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5/17/2006
OK, here are the inevitable "Moma Black Bear and
her Cubs" pictures. Last year, this moma had 3 cubs, this
year she's had two.
It's amazing seeing these guys run full-speed up
a tree and hang out for hours 100+ feet in the air.
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5/17/2005
It's pretty funny watching the little cubs back
into the warmth of their moma's armpits. For as large as
these animals are, they are amazingly tender footed. |
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5/17/2006
Once again, the little cups get a lesson in bad
behavior from their moma. Here she's just let go of the
bird feeder which "was" full of sunflower seeds.
Notice how she'd rather sit and eat, than stand
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5/17/2006
Here we see a female Oriole and a male Scarlet
Tanager. This is the first year we've seen the Tanager,
which was on Lisa's top ten list of "birds to see in our back
yard"
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5/17/2006
Here's another shot of the Scarlet Tanager.
Clearly he's also fond of the oranges we put out
for the Orioles. |
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5/17/2006
Not a very good picture, but if you click on the image, you'll
see the whole picture which includes a Oriole on the upper
branch snacking on an orange. I don't think I'll ever get
used to the wild mix of colors we get in the spring.
Don't let anyone tell you that you need fancy
feeders to attract fancy birds :)
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8/21/2005
I can never get enough of seeing these guys in the front
yard. We have two regular cubs now from two separate
families. Since we had 7 new cubs in the area this winter,
we were expecting to be over-run, but they seem to have spread
out and only two remain. |
8/17/2005
If anyone knows what the name of this shrub is, please let
us know. It stands about 6 foot tall, with lots of
clusters of these great blooms that the butterflies just love. |
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5/9/2005
Spring has finally sprung, and our seasonal birds are coming
back to visit.
Lisa put some orange slices out on the tree and
within 20 minutes we had a Baltimore Oriole and a Rose-Breasted
Grosbeak sharing a limb. |
4/22/2005
Well, you never quite know what to expect to see in your
bird-bath these days. These are two of the same three cubs
seen in the photos from 6/17/2004 below.
They are just about ready to leave momma's care and head out
on their own. |
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10/12/2004
OK, so they're not really Wildlife, but they're really
cute. Lisa went wild with some fallen trees and a chain saw
and created these cute wooden deer (these two are Woody and Woody
3.0) If you look really closely (or click for a
blowup), you can also see Sky (the cat) checking out the scene...
thinking... hmmm new scratching posts :)
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10/12/2004
Summer's gone and so has Spring. All the animals have been
spending their time in the wild.
However, one male Black Bear decided that our new
"lawn" ornament was worth investigating.
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10/12/2004
Life imitates art... or is it the other way around?
Click the image for a larger reality check.
Who am I kidding... we don't have any lawn :)
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10/12/2004
OK, you really can't tell me that this fella
didn't think that, maybe he had to dominate this other smaller
Bear.
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8/4/2004
I took this photo by putting my camera up against the eyepiece
of my binoculars. It was hard to focus, but these guys
just looked so cute in the woods, I had to try to get closer.
If you click on the image for a blow up, you can see that the
cubs all have metal ear tags. Momma also has a radio
collar so the DNR can track her wanderings. |
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7/10/2004
Summer is upon us and the deer and bears are either having babies
or caring for them. This doe (like most of the others that
visit us) is quite pregnant, but she's come to tolerate us being
nearby.
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7/9/2004
The Wildflower meadow (shown earlier in the season a few photos
down) has changed color. Now the vibrant yellows and reds have
overtaken the pinks and purples.
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7/8/2004
Ok Kids. Step away from the car. One little boy cub (we
call him "Trouble") seemed to think my tires were a
great chew-toy.
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6/17/2004
Momma bear made quick work of the Finch Feeder and it's 1/2"
steel support hook. Looks like Junior is a chip off the old
block.
Click the pic for more cuteness.
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6/17/2004
The little cubs have grown a whole lot in the last week.
Here's the family out for stroll. They look so human when
they stand up like that.
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6/8/2004
Our wildflower meadow behind the house is really starting to
bloom. Each week a different type of flower dominates,
providing a constant changing color-scape
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6/8/2004
Here's a sampling of the current flower collection in the
meadow. Click for a wider view.
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6/6/2004
Also enjoying the new garden growth is this cute Groundhog (or
Wood-Chuck). Luckily he didn't take to these Corkscrew Willow
seedlings, but he does love the broadleaf greens that we
planted for the deer... a high utility food :)
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6/2/2004
OK, now here's a weird growth. We were out hiking in the
100 acres behind our lot, and we came across this amazing
fungus.
Talk about freaky. It reminded me of brain matter ... ewu..
yuck. in a very cool sort of way. Click to see more.
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6/2/2004
Speaking of strange things on trees, one of our Bear friends
really wanted to lick the bird feeder tray clean. This guy
has a radio collar to help the DNR track him. This spring
we've had several regulars. We even had a Momma Bear with
three tiny "cat sized" cubs.
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6/2/2004
See how well our animals get along. This is one of
several Raccoons that visit us. He shares well with the
deer, who also leave him alone.
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2004-4-14
Well, Winter's finally over, or so we hope. We had snow
last week but it didn't stick The bears are getting active again,
as indicated by our bird feeders disappearing even in the middle
of the day. This large adult just couldn't help being attracted
to the suet feeder.
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2004-4-14
After snacking on the suet, this burly animal ran off back
into the woods. I'm figuring we're talking at least a couple
of hundred pounds.
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2003-12-20
As you can see, Lisa has become "At one with the
animals". Food is scarce in this winter climate, so we
help out with some corn.
This little doe was getting impatient with Lisa.
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2003-12-20
Here's two groupings. One set of two, and one set of
three (there is one shy one). We are starting to be able to
tell them apart. We have a couple of males, but most
are female.
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2003-10-25
For the last two days, we've had this flock of 12 wild turkeys
stroll into and out of our property. The first time, I
didn't have my camera, and the second time they were on the way
out by the time we saw them. So I only got this close-up of
one of them.
This looks like a male as it has a small red
portion on the underside of it's neck.
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2003-10-25
So it seems like we get a daily bear show these days. Click
the link below to see our friend dancing to reach the bird feeder
which is just out of his grasp.
Dancing Bear
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2003-10-20
Not only did I get some great pictures today, I also got some
small movies of our Black Bear cub. Click the links below to
play the streaming video clips. Or right click to download.
Grabbing feeder and sitting
Sitting down again
Grabbing feeder again
Licking feeder
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  2003-10-20
Oh My God... I knew that Black Bears could climb trees, but
I'd never seen it until today.
This guy was still hungry after cleaning up two bird feeders
(see movies above), so he decided to go acorn hunting. He
shimmied 35 ft. up the tree and munched away. He was
up in the tree for a good 20 min. Then he backed down and
sauntered off.
Click the 2 pics to see full size images.
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2003-10-4
Here's our same visitor doing the "Bird Seed Dance"
under another feeder. Although only a cub, this one's nose
is about 5 feet off the ground. Click the pic for a wider
view.
The same day were were visited by a group of four deer, and a
family of three raccoons. What a cool place.
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2003-10-4
Well, we finally have proof that our bird feeders were eaten by
bears:) We caught this little cub strolling by our window,
and then it decide that our new feeders would be a tasty
treat. This feeder was too high up a small tree to reach, so
a climb was in order. Sorry about the blurred images.
I didn't want to use the flash, but I didn't have my tripod handy.
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2003-9-18
Several groups of deer like to wander through our yard.
Here's one taking a drink from the birdbath. She's probably
thirsty after taking a long lick from the salt-block we have out
in the yard
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2003-9-18
OK, we didn't actually see the bear, but we figure it must have
been a heavy, agile animal that pulled these bird feeders out of
the trees (from a height of about 7 feet), crushed and then tore
them open to get to the seed.
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2003-8-9
This wild rabbit is actually very tame. Although it won't
let us touch him/her, it seems to come out of the woods when we
call. (Not too smart :)
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2003-8-4
This Black Bear was strolling down the shoulder when we were
coming home one evening. Unfortunately the shot is a bit
blurred as I was shooting through the windscreen. We think we've
sighted this one several times since.
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2003-8-2
Whereas we haven't seen many squirrels in this area, we see
lots of these little chipmunks. There seem to be two types
(or perhaps they are just different sexes) This one is an
example of what we call a "Red Butt" chippy.
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2003-8-2
This family of five (5) deer just came strolling up the
driveway one morning. We find that the newest shoots of any
shrubs we plant are tasty tid-bits for deer. Since this
picture, we have put our a "Salt Lick" to encourage
their return.
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2003-7-5
Lots of hummers come to our feeder. In this area you have to
place them quite high up, otherwise the black bears think it's a
treat just for them. They've been seen upending the feeders
and drinking the sweet liquid.
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2003-7-1
Lisa's first Black Bear encounter wasn't so much a surprise,
as a shock. We'd heard many accounts of sightings on our
street, but we just thought they didn't like our place. When
Lisa finally came fact to face with one, she forgot all she had
learned at the DNR seminars, and just ran away :)
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