The great thing about birding is that it’s a low-risk activity. No birds to worry about. Other than the male Spruce Grouse I encountered on the trail a few years back. I still have nightmares about that encounter. It took seconds getting past it. But when you are birding in the mountains, you must be aware of all the other wildlife you can possibly encounter. Luckily, when you’re birding, the ears are working full-time and the eyes are scanning for any sorts of movement. That was the case when doing a bird count one early morning last month. I was walking around the stables when I noticed some of the horses seemed a bit nervous. Ahead, around the corner, was a black bear grazing outside the fence. The local black bear did not care about the horses, but they were staying back from the fence. I decided to use the open field to go around the black bear. Thanks to this action, I got to add two White-breasted Nuthatches to my list. I had not seen this species for a few years. The bear had a quick look toward me as I walked around it, not bothered by me at all. I called to inform Banff NP’s wildlife team of the bear sighting. Because an hour later, there were going to be several birders in the same area. I continued my bird walk, not seeing the bear again that day. I am sure this was not the first bear encounter for the horses, perhaps even seeing this same bear a few times before. As nervous as they were that morning, they were a lot more a week later. But that’s a story for another time.
Black Bear
When out on the trails in the mountains, even if birding. You must be ready to deal with bear encounters. For this encounter, it was about an hour into the morning. The birding was going well. With the warmer temperatures, the camera was in my hands, ready to take pictures at any opportunity. After watching for birds across a small pool of water, I decided to head into the nearby woods to see what I could hear or see. I was about ten meters from the woods when I heard a sound to the left of me. I looked in the direction, one of the local black bears was sitting on the edge of the woods. It seemed he was having a nap and my approach to the woods had awakened him. I backed up until he lowered his alert head and then lowered his head to his paws to get his remaining beauty sleep. This adult male has been collared and tagged by the Banff’s Parks Canada wildlife team to make sure he does not get into trouble. The collar is sending out a signal to the satellite, spaced out so the battery does not drain too fast. But the collar is also sending out a radio signal, helping the wildlife team locate him as needed. With me being out regularly, I have already seen him a few times this season. It’s best to stay calm during these encounters. With a bear spray next to me, the best option was to give him space until he stopped focusing on me and then for me to find a different route for my purpose.
Black Bear
Cubs are born in January and when we see them in the mountains, they are already four to five months old. They weigh less than a pound, have a very light covering of fur and crawl very slowly. The mother will eat their birth membranes, lick the cubs and warm them by placing them next to her less furred belly. She will move and adjust to her cubs’ comfort sounds and cries, always making sure not to place too much weight on the cubs. The nursing mother loses about a third of her body weight with full-time babysitting and nursing, compared to non-nursing bears, who lose 15 to 25%.
The cubs, when getting out of their dens, can’t out-run predators, but can climb trees for safety. The cubs depend on their mother for food, as their chewing teeth don’t come out until later in spring. Until it’s time to nurse, the cubs will be busy hanging out, exploring near their mom or, like this cub, practising its climbing technique. Since the cubs are not able to eat at first, being up in a tree is a safe place to be. When the mother is ready to move or time to nurse, she will call them down. The mother may also climb up a tree when there is danger or just to be in a safe spot with their cubs.
Around this time of year, if you see an adult female black bear, maintain a safe distance and scan nearby trees for little shadows.
Black Bear
The other week I went out birding during the evening. Sprayed on my favorite summer cologne, “Deet 30% by Chanel for men '', placed the bear spray canister on the outside of the pack and off I went. With lack of heat and smoke and a nice breeze moving through the trees, it was good to be out. I saw a small hawk in the woods, perched on a fallen tree. But before I was able to put the camera on it, it flew away. But the Lesser Scaup with three offspring were in no hurry, who I saw soon after. A few hundred meters later as I came around a turn, about 20 meters in front of me was a nice surprise. A young black bear must have heard me or saw me through the shrubs because it was already a couple of feet up a tree for safety. I touched my bear spray, but seeing the bear was more scared of me than I was about it, the spray stayed put. Nonetheless, seeing there was no way to create space between us for me to pass, I did a 180 and left the bear where it was. I connected with another trail, but on my way back from that trail, I heard a sound to the left of me. I looked into the tall grass toward the shrubs below the trail. A bear’s head popped up and looked at me. It was another black bear, but this one was cinnamon in colour and a year older. The trail was wider, so I moved to the other side of the trail and kept walking while looking toward the bear. It stopped looking at me and went back to eating the white dogwood berries. I stopped for a quick look, all I saw were moving shrubs and a couple of ears. Before I got to the car, I got a close look at a perched Great Blue Heron on a fallen tree. I got some images and I left. Another good bird walk. In the mountains, it’s rare I only come across birds during the bird walks. Always have to be ready for anything. This season the buffaloberry crop has not been good at all in the Bow Valley, the bears are travelling a lot to locate the calories they need before they head for the den in a few months.
Black Bear
A few weeks back, I was sitting in my car one evening. Waiting to see if a black bear with a cub of last year would show up in the opening about 40 meters from where I sat. A train was approaching where they were walking near the tracks. The train would cause them to move away. Being an optimist, I was hoping they would pass through the open area I was watching. As I waited, I enjoyed the sounds of the birds that were singing in the forest. After 5 minutes passed, I heard a sound coming from the back of the opening. I could see a head of a nervous adult black female bear. I made no movements, watched her through my camera. She moved forward a few steps and soon after her cub came out in the open, wondering why its mother was concerned about. It sat in front of her and touched the bottom of her mouth with its nose. That seemed to relax her. She stopped looking in the distance and grabbed a couple of bits of vegetation before both disappeared into the trees ahead of them. And I left the area.
Black Bear
A adult black bear watching the world pass by.
Black Bear
It seems the black bears are tired this summer being 2nd best. They are out there in force, being spotted regularly in the front country for several weeks now. Colleagues dealing with wildlife calls dealing with young, old and mothers with cubs. Black bears are doing far better and have greater numbers and can be found in far more places across North America. More of the visitors who visit the mountains have seen a black bear already, far fewer have ever come across a brown bear in their life. Brown bears have far smaller range from their historic land they called home. The brown bear here in Banff as many other places is studied, to help them be more successful on the landscape. And when grizzlies are successful on the landscapes, it also means a vast amount of flora and fauna are doing very well on the same land. I always have to remind myself, the black bear does not care that the grizzlies are getting more attention, they only care that they have a place where they can be wild. Here’s a beautiful black bear that was easily moving through an area that needed two prescribed burns to help create habitat that both bears can call home.
Black Bear
I came across this black bear sitting down and enjoying buffalo berries.
Black Bear
We are creatures of habit and wildlife are no different. I came across this medium size black bear, brown in colour, walking and stopping to get a mouthful as he went along. From past experience I had a sense what route he would be taking, I went ahead and waited for him with the window down. I could not see him, but I could see the shrubs moving as he passed by them and on occasion the sounds he made when touching the shrubs. With no one else in the area, the chances were good he was heading toward me. The hope was when he went up the short incline near me, he would see me and give me a quick look before passing by me. My goal was to have the camera focused on his face and get a picture of him looking toward the camera. That evening it played out just as I hoped.
Black Bear
Shepherd canadensis are their official name, but also called buffalo berry, soapberry, and by a few other names. The plant has edible berries, usually in red, but also seen in yellow and orange colours. Found across Canada, the shrub grows from a meter to two meters tall, grows in dry to moist woods, on sandy, rocky and in gravelly soils. Out here it blooms in May to June and the berries ripen in July. Elk, deer and bighorn sheep consume the leaves, while some birds and mammals eat the berries. The later includes both the brown and the black bear.
Black Bear
This year I have been lucky enough to come across few large black bear. This male for hundred meters or so came out of the forest and walked on the road, a very confident male took his time as he walked in the open before heading back into the trees.
Black Bear
The black bear comes in a few other colours than black, this one was light cinnamon with a black face.
Black Bear
Black Bear claws are adapted for them to easily climb trees, cubs right out of the den they are ready and capable. Unlike the long claws of the grizzly bears, the black bears have sharp, shorter and curved claws, perfect for climbing trees to get away from predators, a place to sleep, rest or to find food. Two black bears can get into a fight on a tree, the advantage would be for the bear below, the upper bear can't fight face to face and when bears do climb down, their bottom has to be facing the bottom. In the case of this picture, the cubs were sleeping on the tree while their mother was feeding below. She climbed up the tree and woke up her cubs, the sleepy heads one by one climbed down.
Black Bear
Lots of food out there for the bears to feed on, this male was travelling through the valley, stopping to eat. I'm sure this large male like the other large males has matting on his mind. During this time of the season they do lots of travelling, hoping to find mates. It's probably the only time of the year when they are not sleeping, when eating becomes secondary.
Black Bear
Early on morning I saw an adult back bear eating, no sign of any other bears. A tree near the bear had something different on it, on closer inspection with my camera I saw something small and black. soon to my amazement the female adult went up to wake up her cubs, who were sleeping on the tree. One by one they came down.
Black Bear
The buffaloberries or shepherdia crop was not good this year as last year, overall. There are some area the crop was very good and then others few berries could be found. The bears were taking advantage of the areas where they could find them, This bear was working the shrubs along a very dusty trail with few berries to be found. Every bit helps.
Black Bear
The black bear does not get the same attention as the grizzly does. In North America black bear is easily the most distributed bear on the continent, and globally it's not considered threatened. In many parts of Canada you can see a black bear, most likely you have already seen a black bear. But in Banff, where we have a small growing season and much of it being rock and ice, we have about the same amount of black bears as we do grizzlies. Grizzly, the dominant predator get most of the attention in the park. The black bear is not bothered by the lack of publicity, give it some space and it goes about its merry way.
Black Bear
So far it has been a good season for seeing large male black bear. This one was one of the first one, he was also one of the first black bear to wake up from his winter sleep. It seems the bigger they are the slower they travel. Having lot of confidence, not too worried abut other bears or predators. I saw him later in the day slowly making his way through the valley.
Black Bear
A black bear family of three, they were busy eating the green vegetation that's starting to pop up on the valley's bottom. With the warmer weather the bears have more and more options for food and they are spreading out in the valley.
Until next moment,
Amar
Black Bear
Banff National Park has same amount of black bears as grizzlies, but the later get most of the attention. One of the main reason is the black bears are well represented across the country, so they are often seen, but not so with the grizzlies. There are less of them and now only found in western Canada. But both play an important role in the wild, as do this adult black bear.
Until next moment,
Amar
