When I first visited this small clearing, it was clear that it was a place for bears. The bark is stripped from that poor little birch tree to the left of center screen, logs have been ripped apart, and I found bear scat on one of the trails leading from it. The black bear that is pictured here is familar to me, as he has shown up at nearly every camera location this spring and summer. He has dragged boxes of compost from the compost pile here, although this clearing is perhaps a fifth of a mile from the compost area by way of animal trails.