Sunday, June 20, 2010

Lions and Tigers and Bears, oh my!

Okay, so maybe we don't have any tigers, but we have the lions (mountain-variety) and now the bears. We knew it was inevitable.  I saw some bears playing all over the rock face on the mountain in front of our house.  Locals told us we'd see them -- up close and personal.  But, I was still surprised and a little speechless when I saw this bear stroll right by the kitchen window while I was clearing the dishes from the table.

{Sorry about the blurry photo above, but having a steady hand is a bit difficult when you are face-to-face with a bear.  At least this was my defense to my husband's criticism regarding the out-of-focus shot.  Plus, I was holding my 2 year old son in the other arm.  My dear husband countered that I was inside the house, and therefore, safe.  Thus, his expectation for a National Geographic-quality photo. I told him that I would be more than happy to place all future wildlife photo ops in his capable (and steady) hands.}

He (?) made a beeline to the suet cage that hangs in one of our trees for the birds.  After scoping out the situation for a second or two, he climbed that little aspen tree and snagged his snack.

Oh, that poor aspen! I thought the whole tree was going to give way with the weight of that massive bear.  And the claw marks that he left behind on the trunk -- amazing.
In the end, he left the unopened suet cage full of the suet cake.  I guess he wasn't hungry enough to fiddle around with it.  He promptly gave up and moseyed his way into the trees just beyond our driveway.  I was outside in a flash, taking down our hummingbird feeder and closing the garage (where we have a nearly full trash can).  Perhaps this Papa Bear was on the hunt for his own Father's Day treat?  Unfortunately, he went away empty-handed (empty-pawed?).  Hopefully Mama and Baby Bear had some porridge waiting for him back at the den.  Where I hope he will stay.  Is it hibernation time yet??

2 comments:

  1. Sooo. . . about my upcoming visit, yeah not sure about it anymore. See I just plum ran out of any suet cake to give the bears and I'm afraid they'll "react" if I don't have any on hand!
    YIKES! Were Roo and Rascal excited or a bit nervous when they saw this?

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  2. Well, we thought we would just keep a supply of suet cakes at the entrance of our property. That way, if you encounter any bears on the way up to the house, you can just hurl a suet cake out your car window and make a break for it!! :)

    Unfortunately, Roo was at the store with her Daddy getting coffee (not for her) and doughnuts. So the two of them missed this bear's antics. Mark was soooo bummed, as he's been sitting on our front balcony with binoculars eyeing the mountain for bears. Ha! We certainly didn't need any binoculars to see this fella!

    As for Rascal, he was very excited to see a bear so closely. He spent the entire rest of the morning making growling noises and saying, "Bears, Beets, Badaga gadagiga ("Battlestar Galactica"). :)

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