Encounters

Surprisingly, spotting a luna moth on our property, this evening, was not enough to get me to post...it should have been (I'm thrilled), but it took another (near) encounter to get me to pull up my blog and share:

"New" Visitor on Game Cam Pics

For approximately 3 months or so, I have been consistently using the game cam that was a gift from Jeff a couple of years ago.  Today, I looked through about two weeks worth of photo captures.  For the first time, in all of those months, there is finally a shot of a bear.  In our 8-9 years here, we have seen a bear twice--well, Jeff and I saw one a few months after moving in (it was eating from our bird feeder)...several years later, I saw one probably 10-15 feet away from me (this time no pane of glass between us).

I am excited to see it again.

I adjusted the brightness on this and left the time stamp.

After all of these months, I'm still waiting to see a turkey (or flock of them) go through.  I'll have to wait and see what the next few months bring.  Hmm...I have to wonder if I would see some babies in the spring--fox with its kits would be really cool! :)

Another Encounter?

Last night, a bit after dark, I went out back to harvest a stalk of celery or two for a recipe I was making.  Just around the corner from the back door is a motion sensor light.  I stepped out into the darkness, and heard some rustling somewhere towards my left near the deck.  My first thought was that I startled a deer or something, but my thoughts quickly went to the bear I encountered a month or  so ago.  I grabbed a shovel I had leaning nearby...just in case, then wen't to get my celery.  The light came on, I got what I needed, and returned to the house.

This afternoon, I went around back and noticed the garbage can was on its side--empty (I was pretty sure there was one bag in it).  Immediately I decided a bear had taken it...and I was grateful there was no mess to pick up (not that I relished the idea of garbage strewn out somewhere in nature).  After scanning the area, I noticed that it had been taken down the slope, and grabbed the camera and another garbage bag.  I got a photo of the circumstantial evidence, and then cleaned it up.

Heart-stopping Encounter

 I was walking the paths with camera in hand hoping to get some butterfly photos with the good light of the low angle of the sun.  Nothing caught my eye, so I continued along the path and--it is a little fuzzy how it happened but--I suddenly realized that there was a bear--yes a bear--just a little ways ahead of me!  I snapped a picture, and then, my heart started to race as I realized the potential danger of the situation.  I didn't expect an attack...it didn't even seem to know that I was there.  I figure they are afraid of humans, but wild animals are unpredictable.

My first and best shot (cropped).

A tighter close-up of the above.  Not bad.

I kept trying to take pictures, but missed shots as it turned around at the sound of a car.  After it passed, the bear heading back towards the road...and I ended up with only a blurred second photo:

 

Just the other week, I was talking to the neighbor who told me to be careful of bears as someone told them they'd seen one crossing the road opposite our yard.  He said he'd been told that the bear looks both ways before crossing--I missed that part, but I'd like to be able to verify it here. :)

I just missed a shot of the bear as it crossed the road and disappeared.

The only other time we saw a bear was our first year here (before I'd done much of anything to the yard)...and we were inside watching it through a window as it ate birdseed...this was quite a different experience. :)