Our Bear Cubs are Huge!

I promised yesterday that I'd show you video of how big the cubs from the den have become all of a sudden!

I think that their growth spurt is due to the incredible bounty of bear food that we have this year. The berry crop is overwhelming. Bear scat on the trails is bright red from the berries. The bears must be super happy.

It has been hot recently so the bears have gravitated to water holes, where they often like to soak and cool off. I captured footage of our den family at a watering hole on 8/3. As I watched the video for the first time, I thought that I was seeing yearling cubs because the youngsters have become so big very quickly.

I compiled all the bear visits to that watering hole over the past few weeks into a video. If you're just interested in the den family, then watch the opening clip because that's where the family is.

I didn't include the myriad other animals who have drunk from that watering hole, including multiple moose, deer, bobcats, and mountain lions. It's a popular place when the weather is hot and dry like it's been recently.

You can watch the video either here or at Youtube.
I promise to get back to other subjects besides bears, starting tomorrow!

Our Bear Family - A cub rescue by Mom

I captured video the other day showing just how well our bear cub family is doing now. Mom looks fat and healthy, and the cubs are huge! It's so much fun to have followed them from the day of their birth until now.

Today, I'm sharing a bit more of the footage from the den. This footage was from 4/25/16. The cubs had stayed up the entire previous night playing in the den. By 5AM, they were outside the den again, playing and exploring. Just in case I have any sticklers for detail reading this, please note that all times are Standard Time because I couldn't go to the cams to change the time when we switched to DST. That's why it was light at 5 AM (MST).

The cubs were trying to expand their world, venturing further from the den entrance by climbing on the piles of fallen trees all around their den. When my friend and I visited to the den for the last time in March, we guessed that the cubs would start going above the den so we placed a trail cam there. It captured the panic of the little black female cub when she wasn't sure how to get down to the den entrance.

During this mini-crisis, you'll be able to hear both cubs screaming (the chocolate one was hanging onto his mom's leg during the rescue) and you'll be able to hear the soft grunts of their mom, trying to verbally calm them.

Getting a glimpse into such intimate bear family life is a gift. After you see how mom nurtured and protected her cubs from the beginning, you can understand why she stands her ground against all threats to her cubs later in the summer. One summer, this same sow ("Mabel") bluff charged me numerous times when I accidentally rode into the middle of the family. She escorted me away from the tree where the cubs were stashed, while bluff charging me at least 10 times, slapping her front paws on the ground, and snorting. I knew that I'd be fine as long as I walked calmly away from the cubs - which I did!

Here's the video of the cub rescue way back on 4/25/16, when the family was still living in and around the den. You can watch it here or at Youtube.
Tomorrow, I hope to show you footage of the family from a few days ago. At first, I thought that the cubs were yearlings because they have suddenly grown so fast! It makes me smile!

More Bear Den Fun and Games

Today, I am sharing another installment of the bear family at their den in late April. That was the time frame when the cubs became mobile. They weren't climbing big trees yet but they seemed to love playing with each other and "bouldering" on the small rocks and fallen trees near the den entrance.

The cubs have absolutely incredible energy levels!

I can see what a big difference it makes to have a sibling. Several sows in our neck of the woods have only one cub this year. I bet that being a bear mom is a lot harder with a solo cub!

The cubs did not only play during the day. They played all night too! They'd take short naps when my cams would pick up no activity but then start again within an hour or so. Here they were at 11:30 at night!

The chocolate male cub was working on pulling himself up onto a branch while his sister watched.

Poor mom got no sleep. She stayed in the den with her eyes open all the time that the cubs played at night.

I am including a video to show the cubs playing. It also shows mom taking a walk and coming back with a single pine branch. It seemed bizarre to see her carefully pull the branch into the den with her. I've always thought that the floor of the den looks like a very hard surface to spend an entire winter lying on. There's not much forest duff to drag into the den to make a soft bed. But I hardly think that one pine branch would help much!

You can watch the video here or at Youtube. Enjoy!

A wild afternoon in April at the bear den

I'm spending one afternoon per week going through the 150 GB of footage from the bear den this spring. April 24th was a day of constant play with careful supervision by mom. I already showed you some footage from earlier that day.

I liked this part of the footage because the video shows the sincere respect the cubs have when mom tells them to "behave themselves". From the video that is in this post, I know that mom was reprimanding the chocolate cub at this instant.

The chocolate cub, a male, leaned backwards away from her, obviously a tiny bit scared of her very understated wrath.

After the chocolate cub went off to play, the black cub (who I think is a female), snuggled up to mom's snout. The black cub was usually the wild one (and the "troublemaker" as one of you said) but not during the footage from around 3 PM on 4/24.

At this point, the bear family still had a few more snowstorms standing between them and leaving the den a month later. Also, it is critical that the cubs are agile climbers when they leave the den. As you'll see in future installments, the cubs started climbing tall trees in May, getting ready for the day that their mom led them off into the forest.

I hope that you enjoy the video. I sure am loving watching the clips and getting a secret glimpse into the lives of a bear family. I suspect that this past winter will be one that I remember for a very long time due to the bear family!

You can watch this video at Youtube if there's a problem with it here.

P.S. Do you have ideas for names for the male chocolate cub and probably female black cub?

Bear Den Footage After the Escape of the Cubs from the Den

Today, I am sharing a video of the days after the cubs "broke out of the den" for the first time on 4/10/16. They were quite uncoordinated at that time and spent hours trying to climb on tiny rocks and branches.

Then, a huge snowstorm hit on 4/16 and 4/17, dropping 4' of snow on our area. The den was completely buried, and the bears stayed under the snow for four days.  You might remember this photo of Shyla trying to gallop in the snow on 4/17.

Finally, on 4/21, the cubs dug their way to the surface of the snow. It was amazing to see how much coordination they'd gained in those days under the snow. After re-emerging, they could pull themselves up onto higher trees and even play with each other!

Here's the video. It is available here or at Youtube.

I hope that you enjoy the footage as much as I did. I had to pare it way down to make it a manageable length for you!

Almost Wordless Wednesday - Bear Den Bonanza

I ventured to the bear den today for the first time since early March. I am SO glad that I waited. The family didn't depart until 11 days ago. Here's just a small sample of the 150 GB of footage that I captured. I have lots of video but it will take time to sort through it!

Family portrait

Mom "talks to" the mischievous one while other looks on

Now you listen to me youngster (black cub is upside down)!

The most awkward nursing position I've ever seen!

Dancing!

The Cub Duo - with the same colors as our Labraduo!

Newborn Bear Cubs!!!

I finally found uninterrupted time to put together a video to show the exciting action at the bear den.

All through the winter until 1/14, the bear ate snow only twice, both times by reaching her head outside the den to take a bite or two of the snow on the ground.

On 1/14, things changed. She began eating snow at least once per day. She wiggled so that her head reached further outside the den, day by day.

Then, on 1/30, she was a restless bear. Her head was visible in the den entrance almost all day.

She ate snow many times. Twice, she walked outside the den. Each walk was only about 6-8 ft in distance but it was an odd departure from her behavior earlier in the winter.

On the night of 1/30, she seemed not to sleep. She looked outside the den, and seemed to toss and turn until our last video clip at around 11 PM. After that, she was deep in the den, and there were no visible movements to trigger the cams.

The next morning dawned with incredible winds. The tree holding the cams swayed in the wind, which triggered a cam to record video and audio. The audio told the story - cubs had been born, probably very early in the morning of 1/31!!!!!

You can watch the video here or at Youtube. Make sure that your sound is turned ON!!! The bawling of the cubs tells you the most exciting part of the story!

I don't know when we'll get to see the cubs for the first time. Their mom was impregnated last May or June. The cells divided a few times, and then remained in suspended animation as balls of cells. Because the sow was fat and healthy when she entered the den, the balls of cells implanted in the uterine wall and began to develop into cubs.

The cubs were about 1 pound in weight when they were born. They spend almost all their time latched onto a nipple, nursing. They bawl when they lose their grip on the nipple or are not covered by mom so they get cold.

The sow and cubs will undoubtedly stay near the den into the spring, until the cubs are mobile and can climb trees to flee predators. I'm incredibly excited about getting to watch the cubs via my cams this spring!

Bear Tales

Although it is still raining an extraordinary amount here, full spring seems to have arrived!

Springtime means lots of bear antics. Tiny has been very busy marking trees and marching back and forth on the mating trail.

 Too tall for my camera...

Wriggling his back against the trunk of the tiny sapling.

He was back again, at the same tree, two days later. No other bears had been to the tree between his two markings.

It still astounds me that bears do these goofy dances every spring. No one gets see them, except for my trail cameras!

After that marking, Tiny headed for "the" main marking tree this year. He is a massive bear.

At the main marking tree, something odd had happened. The mother bear, who we've seen once before with her cubs, had marked the tree! In past years, mothers with tiny cubs don't mark these particular trees during mating season.

This was the second very popular tree that my cameras had captured her marking. Tiny, our biggest male, seemed confused by the mother bear's scent. He was the next to come to the tree and spent his entire visit sniffing. A couple of days later, he came back and marked again. I have a video of all the action which you can watch here or at Youtube.

Another note - we haven't yet seen the two matriarchs with cubs yet. They are both on schedule to have cubs this year. I believe that we saw "Mabel" on one occasion, taking a mud bath.

We have not yet seen a glimpse of Cinnamom, the hilarious mother who captivated us with her antics two years ago. I worry about her. She had ear tags which meant that she had a strike against her, probably for going too close to human habitation. The last photo of her was last spring when she was marking trees on the mating trail, looking for a good father for her next cubs. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that we do get to see her again.

Springtime: The Duo and The Bears

Recently, I had both halves of the Duo for a morning mountain bike ride.

We had lots of fun playing atop Hug Hill.

And, later that day, a chocolate and a black bear cub played nearby. Their colors reminded me of Shyla and R.

It turned out to be a big day of bear activity. My trail cameras monitored a large male bear, probably Tiny, who walked about 5 miles in the afternoon, marking trees along the way. I made a video of his travels that you can watch here or at Youtube.

There's some true video in this one so it's fun to watch (at least, for me!).

Happy Springtime!

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.

Good Morning & Bears

Shyla and I have not practiced "tricks" almost all summer because we've done agility instead. However, our agility course has been "snowed in" for the past week so we've been back to tricks!

Shyla waved good morning to everyone at sunrise today. These are three rapidfire photos of her wave!

After her "good morning" wave, we headed up high to survey the mountains. Winter has arrived there!

With winter taking hold, it's not surprising that I am not getting many photos or videos of our bears these days. However, the other day, I rode to a trail camera that is waaaay out in the hinterlands, and I discovered some new bear video! In late September, Cinnamom and her cubs passed a spring where they used to wallow in the hot weather.

For contrast, I first included a clip from mid-August, when the cubs looked little. Then, I added the clip from a month later. The first bear to appear in that clip looked like an adult to me, until Cinnamom appeared in the video. The cubs have grown immensely but they're still small compared to their mother!

Also, notice the weary gait of Cinnamom as she leaves the spring. I think she's getting sleepy!

You can watch the video here or at Youtube.

The cubs will den with Cinnamom this winter, nursing throughout the winter. They'll emerge from the den as a family, staying together until the start of bear mating season in May-June. I hope we see them all together again before family breakup!

Sunsets and Bear Cubs

I've been enjoying summer time with my pups and watching our bears. Here, the Duo watched the sun set with me.

A pair of Night Hawks nest yearly somewhere close to where we watch the sunset. They glide and swoop over our heads, letting out squeaking noises as they snag insects out of the air. The Duo don't seem to notice but I do. K and I watched the nighthawks last summer on many evenings - another good memory. Now I'm making new good memories with the Duo.

This was the view after the sun finally dipped below the mountains. Ah, I love summertime.

In the bear world, mating season has come to an abrupt halt. The reason probably is that their favorite foods are maturing and ripening. It's time for bears to eat and eat and eat. Over the next couple of months, they'll eat 10's of thousands of calories very day. It's rather stunning when I realize that an animal as big as a bear can eat all the calories that s/he needs for an entire year within the course of a couple of months.

Buffalo Berries

As the mating season has ended, the mothers with cubs are emerging from hiding. More than one family has visited this spring but I'll show you just one visit today, saving the other one for another video. Here are the two cubs who we've seen before.

The family first visited the base of a bear marking tree and then moved onto a nearby pool of water fed by a spring. The cubs are very cute! You can watch their activities here or at Youtube.

Since this mother bear is around my area a lot, I'd like to give her a name to make it easier to talk about her. I believe that she's the mother of "Socks", the young bear with black legs and a cinnamon body who we see photos of regularly. Do you have any ideas for a name?

Happy Solstice!

Happy Solstice to everyone. This photo is from sunset last night, which was so very late!

For those of us in the Northern Hemisphere, it means that daylight lasts longer today than any other day of the year. For our friends in the Southern Hemisphere, the tide is turning - your days will now get longer! So, I think it's a good day for all of us.

It's a good day for Shyla, who is feeling better, after her diarrhea stress-reaction to a visit to town earlier this week. She went to my PT clinic with me yesterday, and even though that involved going into town, her tummy is better. Moreover, she seemed very happy at the clinic.

Today, I checked some trail cameras, and I bring good tidings. We have another mother bear in the forest, and this one has two rambunctious cubs.The two cubs were very curious about a bear marking tree that huge males, at least twice as tall as the standing cubs, have marked several times this summer. You can see that the top of the pine sapling is broken off. The adult male bears who mark this tree are taller than the sapling!

The family spent a long time in front of this cam and the one that is pointed at a water hole. I'll have a video of the cuteness soon!

Several of you have asked if I worry about the dogs chasing bears. You might notice in photos that both dogs wear bells. Since we started that tradition almost a decade ago, we've had no close calls with dogs and bears. Even though I am fairly confident that I could call the dogs away from a bear, I'd prefer not to put the bears (and me) through that stress or have the dogs lead a chasing bear back to me. To avoid dog-bear encounters, I also choose the places where I take the dogs very carefully. I've never taken a dog to the place shown in the photos above - I view it as a pristine place for the wildlife.

As I've mentioned in the past, I'm always trying to balance letting my dogs be able to romp with the needs of the wildlife.

Happy Solstice!

P.S. I just learned that today was "Fight like a Frenchie" day for our pal, Benny, a French Bulldog who was just diagnosed with cancer in his liver. We send him and his family the Power of the Paw. To Benny and his family - cherish every day and live it to the fullest - take your inspiration from K, like I did. We're thinking of you.