Bear, you stay there!

-
As I was walking on the Canon City Riverwalk close to 8 pm tonight my dog Chase alerted that he heard something in the vegetation just off the trail. Thinking it was maybe a squirrel or even a racoon--surprise, when I looked I was a little confused as I thought it was a bear but it looked like it had a blond overcoat on. This is the first 'blond' black bear I have seen (they do come in a number of colors).
As it sunk it that I was only about 25-30 feet away from the bear (it was behind trees as shown in last pic) I got a few pics (this is what happens when I leave my camera in the car, these are cellphone pics) and started to walk away. As I did the bear started to come out from behind the trees which concerned me so I walked backwards so I could watch it. It kept looking a me as I looked it. When it came further I ordered (in a gruff voice as I would a dog) "Bear, you stay there." Fortunately as it came it further it became clear it just wanted to go the other way on the trail I just came on.
While not my first experience afoot with a bear it was the closest I have been so it gave me a good shot of adrenaline. If your enjoy bears I got some video a few years back of a momma bear and 3 cubs on our Riverwalk: https://birdsandnature.blogspot.com/2011/07/black-bear-momma-with-3-cubs-chow-time.html?m=1 and https://birdsandnature.blogspot.com/2011/07/black-bear-with-3-cubs-grabbing-bite-as.html?m=1 SeEtta

Comments

Unknown said…
How awesome! I have never seen a bear on the riverwalk here. Maybe I am just choosing the wrong times. Or the wrong part of the riverwalk. Great pictures even though they are cell phone pics.
June 25, 2018 at 5:05 AM
Chas S. Clifton said…
The "blond" coloration is last year's coat being shed, I think. Sometimes they look just like Siamese cats in the early summer.
July 7, 2018 at 12:14 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Spotted Sandpiper Chicks, 3 more days older

-
Image
Two days when I went to check on the Spotted Sandpiper family at Florence River Park I thought they had likely perished--there were two men engaged in gold panning right where the parent sandpiper had been and they had dug some of the sand from the bank where I last saw the sandpiper chicks. Arggh, I was afraid that all this activity, plus a large off leash dog with these people, would have scared the parent away and even if the chicks were successful in hiding in the vegetation they would not survive without a parent at their young age. What a surprise when I returned that evening for one last check to be accosted by the parent sandpiper calling loudly and challenging me by walking right towards me (and my dog). It took awhile for the parent to settle down and for one of the chicks to walk in some grass where I could spot it--the parent had moved the chicks about 150 from the river into an area with a lot of vegetation. I returned day before yesterday and refound the parent and
Read more

Recently fledged Common Raven

-
Image
At the end of March this year I spotted a Common Raven going into a crevice above a rock face of a local cliff area called Castle Rock (as part of it looks sort of like a castle). I started watching this area and observed a pair of Common Ravens spending time around this location. On March 27 I spotted one of the ravens inside the crevice which now had what looked like nesting material in it--the photograph of that is the second pic here. I continued off and on to check this apparent crevice nest. At the end of May I saw what appeared to be a nestling inside the crevice. I continued birding in the riparian forest across the Arkansas River from this cliff area. When I was about a quarter mile away I heard a lot of raven racket and walked to a spot where I could see the cliff area through my binoculars. I could see a lot of raven action with the parent birds calling loudly so I expected that the nestling may have fledged or they were trying to get it to fledge. I went back t
Read more