I recall having a night visitor climb a pretty frail Japanese maple of some kind in our front yard. We had made the mistake of putting a certain bird feeder there we were later told attracts Yogi and his pals!
Really nice stack, Robert! Love your writing and observations. I grew up in TN and we’d see black bears when we visited the Smokey Mtns. All traffic would stop as sight seers would get out of their cars for photos of themselves feeding the bears. 🐻
I hate thinking about Robert F. Kennedy Jr just taking that bear (similar to the one you moved to safety so authorities could properly deal with it — it may have a chip or ID) and then just dumping it in Central Park. I hope there’s a special place in hell for him.
I envy you and your pear tree. Such a sweet video of mama bear high up in the tree munching on pears and shaking some down for her cubs.
Thank you! I hear you about RFK Jr. It’s so sad that horrible story about the cub didn’t disqualify him. He is a menace. As are the ignorant folks who intentionally feed bears. Who raised these people?
They are indeed such marvelous animals and it greatly upsets me that the same part of society that lionizes teddy bears for childhood company and watches Paddington movies and the like, so often runs a mile when they see them in public, and considers them pests, when in the Catskills at least, it's their original domain.
But hey, beautifully written as always, and lovely new photos and videos by HGW. Somewhere i have similar of a mama and cubs walking across our old Mt. tremper driveway one morning. I've also run into a couple while running, and they've not been a problem. Thanks for the textured writing.
Thank you so much, good sir. I never tire of seeing our furred neighbors, or of hearing stories about them. And yes, it IS their territory we're squatting on. They'll be waking soon, and I'll look forward to seeing that distinctive flash of black amid the green. And I look forward to seeing you as well, for a proper catch-up in real time over a pint or three.
The apotheosis of bear evolution came when they learn to decode the meaning of black plastic garbage bags and hand-carryable plastic coolers. They hunt them like prey. We scared a Western brown bear off mushrooming east of Seattle. Once I spotted a torn open garbage bags on the trail, its contents mostly beer bottles and snack bags, we knew what it was after.
Indeed! We also learned of their affinity for coolers when, once again, not at my smartest, I left a Coleman cooler containing - get this - A BAG OF BIRDSEED in the mudroom, with the door open to the wild. Said cooler later found in the nearby woods, enthusiastically destroyed. Evidently, their noses are 2,000 times as strong as the average human’s. So clearly they detect flavor nuances in, say, soiled diapers, that we do not.
I recall having a night visitor climb a pretty frail Japanese maple of some kind in our front yard. We had made the mistake of putting a certain bird feeder there we were later told attracts Yogi and his pals!
Yes. We learn the hard way, but at least we learn!
Really nice stack, Robert! Love your writing and observations. I grew up in TN and we’d see black bears when we visited the Smokey Mtns. All traffic would stop as sight seers would get out of their cars for photos of themselves feeding the bears. 🐻
I hate thinking about Robert F. Kennedy Jr just taking that bear (similar to the one you moved to safety so authorities could properly deal with it — it may have a chip or ID) and then just dumping it in Central Park. I hope there’s a special place in hell for him.
I envy you and your pear tree. Such a sweet video of mama bear high up in the tree munching on pears and shaking some down for her cubs.
Thank you! I hear you about RFK Jr. It’s so sad that horrible story about the cub didn’t disqualify him. He is a menace. As are the ignorant folks who intentionally feed bears. Who raised these people?
They are indeed such marvelous animals and it greatly upsets me that the same part of society that lionizes teddy bears for childhood company and watches Paddington movies and the like, so often runs a mile when they see them in public, and considers them pests, when in the Catskills at least, it's their original domain.
But hey, beautifully written as always, and lovely new photos and videos by HGW. Somewhere i have similar of a mama and cubs walking across our old Mt. tremper driveway one morning. I've also run into a couple while running, and they've not been a problem. Thanks for the textured writing.
Thank you so much, good sir. I never tire of seeing our furred neighbors, or of hearing stories about them. And yes, it IS their territory we're squatting on. They'll be waking soon, and I'll look forward to seeing that distinctive flash of black amid the green. And I look forward to seeing you as well, for a proper catch-up in real time over a pint or three.
The apotheosis of bear evolution came when they learn to decode the meaning of black plastic garbage bags and hand-carryable plastic coolers. They hunt them like prey. We scared a Western brown bear off mushrooming east of Seattle. Once I spotted a torn open garbage bags on the trail, its contents mostly beer bottles and snack bags, we knew what it was after.
Indeed! We also learned of their affinity for coolers when, once again, not at my smartest, I left a Coleman cooler containing - get this - A BAG OF BIRDSEED in the mudroom, with the door open to the wild. Said cooler later found in the nearby woods, enthusiastically destroyed. Evidently, their noses are 2,000 times as strong as the average human’s. So clearly they detect flavor nuances in, say, soiled diapers, that we do not.
Hehe…!