Bears of Yellowstone National Park: Part IV

Late one morning during my Yellowstone trip I could see up ahead many cars jammed alongside the road. I could see lots of people as well. (It was at a bend in the road and I was able to see through the sparse number of trees as to what was happening). I could see that many people were running or walking fast back down the road in my direction. I guessed it was a bear and that the bear was coming in my direction. So, I parked off the road and waited. Sure enough the Cinnamon Black Bear came toward me and then up this pine tree in search of nuts. Because I was already in position I got some wonderful photos. Here's one of them:

Cinnamon Black Bear

Cinnamon Black Bear -- II

Continuing my story from yesterday. There are two ways to find a Bear at Yellowstone. 1) Get up early and go looking for a Bear, or 2) Get up later and go looking for a lot of cars parked along side the road. I always plan my day to be where I think an animal might be at dawn. By 10:00 am, though, at Yellowstone it's the crowd I look for. (Not always, if you get off the beaten path, you can be alone even in Yellowstone). But, back to my story. After a couple of hours of watching this Cinnamon Black Bear going from tree to tree eating pine nuts, I realized that there were 100 or so people now following the bear, (along with two or three rangers). So I went back to my Jeep, which was now at least a quarter mile back, and drove ahead of the crowd and the Bear. I parked along side of the road about five or six trees ahead of the Bear and waited. About 15 minutes later, the Bear past those five or six trees and arrived at the tree where I was parked. With my Jeep between me and the Bear I took this photo. He's about 10 feet away. He gave me a quick glance and then up the tree for more pine nuts. (If you click on the photo to enlarge, you can see the pupil in his eye).

Cinnamon Black Bear

Cinnamon Black Bear

First, a thank you to new Countries visiting our Blog this past week: Albania, China, Czech Republic, Egypt, Kenya, Latvia, Singapore, Slovenia, South Africa, Sweden, and Vietnam. 

To continue my "5" Star photos, still a few more Black Bears. This time a Cinnamon Black Bear photo taken during the late summer in Yellowstone National Park. As Bears emerge from hibernation they head to areas where there is something to eat. This usually means new vegetation. It also means lower elevation and areas that get the most sun. By fall, all that has changed. They'll stay in lower elevations to forage on berries, but eventually move to higher elevations where their food source is pine nuts. This adult Cinnamon Black Bear was moving from tree to tree eating all the nuts he could find. His paws were covered with "sap" from the trees. You can get an idea of the elevation from the canyon below.

Cinnamon Black Bear

Black Bears in the Chiricahuas - Part IV

Bear #4: Later on Wednesday afternoon, I decided to go back out and give it another try. I was rewarded with another Cinnamon Black Bear. This one was younger, maybe a two year old. And he was more interested in grubs, insects, bugs, etc. as you can see from the first two photos. Every once in a while he would look at me as he is in the next couple of photos. 

Here because of the angle, and because he is turned on himself he looks much smaller -- almost like a cub. But, you can see from his face he is beyond the cub stage.

Finally, I think he said "no more photos", so I said "good-bye" and left him there to finish eating.

Black Bears in the Chiricahuas - Part III

Bear #3: While in the Chiricahua's I stayed at Cave Creek Ranch (highly recommended). Cave Creek Ranch is the premier hummingbird site in the Chiricahua's. (hummingbird photos to come in a few days). Anyway, I got up early Wednesday morning to hike South Fork Cave Creek. By this time the flood had come and gone. It was heartbreaking to see the damage to this incredibly bio-diverse wilderness. The day before it was fire damage, but this day it was the flood damage that seemed most apparent.  About the only birds I saw were Mexican Jays and Acorn Woodpeckers. However, continuing my exploration of the Chiricahua's I came across a Cinnamon Black Bear. This on was also determined to eat the leaves from the small saplings near the road. Therefore I was able to spend quite some time with him taking photos. Here then are photos of Bear #3:

Cinnamon Black Black in Ramsey Canyon

Coronado National Monument, Ash Canyon, Stump Canyon, Miller Canyon, and Carr Canyon (the entire south end of the Huachuca Mountains) remains closed due to the fire and subsequent flooding. Many of the roads and trails are washed out or covered with tons of rock and debris. So, needing someplace to go, I thought Ramsey Canyon (the canyon just north of Carr Canyon) which reopened last week, might become the "recovery" area for bears (and other large mammals displaced by the fire). I was determined to hike as far up Ramsey Canyon (Hamburg Trail) as I needed to find a Bear. I didn't get far. Not 100 yards up the trail from the visitor's center was a Cinnamon Black Bear in a tree. It was probably a two or three year old, maybe 200-250 pounds. What a delight!!! He performed all sorts of acrobatic maneuvers. He was fairly high up in the tree and continued to climb as he ate. As I have seen them before the tree sways while the Bear climbs, but once they get to a feeding point they "settle in," shifting their weight however necessary to stabilize themselves. They eat only moving their arms until all leaves are stripped clean. Then it is a couple feet higher up the tree, swaying, stabilizing, and then eating. I also knew that eventually they would come down the tree. So, I hung out there watching and taking a photo now and then until he came down -- about an hour and a half later. Here then is the series:

Here he is going to cross from one branch to another.

Here is is in the midst of crossing to the other branch.

And here you get a feel for how high up the tree he is.

Coming down the tree.

On the ground -- finally.

A quick look at me.

Off he goes.

Wait, another look at me.

And, finally off and out of sight.

Yellowstone National Park

  

Cinnamon Color bears are actually black bears. This one was going from pine tree to pine tree eating the white pine nuts. I had been watching him for an hour or so. It was an early morning in late September at Yellowstone National Park. Instead of continuing to follow along behind him, I decided to move 100 yards ahead in anticipation of him coming towards me -- knowing that he was not the least bit interested in me (or the 25 people watching him), he wanted those nuts. Eventually, he was right in front of me. Although he was only10-12 feet away I felt reasonably safe. There was a guard rail between us and a car was parked close enough that I could get to if necessary. I was more afraid that the Park Ranger would ticket me for being so close.

 I try to be a good example at Yellowstone because there are so many "tourists" that don't understand bears. So, I don't try to get as close to a bear (at Yellowstone) as I would in British Columbia or Alberta when there are no other humans around. In this case, I took a quick photo and moved back slowly but far enough away to get a photo of the bear as he jumped up onto the tree.