Spring Bear Action

There's a bear-marking tree that I've been monitoring for a couple of years. It's been mangled down to really just one vertical stick with only tiny branches over the years but the bears still use it.

One of the recently independent cubs visited early this season, all by herself.

Next, the biggest bear in the forest, "Tiny", visited. What a contrast!

Another adult bear...

Then, Tiny again...

This is another contrast. The next bear was the second-biggest bear in our forest, Milton.

Like past years, Milton vigorously marked the tree.

I thought he was going to fall over backwards.

He seemed to notice the camera!

A little more than 12 hours later, Tiny was back to answer Milton.

Because this tree is so mangled and stunted by all the marking it receives, Tiny can't even stand up fully while marking it.

Then, a couple of days later, our yearling cub was back again. She climbed the tree so she could sniff the top of it.

It seems that there was lots of info there... she kept sniffing.

Then, she descended gracefully...

She did a funny little bipedal movement, almost like a dance.

And departed. I am rooting for this little sow so much. I hope she grows up to be one of the mother bears in our forest.

Happy Springtime!

Dog Bells and Bears

Many of you have commented in the past about the bells on our dogs' collars. We first started having our dogs wear bells after Puppy K met a bear. And, she chased the bear out of the forest directly toward us. Fortunately, the bear veered away from us, and K didn't. So, the incident ended there. However, we decided that it would be kind to the wildlife to have our dogs wear bells that would warn all the animals, not just the bears, that we were moving in their direction.

The bear action around here gets pretty intense in the summer. It's just starting to heat up now. Here's a series of photos that made me smile.

First, a youngish bear sniffed a bear tree. This bear might be "Socks", the young bear who we followed 3 years ago after "seeing" her be driven off by her mother at the start of mating season (via trail camera). She literally walked in circles for days on end, passing my trails cameras repeatedly. Then, she disappeared for most of her first summer on her own. We saw her again last summer, and her dark legs ("socks") were fading. I suspect that this is the same bear, whose legs are getting more cinnamon every year (I would bet that Cinnamom is her mother!).

After sniffing the tree that other bears have marked in past years, she decided to do a dance, a tree-marking!!! I love seeing this. Look at how she pulled down a higher branch to rub on her head, so her scent would be on more of the tree!

After marking the tree, she sniffed the rock. You can see her face looks a little mottled - as if she's lost some fur from it. It's quite common for bears to get a mild case of mange while hibernating because their immune systems are not as active as usual. Apparently, their bodies win the battle with the mange soon after they become active in the spring.

Then, she departed.

Just 15 minutes later, another young bear arrived at the same tree. S/he stood up to sniff the scent left by Socks. This bear's coat looks gorgeous!

After sniffing, he put his nose to the ground and started following Socks, as you can see in the next photo.

About ten minutes later, he came running back at top speed. He's in a full gallop in this photo. I suspect that Socks wasn't happy to see him and drove him away.

As you'll see in the future, these two bears are small compared to the ones who will be marking these trees when mating season begins in earnest. Soon, the mature bears will be on this trail, trying to find each other for mating season.

I'm glad our dogs wear bells now. We've never had another encounter like Puppy K's bear chase since we started having our dogs wear bells! I think it's good for our dogs, preventing them from getting hurt. But, it's also good for the bears - because our dogs could cause harm to a cub (like causing him to fall while trying to climb a tree to escape them), especially in the early part of the summer.

A Bear Break

I am heading off to bear-land, to learn all about the behavior of wild bears. I hope to blog a bit while I'm gone but I'm not certain that I'll be able to.

Around here, it seems that bear mating season is winding down. Here was the last series of photos of a male and female together. First, the female emerged from behind my trail camera. She sniffed the tree that all the males have been marking.

She didn't stay for long, before ambling off to the right. On her heels, our "new" male emerged from behind my camera.

He sniffed and then walked while rubbing his fur against the tree.

Then, he marked a tree that I've never seen marked before. It's been interesting having this "new" male around - he's been creating new bear marking trees all along this route. I've always wondered how and why new bear trees are designated - and now I think that it may occur when new males show up.

He didn't stay at that tree for long. You can see how he swung his hind legs out in a "cowboy walk" as he headed away from the new tree.

Then, he stood tall to mark the tree that most bears rub against.

In this series of markings, unlike previous ones, the bear didn't grab the branches higher than his head to rub them against his back or even bite at the branches above his head. Some of you guessed that the bear might do that to leave his scent higher on the tree and thus make other bears think that he's bigger. That seems like a great guess to me!

If that's true, they probably all think that the cub who visited recently is the biggest bear in town!

This "bear break" will be the first time that I've been away from Shyla since her arrival. I'm going to miss her and the rest of my pack but the experience should be worth it!

With Shyla in particular, the prospect of being away from her has made me realize how close we've become. That's a wonderful realization after a very tough year.

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.

The intriguing scents, including bears

We hung out at our sunset lookout point yesterday, with Shyla looking mellow.

Then, she caught a scent. First, her mouth closed and her eyes squinted.

Next, her nose went straight into the air, fully committed to sniffing.

We were on a plateau where she could have been smelling all sorts of wildlife. She sure loved it!

Bear mating season is underway so Shyla certainly could've smelled a bear. This year's bear mating season is unusual in our neck of the woods, with two strong and assertive male bears patrolling the area but very few eligible females around.

The two males are Milton, the long-term top bear in the area who has a serious limp, and another new male bear. They both look about the same size but the new bear isn't hampered by a limp.

I caught video of them each visiting a bear marking tree within five minutes of each other. When I saw the video, I became concerned that they might have confronted each other and fought. I was able to get a glimpse of what happened thereafter from my other trail cameras.

You can watch the video here or at Youtube.

I thought that it was interesting that Milton followed the new bear despite his obvious limp and pain. Yet, based on my trail cameras posted in the direction that they traveled, the new bear left the established bear route (perhaps to avoid Milton) while Milton continued to patrol what has been "his" territory for years. I sure hope that Milton recovers - I still think that his limp looks bad. 

Some of you asked about the territory sizes of bears, given how far apart I've observed the same male bear within a day. Apparently, male black bears will "patrol" a mating territory of up to 10-15 miles in diameter. Thus, the fact that I sometimes get photos of the same male bear at sites 6-7 miles apart within a day is not too surprising.

Within one male bear's mating territory, usually there are numerous female bears, like we saw in my area last year. This year seems to be different - either due to mortality of the females or because they have young cubs and aren't breeding this year. I'm very curious to see how this bear season evolves.

Ah, how I love summertime, and bears are one of my favorite parts. Of course, I love the beauty as well...  The Pin Cherries are in blossom and will later be a good bear food!

See Beautiful: Dogs, Sunsets, Flowers, and Bears

As many of you know, I find incredible beauty in my dogs and in nature. For "See Beautiful", I'll share a few of the beautiful things that I've witnessed recently, from my Duo at sunset, to wildflowers, to natural bear behavior. I know that many people are afraid of bears - but I find them to be the most beautiful souls among our wildlife.

The two pups and I enjoyed a sunset hike recently, bathing in the soft sunlight at the end of the day. They both looked equally enthralled with a scent near the start of the hike.

Then, Shyla told R a secret. I'm not sure what it was but R had a mischievous look in his eyes.

We made it to our sunset lookout point in time to see the sun barely dip below the Divide.

And, then, the sun slipped lower, and the light faded as the Rocky Mountains blocked it.

On top of the smoke in the air from the horrific fire south of us, our pine trees have decided to release their pollen, right now! When I look into the distance, I can literally see waves of green pollen blowing off the trees. If I touch a tree, I get fine green particles all over me. It affects me mildly, giving me a sore throat and some asthma. R is our worst allergy sufferer. He gets itchy all over and can get secondary infections from skin, ear, and eye irritation. He's on his allergy meds now, and they seem to be working so far, even though I can see a layer of pollen stuck to his outer fur.

Tis the season! I won't complain. We have glorious flowers and wonderful cooler weather. Here's a close-up of an Iris petal - like a landing strip for pollinating insects!

And, my favorite animals, the black bears, are delighting me with their antics. They are marking trees, and the mother and her single cub are playing in front of my cameras. It will be interesting to see what happens with that mother because, sometimes, nursing one cub is not enough to prevent a bear sow from going into estrus. Then, odd scenarios occur - some sad and some interesting. In the best case scenario, the mother will mate but also stay with her cub from this year. So far, although the mother has been on the "mating route" where the marking trees are, she hasn't expressed interest in them.

Here's a video that includes both tree-marking and the mother-cub pair playing in a ditch filled with water. I'm discovering that this ditch is very popular, and I repositioned the camera so that future videos will be looking down at the water from a high view.

You can watch the video here or at Youtube.

On the bear front, one thing is worrying me. Our main male, Milton, has had a serious limp for almost 2 months. I haven't captured a trail camera photo of him in about two weeks, which is unprecedented during bear mating season. I am concerned that he might have been supplanted by the big male who you saw in the video. To be honest, I'm a little concerned about whether Milton is still alive. I'll be watching my cameras for a glimpse of him.

Bear foods are progressing too. These are chokecherry blossoms, which will turn into berries after they are pollinated. They are a favorite food of bears!

I hope that you've seen the summertime beauty in this post that I feel. I am awed by the gorgeous world around me.

This is part of the See Beautiful Blog Hop, sponsored by our friend Sugar.