black bear

A large male bruin taking a dip in the garden pond.

This busier was signing it's territorial post, one of our telephone poles. You'll notice that I have rapped them with wire over the years so there's less damange.

Walking around the pond, which was very low. I think it decided not to take a dip.

Well, you are on my driveway. This bad boy has some serious battle scars.

This is a fairly large male. I've had to wrap the utility poles along the driveway over the years to protect them from to much biting by these males. They use them as sign post, declaring this is my territory.

It's a small pond along side the driveway. The bears like taking a dip on hot days or when their injured.

This large male is one of the 3500 bears we have in our state. These bears along with eastern Penn. are said to be the largest in the world of this species. Males commonly get up to 700 lbs. Not sure of the kilo's. lol

The Black Bears that live in the Whistler, BC area of Canada are mainly berry and other plant eaters. This year because of the draught the berry crop had run out about 3 weeks before we were there which brought the bears out to roadside on a lightly traveled road in the valley. They were eating...

This is probably a male because of its size. They seem to love taking a dip in our pond on a warm day.

I think you can make out a couple of these flies, and they can bite.

just like our dog does it....

We had some record temps this past week, and this bear knows that our pond is fed by cool spring water.

Here he's not only rubbing scent on the pole but as I watched him I would swear he was scratching his back against the wire. I've recently learned that males are hard to photograph since they are so secreative. The reason we see so many males is the placement of our home. It just happens to...

Another male, but this one untagged and the largest so far, about 500 lbs. This is one of our 5 telephone poles going up to the house. Many years ago I found that I had to wrap them with wire to protect them some what from the males chewing them down. They use these as sign posts to warn...

When the cub finally ran into the woods the mother followed in a hurry. Ten minutes later she returned alone and decided to take a swim in our pond.

This is the cub in front being chased, very slowly but with determination. The mothers body language must play a role. When she got to close to the cub it would run further ahead.

This bear was showing aggression toward the second year cub in our front yard. Probably the mother booting her young to independence. She will now have new cubs this winter.

A better look into the eyes, but if you look between his ears I think you will find a very large wound that had healed. Most likly from a fight. Last year Jersey had a bear hunt and they took about 600. It was the first hunt in 5 years or so and usually the hunt is heavily protested.

The last one that took a dip in the pond was larger and had a wound from probably a fight with this guy. Though a bit smaller, 500-600 lbs, in much better shape. Mating season is just about over and this guy will probably roam far and wide and not be back till time to hybernate.

On a recent road trip little ways north of the Arctic Circle this black bear was in the middle of the road. I jumped out to take some photos, instead of running away he just kept coming towards me. He got too close for my 500mm lens and just barely fit in the frame.

Once this young black bear finished his feast on a ground yellow jacket (wasp) nest (If you look just above his rump you can see where he dug it up), he started up toward us. This was one of my last shots before deciding it was time to leave.

We encountered this fellow while hiking down the laurel falls trail in the Smokeys yesterday. Shortly after this picture he found a ground yellowjacket nest, and dug it up. They were flying all around him trying to sting, and he reacted a couple of times like he got nailed, but it did not stop him.

This guy sat down under one of my pine trees after having rubbed himself on our telephone pole. That bare patch you see is a fresh wound from a recent fight during this mating season. By the size of him I would hate to see the other guy.

This is breeding season here and we will see many bears in May and June. Sorry, this photo should have been very good. Read comment under hummingbird for details