There are few things that excite me more than these pictures. In fact, I'm so excited that I can barely even get words out so I'll make the writing in this post quick and easy.
Bears. They are on the move in Leesburg, Virginia. This camera was set up in Banshee Reeks Nature Preserve where I have been doing coyote and fox research.
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| Three bears! |
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| Black bear noticing the camera trap. |
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| Yearling black bear with another in the background. |
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| I figured I would prove that these are my pictures by showing a picture of me at the same cam. |
Hi there! I came upon your blog as I was investigating what may have happened to our 2 pole birdfeeders. We found them pretty much flattened this morning. I'm thinking that the only thing that could bend a pole like this would be a bear...or a misguided human? We are in extreme eastern Loudoun County, and we back to woods and the flood plain of Sugarland Run. We regularly see dear (my yard is one of their favorite salad bars), foxes and your more usual suspects. But I have never seen or hear of a bear in this neighborhood! Our dog did sound the alarm around 1:00am--very persistently--so much so that my husband came downstairs to investigate! Nothing was seen at the time...and Kai (our flat-coated retriever), went out to investigate....Pretty sure it got scared off...Kind of exciting, but if it happens again, the birds will have to forgo their winter buffet...We don't want to encourage bears to look for food in hard-core suburbia...
ReplyDeleteAnne, Very interesting. I'm currently tracking a few bears in Loudoun right now, so this is great information. Do you by any chance have photos of the bird feeders or other damage it has caused? Also, you have the right idea of not encouraging bears to look for human (or bird) food. From a conservationist and naturalist standpoint, the best thing you could do is immediately cut the food source by not filling up your feeders and by being careful about outdoor pet food or garbage cans for a few weeks. If it is getting fed, there is a good chance that it will come back, and that will not be good for you, neighbors, and of course, the bear.
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