It’s been a long time since we’ve had a bear in the yard. Months have passed. This morning Hailey and Sailor were outside and I heard them both barking. A different bark. I stepped out on the deck and they were at the edge of the yard looking into the woods. At the instant Hailey dashed into the woods and I saw a flash of black go up a tree with Hailey firmly planted at the bottom of the tree, barking like crazy. The bear was only a few feet up the tree away from her! I called and with a little coaxing she left the treed bear and both dogs came in. I dashed back outside, but the bear was not in the tree anymore.

I walked down into the yard peering into the dense woods as I went. I could hear cracking and snapping of branches. Then I saw it, walking along. I couldn’t tell which bear it was, but it wasn’t huge. I thought to myself, Lynne you’re crazy, get back in the house you fool! I must admit it spooked me a little to be pretty close yet the bear didn’t seem to see me. Back inside I went. I little later I looked out and could see it at the edge of the yard in the dense undercover. I got the binoculars but still could not identity who it was. I am thinking maybe Major since it was all alone and by now Ursa should have abandoned her cubs. And, the cubs know our yard and use it like part of their territory, which it is I guess.

Now that the bears have started to visit again I know all will be well. When they are gone things tend to go wrong.

You must have noticed that there haven’t been any new entries in my Bear Diary. Of course, the minute I set them up with their own blog, they desert me. It’s just that time of year I guess. My neighbor next to me who lives at the end of our cul-de-sac [Aileen] has reported that she has seen them further down the hill and into the forest.

Over the four days or so, another bear has been sighted. First neighbor Aileen saw a large male in her yard and called me up to tell me he was headed my way. I kept the dogs in and watched all windows vigilantly, but no bear. He must have taken a different path. Then, the night before last, our neighbor across the street, Kim, called to tell me the bear had just visited her and was now entering our front yard. Sigh. We didn’t hear the phone call since we were watching a movie, so we didn’t see the bear. Darn those bears anyway!

So, I have hopes of seeing one again soon ...

Here beary-beary ...

Yes, when you least expect them, after more than a week of no bear sightings, they show up tonight when I am not prepared. At around 7:25 pm. Daisy wanted out. Now Daisy is in season and is very near approaching her “alone time out” without the male dogs. Since the bears haven’t been sighted in so long, I didn’t even think about looking in the yard before I let her out. Uhm…not the right thing. She immediately started barking, I looked out to see a bear up a tree and ran to the door to call her back in. I only see one bear so I assume it’s Dorie. Daisy is now squatting to pee in the yard, still barking, but ignoring the bear in the tree. Daisy comes when I call her (alarm resonates in my voice) and she comes in. I run for the camera, but of course the minute Daisy leaves the yard the bear is gone. outta here. Before I ran for the camera I did note that there was more than one bear, so not Dorie, but Ursa plus cubs. Within five minutes it was too dark to do anything but say we’d seen them.

I haven’t seen the bears since a week ago this past Saturday when they surprised us first thing in the morning. Our weather has been pretty nice and spring-like, so I’m sure they’ve been wandering further from home base in order to forage for yummy springtime foods. I have no idea what they’ve been eating. The only thing I’ve seen coming up are these strange aquatic plants in the bog area behind our house, and they don’t look very edible or tasty to me.

Yesterday afternoon I happened to look out the front window. I had seen something out of the corner of my eye. A cub was coming across the yard. At the same time my phone was ringing; it was my neighbor telling me I had bear visitors in my front yard in case I hadn’t seen them. One cub was already up the tree and the other was just now coming. I grabbed my camera and started taking video. I thought I was being clever by taking multiple, short movies instead of just letting the camera run. DUH. Not a good idea. I didn’t realize the camera was busy storing one movie while I thought I was getting some great bear antics. So, I have some nice shots of the floor when I thought the camera was not recording as opposed to great ones when I thought it was recording, but it wasn’t. I think I need a few more lessons in movie mode.

Too bad I missed the best part of their visit. All three bears, including Momma Ursa were up the tree at the same time, then down that tree and raced across the yard to climb another. They were having such fun together as a family unit. But, alas, I missed that part. You’ll just have envision it for yourself and hope they come back again soon. In the meantime I only have this pitiful little clip to share with you.

These photos were taken last week when the bears were pretty active (and we still had snow on the ground!). These were taken with me standing at the edge of our street looking into the woods that border our property. You can get an idea of how far set back the tree is from the road—not very! Second photo is using the zoom lens. That’s Doris all curled up under the tree, by the way.