Mama Bear and her Cub

Throughout this summer and fall, it's been amazing to see the mother bear and cub pair so frequently via my trail cams.

The cub who was so tiny at the start of the summer is looking so big and healthy now! She and her mom recently walked a bear trail in our neck of the woods, giving us a nice view of how big the cub is!

Here was mom as she passed the camera.

This is still mom, a step later.

Then, here is her cub. She is looking SO big!

The camera didn't catch the cub going over the fallen tree but I so enjoyed seeing her healthy!

We now have two bear families intensely using our neck of the woods. The other one is the mother with two cubs. I am hoping so strongly that one of these families chooses the den for this winter that I have staked out with a cam. These cubs will stay with their moms through the winter and early spring. So they will share dens with their moms!

I have some fun footage of the mother bear with the single cub at a water hole. I talked with a biologist about the fact that the bears love this absolutely horrendous smelling water hole so much. As one of you suggested a while ago, the biologist's first guess was that something in the water kills both external (e.g., ticks, fleas) and internal (e.g., intestinal) parasites. That might explain why it seems to be the favorite water hole of our bears every summer.

At this water hole, the bears make sure to get this water all over their bodies, including their heads, whenever they bathe there. You'll see that in the first 3/4 of the video. Then, later that evening, the pair visit a very clean water source. It's fun to see mom stop in a certain spot for a noisy drink, lapping up the cold water, and then her cub imitate her behavior so closely!

Here's the video. I hope that you all enjoy it either here or at Youtube.

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!

Almost Wordless Wednesday

The beauty of this season astounds me.

Wild Roses...

A bear named "Socks" for her black legs who I've known since she was a cub and is now on the mating path... (see post from five years ago when Socks was driven away from her mom). I will show you videos in the coming days showing that Socks will probably be having Tiny's cubs this winter (Tiny is our huge male bear). We are seeing the circle of life from cub to mother.

 But, to my eye, none of the beauty surpasses the happy face of Shyla in a field of wildflowers.

What a time of year!

Happy Summer - Wildflowers and Bears!

Shyla and I have been loving our morning rides through wildflowers galore! However, I don't know what the look on her face in the next photo meant!

While it's still snowy and wintery up in the alpine zone, true early summer has arrived here with so many flowers that it blows my mind.

June is truly one of the best months here, if you're not bothered by the astronomical pollen counts. I get asthma and irritated eyes at this time of year but I wouldn't give up the flowers for anything.

It's also the time of year for bear "family breakup" when mother bears with yearling cubs send them away to live on their own. You might remember that we had a sow and two cubs in our neck of the woods last year. The little black cub got hurt, lost track of his family, and eventually was reunited with them in the fall. I assumed that he'd denned with them. Contrary to what I expected, every trail cam photo of that bear family shows that the black cub is not with the mother and the brown cub.

The mother is marking trees as if she's looking for a mate. It is possible that the black cub already left the family, following his instincts that it was time to go off on his own. However, the chocolate cub is staying close. Very soon, the mother will drive away the remaining cub when she meets a mate. That's the usual pattern, although this cub and mother seem extraordinarily bonded to me. Usually, by the cub's second spring, the cub and mother are not traveling so closely together.

Here's that mother marking a tree with her yearling cub standing behind her. This photo made me laugh.

I hope to have time to share the clips of video that I've captured of this pair this spring.

I love spring-summertime!!!

A Beary Exciting Day

I'm afraid that I must digress from the desert again. Today was pretty exciting.

It didn't start out as a special day. Shyla and I were out for sunrise, both of us sleepy. She broke into a huge yawn just as the sun peeked over the eastern hills.

Then she woke up, alert to the world around her, and glowing in the sunrise light that I love so much.

After she and I had a great snow bike ride together and lots of good training, I left Shyla at home while I went out on my own. I had a special mission today - to check to see if a bear den had any ursine residents this winter.

I hid my bike, and I hiked to the den. I was so pessimistic that I didn't even bring a trail camera just in case there was a bear in the den. I had a little trouble finding the den - it's very well hidden. In fact, I didn't even know that I was standing right in front of the entrance until I turned around and found myself eye-to-eye with a sleepy bear.

Here's what the scene looks like. That's why I didn't know I was in front of the den. The den is in the right-middle of this photo, just to the right of the chewed fallen tree trunk. It is well hidden.

After I saw the bear so close, I may have set a personal best for how high I jumped and how fast I got the heck out of there. I would have never knowingly gone so close.

I went and picked up 2 trail cameras from other sites in the forest, one that shoots video and one that shoots still photos. I loaded them with new batteries and huge memory cards. Then, I very warily went to the den again.

I was nervous. The last bear and yearling cubs who used the den were very passive. The mother never did anything more than "moan" when K and I accidentally found the den for the first time and went too close. However, I know that bear personalities are as varied as human ones are so this bear might be very different from the first mother bear who I saw in the den back in 2010 (see the video at the end of that post that shows the bears playing).

All went well as I mounted the two cameras, aiming them as well as I could without walking near the den. They are both now functioning, waiting for the bear(s) to come outside the den. The last time the den was used, the mother bear came out about once every 3 weeks to eat snow and pee.  Then, in the spring, she and her cubs laid out in front of the den entrance and played incredibly cutely!

Here was what the adult bear looked like when I first saw the den in 2010. I didn't take any photos today but today was almost identical. The bear today was oriented exactly the same way, with one eye on me, just like 6 years ago.

At one point today after I finished setting up the trail cameras and was about to depart, the bear did lift his/her head and snorted. I took that as my signal to go far away as fast as I could. I did that, and the bear didn't make any more sounds as I retreated. I then sat silently at a viewpoint far away to see if the bear stirred. It did not. Thank goodness I didn't scare him/her too much.

Back in 2010, I saw ONLY one bear, the mother, all winter long. She was always at the front of the den blocking a view of anything behind her. It's a deep rock den with lots of room. In March, I learned that she'd had two yearling cubs behind her all winter long! Here was a first glimpse of one of them.

And here was the whole family out in front of the den in March 2010. The cubs (on the left) were frisky but the mom looked stern a lot of the time.

The play of the two cubs was hilarious. In this photo, one was lying on his back with his paw pad up in front of the other cub's nose.

Based on the one warning snort I got today, I don't think I'll be peeking in the den, even from a distance, again. However the trail cameras will tell us what is going on whenever a bear comes out of the den!!!

I think that 2016 is going to be a very special year! Perhaps I'll make it my Year of the Bear!

Winter Wednesday

Today winter really began.

And the Duo was ecstacic.

364 Days ago, last winter began. On that day, Tiny the Black Bear walked westward toward his den. Notice the -11°F temperature in the upper right of the photo.

A short time later, he was even more covered in frost.

Those were the last photos of him until May of this year. He must have snuggled into a den almost immediately after he passed my trail cameras.

I wonder if Tiny is walking to his den now. I've noticed that some bears time their walk toward their dens almost to the day, every single year.

Life in the Forest - Bones, Dogs, Bears, and Bobcats

As you know, we spend lots of time in the forest with our dogs. It's a wild forest, with all sorts of wildlife, including predators. Consequently, we often find parts of prey near trails, where animals have left them after finishing all the meat. Elk legs are the most common find, and an elk leg creates a bothersome distraction every time we pass it with our dogs. So, we and other dog owners tend to hang elk legs in trees so that our dogs can't reach them.

Yes, even sweet Shyla will leave a "heel" to enjoy the company of an elk leg for a while. Don't be fooled by her serious expression!

Recently, Shyla noticed an elk leg that someone else had hung in a tree right next to a trail that we use regularly. In fact, Shyla was standing on her hind legs trying to reach the leg - a first for her. When I checked what she was up to, even I could smell the elk leg. It was very fresh.

So, I decided to try an experiment. I hung the stinky elk leg in a secluded clearing where I have trail cameras pointed at a tree.

Within hours, a bear was checking it out. You can barely see the elk leg about 1-2' above the bear's head. This bear was Dot, our youngish sow, and she couldn't reach the leg. That tells me that she's shorter than I am - so she's really not a big bear yet. If she'd wanted to, she could've climbed the tree but she gave up after unsuccessfully stretching to reach the elk leg.

Two days later, a bobcat showed up, very interested.

He sniffed the bone on the ground (this area sometimes seems like a huge bone yard).

Rapidly, his attention was on the elk leg in the tree, which is far fresher than the bone on the ground. He leaped up onto the tree trunk.

I was surprised to see him cling to the tree for an extended period while he checked out the elk leg.

Then he lowered himself to the ground and walked off.

His departure...

I was worried about having lured him into the tree and whether he'd hurt himself when he jumped down. My first tenet of watching wildlife is not to hurt them in any way! But then I saw another photo of him nearby, walking quickly and very nimbly. I think it was a routine leap for him.

Since then, I've placed a video trail camera pointed at the elk leg, hoping to get a better view of the bobcat actually leaping. Unfortunately, no animals have tried to investigate the elk leg since then.

Neither has Shyla. I'm glad for that. We've had some notable interactions with elk legs with every generation of our dogs. Usually, our dog is lying on the ground about 20 yards away gnawing on the elk leg, and I'm freaking out because I can't see where the camouflaged dog is. Acadia, K, and Shyla all did this to me. Now, every interesting animal bone gets hung in a tree!

That way, our dogs can't use their natural coloring to trick us when they're very nearby quietly enjoying a bone!

I hope you're enjoying your weekend. I've had a really big setback with my neck with the worst pain I've had in a long time. If I don't post on any day in the near future, it's just because I can't handle being on the computer. I'm still holding out hope that it will ease up on its own.

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.

A Bear Family Saga

You might remember, back in May, that my trail camera spotted a mother bear and two cubs. One cub was chocolate and the other was black.

One very cool thing was that we watched this mother bear back when she was a yearling cub, separating from her mother. She has distinctively dark leg fur compared to her cinnamon body so I dubbed her "Socks". Her mother has disappeared (since last fall) so it's a consolation that her daughter, Socks, is carrying on the tradition. Female offspring, like Socks, always stay close to where they were born.

After that May sighting, Socks and her cubs were invisible from my trail cameras until August. In early August, a black cub appeared on a trail cam's video, limping very badly. No other bears, like his/her mom or sibling, appeared. You'll see that video as part of the larger video below.

I didn't want everyone else to worry like I was so I didn't share the injured cub video. I also didn't share the photos that I captured of Socks with one cub, the chocolate one, later in August.

 Here, they sniffed a tree together.

And, here, they sniffed another bear marking tree together.

I kept hoping that maybe the little black cub was just outside the view of the camera... but, then, even I started to lose hope in that possibility. I'd captured photos of them at 4 different sites, and the black cub was never with them.

Yesterday, I made a video combining all the trail camera footage of this family, and I ended it by expressing the hope that the little black cub would show up again. He sure looked spunky, despite his injury, in the early August video. I planned to share that video today.

But first, this morning, I decided to go to a popular bear hang-out to make one more check of whether the black cub had showed up. GUESS WHAT!!!! He did. He is still limping but he's weighting his bad limb (back right) a bit, and he wasn't using it at all on August 6. He's a couple of miles from his mom and sibling but he's within his mom's territory. There is still a chance that the family will reunite before they hibernate.

I don't have any great insight about what happened to his limb or how the family got separated. My first guess is always "hit by a car". However, I suppose that a predator or wandering dog could have hurt him. Perhaps he simply couldn't keep up with his mom after his injury, and she lost track of him. Those are all guesses. We'll probably never know what actually happened.

Without further ado, here is the video! If you have trouble viewing it here, you can watch it at Youtube.

I promise to keep you updated on any further glimpses of this family!!!

Lovely Summer!

In the summer, I eat breakfast on our deck, with Shyla snoozing by my side. I love July because I watch the Flycatcher parents industriously catching insects and then flying under the deck to feed their nestlings.

They always keep an eye on me before they take the snack to their youngsters. I think that they'll be doing this for another week or so before the youngsters take their maiden flights.

It's a banner year for insects after all the rain. I think that the early part of nesting was very tough for the Flycatcher couple but the current part is probably incredibly good with the swarms of insects down near the ground (but not so plentiful up as high as the deck, thank goodness).

The insects are enjoying the riot of wildflowers with gusto.

And so are Shyla and I. I've never seen so many Mariposa Lilies in my life. Entire sections of meadow are covered in them. In the next photo, they are the white flowers with yellow centers all around Shyla. Most years, I feel lucky if we see a few!

Today, as we rode, I remembered the drought 3 years ago. We had almost zero wildflowers, and forest fires were breaking out all around us. I think I like having at last some rain!

The bears do too, although I know that some of their most common food crops were destroyed during the cold and rainy/snowy weather of May.

This is a new bear who has been around for a couple of weeks. She's been marking trees and swimming. Due to the small white dot on her chest, I thought I'd call her "Dot". I'm hoping that she's making this area her home territory because I am now convinced that something happened to our two matriarchs, Mabel and Cinnamom, and they probably won't be seen again.

Based on the way that bears divide up territories, I'm guessing that this female is the daughter of one of the two matriarchs. Usually, the females make their homes very close to where they were born. Here's Dot at the same tree, three days later.

I hope to find time to make a video about her exploits sometime soon!