or getting ready to go into dens. Time will tell whether they plan to stay active or hibernate earlier than usual.

The bears are looking mighty fat, which is wonderful to see!

I believe the bear in the next photos is Dot, our youngish female bear who has a tiny white dot on her chest. She's been active throughout our neck of the woods for the past month. I'm very hopeful that she's going to have cubs in a den near here this winter!

After sniffing a bear marking tree, she marked it herself. While male bears mark trees most intensely during mating season in early summer, female bears mark trees most intensely in autumn shortly before they retire to a den.

Her marking behavior has been vigorous recently. She tends to spend about a minute thoroughly marking each bear tree she passes. I also captured some video of her marking a different tree which I'll share soon.

About an hour after Dot, a much larger male bear arrived at the same tree. He marked it too, albeit briefly. I'm not certain which male bear this is. It could be Tiny or it could be a bear who is just passing through our area. Tiny tends to disappear in late summer and autumn, returning just as winter arrives. I'm certain he dens in our area although I don't know exactly where.

Since I got out to ride my bike and enjoy nature today, it was a happy one for me despite the spinal pain. And finding bear photos on my trail cameras made me SMILE!

And I even managed to avoid getting caught in the rain. The morning clouds, which looked pretty, brought a cold rain to our area later in the day.

I bet we all have certain "touchstone" things that make life okay, almost no matter what. Mine are playing with our pack, immersing myself in nature, and watching our wildlife.

Bathing Bears

It is summertime. We and our pups play in the fields, enjoying nature's beauty.

Even the Columbines next our house (planted by me, the one with black thumb) are blooming!

Summer is in full swing.

Consequently, the bears are going about their lives in the forests near us. It's been warm lately so the few pools of water have become more popular. A young female bear took a bath in a pool with breaks to mark a nearby bear tree. She has a "mohawk" fur pattern so I thought that I'd call her "Mohawk" for now.

Sadly, I am starting to believe that there is open territory for a young sow or even two - which may be why an almost-adult sow is moving into the area. Two years ago, we delighted in watching the antics of Cinnamom with her two cubs and Mabel with her single cub. So far, I have not seen either of those sows this year. Healthy sows have cubs every 2 years so this year should be a cub year for both of them. I'm holding out hope that they may still appear but I'm also realistic. It's not easy for a bear to live a long life in such close proximity to their worst enemies - humans.

Here is a video of Mohawk taking baths and marking the tree. Notice that she carefully uses her paw to rub her face while bathing. She also rubbed her face on a pine cone. I think she had an itchy face!

I will be sharing more footage from a different pool in the near future. Not only did Tiny the Bear soak in it but a hawk, owl, and a mountain lion visited it! These pools are fountains of life for the wildlife in the summer.

Happy Summer!

The Return of the Big Bears

While we had fun in the desert...

The bears were waking up back home. Our big male bears were starting the mating ritual of marking certain special trees to tell receptive females that they were back in town.

For those who have followed this blog in past summers, you might remember "Tiny", one of the biggest males in our neck of the woods.

In fact, he's so big that he almost was too tall for my camera set-up. He was vigorously rubbing his back on a small pine tree. It's a tree that bears have marked every spring and summer for a long time.

These "chosen" trees never grow to full size because the bears break off the top of them every year.

A few days later, another key male bear showed up. I believe this is "Milton Jr.", based on the white blaze on his chest that you'll be able to see when he's on his hind legs. I call him "Jr." because he's a bit smaller than another very similar looking male who usually shows up a little later in the season.

See the white blaze?

He's always been a "creative" tree marker, using his paws a lot to rub branches across his fur, thereby getting his scent on even more of the tree.

I think he spotted the trail camera here. He looked straight at it as he marked.

I felt so happy when I knew that both Tiny and Milton Jr. had survived another year and returned to their stomping grounds.

Then, just yesterday, Tiny marked the same tree again.

He is an incredible specimen, so tall and strong.

He showed us the sole of his hind paw as he walked away from the tree.

Unfortunately, the video cameras that I'd set up before our trip, pointed at bear marking trees, all malfunctioned, primarily due to a vandal who messed with them. They're now back in position and ready to capture the next dances by these bears and the females who will soon join the parade.

Although the mountain weather has been dismal (rainy/snowy and cold for weeks), I still have an extra spring in my step knowing that the bears are starting their yearly ritual that is such fun to monitor with trail cameras!!

Valentine's Day from a Bear's Perspective

Since it's Valentine's Day, our Blogville Mayors have asked us to post something related to wildlife and this holiday. Because bears have the most visible patterns of mating and raising their young, I thought that I'd tell you about what I've observed of bear mating season and cub raising.

Every spring, I look forward to the love parade by the bears during their mating season in May and June. The male bears vigorously mark certain trees along a bear trail, going up on their hind legs and rubbing their backs on the trees.

Here's a series of photos of a young male bear marking one of the "bear trees" during mating season.

Then, other bears sniff the tree, getting information about who has been marking the tree.

Females who are looking for a mate follow the scent trail laid down by a male bear like the one shown above. Some evidence shows that females choose their mates rather than vice versa. So, a female who liked the scent on this tree might follow the male bear until she finds him.

If you want to see a video of bears marking trees, I have made a few. Here's a link to one of them.You can look through my YouTube account to see more.

After mating, female bears start eating, almost continuously, for the rest of the summer. If they are fat and healthy when they go into a den, the fertilized egg develops into a fetus that is born in January.

One of our local female bears, who I've watched for years, is due to have cubs this winter. If I'm lucky, I'll capture photos of her with her tiny cubs in early spring. Four years ago, I was lucky. First she walked to the east with her cubs (one is lagging behind).

Here's the lagging one. Actually, he showed a streak of independence all summer so some readers dubbed him "Rebel".

And then, a minute later, she walked back to the west with her cubs. This time, Rebel stayed close.

Raising cubs is not an easy task for a mother bear. Cubs can't walk far early in the spring and are very vulnerable to predators. So the mother often sends them up a "babysitting tree". Around here, that tree might be a tall Ponderosa Pine. Then, she somehow tells them to stay there, and she goes out foraging on her own.

This is the same sow, hours later. She must have left her cubs in a tree.

Female bears stay with their cubs for about 18 months so they den with their cubs the next winter. I was lucky enough to find a den with a mother and two yearling cubs a few years ago. I placed a trail camera outside their den and got priceless photos of the mother and yearlings playing at the mouth of the den in the spring.

After the yearlings and mother leave the den, they stay together for another month or so. Then the mother sends the yearlings off on their own, and she embarks on finding a mate for her next litter of cubs.

I can't wait to see the bears emerge. I love seeing who has new cubs and who is on the mating trail. Bears are my favorite animals!!!!

Happy Valentine's Day! This was Shyla's Valentine's Dance that she did recently.

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!

A bear cub with big aspirations!

I want to share some bear footage with you. But first, it seems that the bears love to be out around sunset, and so do we! Whenever Shyla is panting and picks up an interesting scent (maybe a bear?), she sticks her tongue out while she sniffs. It's cute, don't you think?

In the bear video, we have a very rambunctious male bear. He visited a tree on multiple occasions, and each time, he marked it at least 4 times. On one occasion, I believe that he had a mate with him, because a large animal blocked the camera for an instant just after the male had walked away.

Be sure to watch to the end. The mother, Mabel, and her single cub visited the same tree after the big male. The fact that the mother was on the mating trail concerns me slightly. It's possible that the hormonal effect of nursing by one cub has not been enough to make her unavailable for mating this year. If she meets a male bear and they mate, the consequences for the tiny cub could be very rough. Mabel could lose track of the cub since the male won't let the cub hang around...

But, for the moment, they're together! As you'll see, this tiny cub has huge aspirations! I've never seen this from a cub before. You can watch the video here or at Youtube.

Bearly Spring

The bears are starting to move around our forest, although much later than in recent years. Last year, bear mating season had been fully underway for weeks by this time.

Recently, this big male bear was intrigued by my trail camera. He probably smelled me and the camera, and he saw the soft red glow of the infrared lights on the camera.

First, he sniffed near the camera...

Then, he turned to peek at the camera. Can you see how timid he is, despite his huge size?

He contemplated the oddity of my trail camera for a moment...

And then decided to depart.

I enjoyed seeing the curiosity and a touch of timidness in the eyes of this bear. People tend to think of bears as ferocious creatures while the majority of them are actually quite cautious and would prefer to avoid humans.

Don't worry, he did not fear the camera, and he walked past it calmly again later that night. Indeed, he was heading for a bear marking tree where he put on a good dance, rubbing his back against the tree to attract females.This year's late spring seems to have slowed the females from emerging from hibernation. I have only captured a few photos of smaller, perhaps female, bears. I've captured no cub photos yet.

Here is the big bear's dance in video. You can view it here or at Youtube.

Seeing the photos of the activity here at home, it's so very hard to believe that we were in the desert, far away from bears, just before the bear danced.

I'll resume my desert stories soon.