07/13/11 Photos | Petra, Maine Wildlife Photos | Ken Anderson

07/13/11 21:21:22

Sun, 14 Aug 2011 23:15:05 -0400

I don't know what this is, and it apparently doesn't stay long because the wildlife camera doesn't take any more photographs on this night, as it would if the animal had remained in view. I suppose it's possible that what looks to be a longer tail could simply be a part of a bear's body that is partially obstructed by the vegetation. But it looks like something a little smaller than a bear, and like something that slinks along the ground, such as a weasel. I don't know what it is.

07/13/11 21:21:22

Sun, 14 Aug 2011 23:15:05 -0400

When I first saw this photograph, I was thinking that this looks like it could be a small black bear about to approach the marking tree but the next photo shows the animal to have more of a tail than a black bear would have.

07/13/11 21:21:21

Sun, 14 Aug 2011 23:15:05 -0400

Whatever it is, it looks like the animal has stopped for a moment to check things out, no doubt related to the click and the flash of the camera. Like every other animal in the forest, it will soon determine that the camera is not a threat.

07/13/11 21:21:20

Sun, 14 Aug 2011 23:15:05 -0400

Here you can clearly see the eyes of some animal approaching the clearing in the dark. Rather than coming directly down the trail though, the animal is coming over the brush pile just to the side of the trail, which would lead me to believe that it's a small animal like a raccoon or weasel.

07/13/11 21:19:51

Sun, 14 Aug 2011 23:15:05 -0400

I can't tell you what this is, but there are at least two things going on. There is something that looks like a light in the forest. In the next photograph, you'll be able to see that it's the eye of some animal glowing in the flash from the camera, which somehow makes it look much larger than it is. The second thing is that something is partially obstructing the camera, and whatever it is, it has hair. I'm thinking that it's the bear. The flash of the camera would have reflected back at itself, giving it a light color, which looks much like what I have seen on another occasion when the bear has gotten too close to the camera. You won't see him again tonight so there's no way to tell for sure.

Bears have a tendency to run from any person or animal that approaches him, and then circle back to see what it was that they had run from. An animal trail does approach the camera from that direction. My guess is that the bear heard something coming toward him along the trail and ran out of sight, coming back from a slightly different direction to see what it was that he had run from.

07/13/11 21:19:47

Sun, 14 Aug 2011 23:15:05 -0400

It is after nine o'clock in the evening here in the wilderness of Petra. No one lives here and the only road going through the property is a seasonal road that's really more of an ATV and snowmobile trail than a road, and it's more than a quarter of a mile from this small clearing. After dark, as it generally is even during the day, it would be very quiet in the forests of Petra, Maine. But the bear ran from something.

07/13/11 21:19:48

Sun, 14 Aug 2011 23:15:05 -0400

Nothing yet. The bear has left the picture and I don't see anything here in the dark.

07/13/11 21:19:46

Sun, 14 Aug 2011 23:15:05 -0400

This next set of pictures are interesting. Only twenty-two seconds ago, this black bear was sniffing the marking tree and now it has turned and ran. In a few photos, we'll see what the bear has run from. We may not be able to identify it in the dark, but we'll see it.

07/13/11 21:19:23

Sun, 14 Aug 2011 23:15:05 -0400

The North American black bear is the smallest of three species of bear found in North America, and they are found only in North America.

07/13/11 21:19:23

Sun, 14 Aug 2011 23:15:05 -0400

Don't confuse black bears with grizzly bears. They are completely different animals and they seldom behave the same. Female black bears aren't nearly as protective of their cubs, for example, as grizzlies are of their cubs. A mother black bear is far more likely to abandon her cubs and run than to attack someone trying to approach one of her cubs. She will do her best to warn her cubs of any danger beforehand. If someone were to pick up one of her cubs, she would certainly fret about it, and might even go so far as to do some woofing or bluff charges in an attempt to gain the return of her young, but most will send their cubs up a tree and leave, or climb the tree with them. This does mean that caution is unnecessary in the presence of a mother black bear and her cubs. Like people, black bears are individuals and some individuals are more aggressive than others.

07/13/11 21:19:22

Sun, 14 Aug 2011 23:15:05 -0400

How can I tell that it's a black bear in the dark? Well, it's black, although some black bears are brown or even other colors, such as cream colored or white. But in this case, my wildlife camera is pointed at a marking tree in Petra, Maine, and the only kind of bears we have in Maine are black bears. Most of the black bears in Maine are black, although being brown wouldn't prevent it from being a black bear.

07/13/11 21:19:21

Sun, 14 Aug 2011 23:15:05 -0400

There we go. The first thing the black bear does is check for messages on the marking tree.

07/13/11 21:19:19

Sun, 14 Aug 2011 23:15:05 -0400

As you will soon see, the first thing the black bear does upon arriving in this small clearing in the forest of Petra, Maine is to walk up to the birch marking tree, and in the next picture, he or she will be sniffing it. I think this bear has a narrower head and body than the last bear we had here, but it's hard to tell in the night photos.

07/13/11 21:17:47

Sun, 14 Aug 2011 23:15:05 -0400

The bear is here. Without looking ahead to the next picture, I probably wouldn't be able to see the bear in this photo. Knowing that it's there however, you can probably make out the outline of the bear to the right of the center of the photograph. If not, click over to the next picture and then click back, and you'll see him (or her).

07/13/11 11:39:39

Sun, 14 Aug 2011 23:15:05 -0400

The bear has left. Another will be here after dark, but it's hard to tell if it's the same one because they all look different in the night pictures.

07/13/11 10:38:31

Sun, 14 Aug 2011 23:15:05 -0400

Black bear attacks are rare enough that the media makes the most of them when they do occur. Wherever people encroach on territories where bears live, the chances of an encounter between the two species is increased. These encounters do not have to be unpleasant. More often than not, people bear some of the responsibility for bear attacks.

By the way, this bear is about to leave us.

07/13/11 10:38:30

Sun, 14 Aug 2011 23:15:05 -0400

According to a book entitled "Black Bears: A Natural History", by Dave Taylor, in 2003, there were 150,000 black bears in Alaska, 31,000 in California, 30,000 in Washington, 27,500 in Oregon, 23,000 in Maine, 22,500 in Idaho, 20,000 in Minnesota, 20,000 in Montana, 15,000 in Pennsylvania, 14,000 in Michigan, 11,500 in Colorado, 11,150 in Wisconsin, and 10,000 in North Carolina. If you spent any amount of time walking in the forests of these states, there is a very good chance that a black bear saw you, but you probably didn't see the black bear. They prefer it that way.

07/13/11 10:38:29

Sun, 14 Aug 2011 23:15:05 -0400

Black bears have the potential to be dangerous, but they usually aren't. The few exceptions are those who have not learned to fear people. This may be the case with park bears who have lived for generations in national or state parks where park visitors may feed the bears, either intentionally or through careless camping and picnicking habits, and where hunting bears has for generations of bears been forbidden by law. Other exceptions may include bears who live far in the wilderness where they have had little contact with man, and may view a human being as no more than another animals who appears defenseless or weaker than itself. Nearly every case where a human being has been harmed or killed by a black bear has been in a national park or protected forest. According to a book by Mike Cramond, entitled "Killer Bears", between the years of 1948 and 1980, sixteen people were killed by black bears. In one case, a single bear killed three children. In another, two people were killed by the same bear, so thirteen bears were involved in these sixteen incidents. All but three of them were in parks or in remote areas of Canada and Alaska. Of the sixty-nine people who were attacked or injured by black bears, according to the book, forty-two were in parks at the time of the attack. Of the other twenty-seven, all but six were in Canada or Alaska.

07/13/11 10:38:28

Sun, 14 Aug 2011 23:15:05 -0400

Bear wallows are often used by the animals for relief from the heat of summer. The fields and forests of Petra, Maine contain several areas that would serve this purpose. On all sides of one of our potato fields are seasonal streams, which carry water after the snow melts off the mountains that surround Petra, and during heavy rains, such as we have had thsi spring and summer. There is a wide margin between the planted areas and the tree line around the fields that is wet year round, at least this year, and grown up in long marsh grass. In the back of the field is the brook that borders a portion of Petra, and the area between the field and the brook is marshy. I have seen that the deer use these wallows and have photos of a black bear on the edge of the field near there. We haven't had very many truly hot days so far this summer, so I don't know that this has been a big concern of our bears this year. Also, the cedar swamp on the far side of the property is not underwater, but contains may damp areas, and its ground is covered with soft moss.

07/13/11 10:38:26

Sun, 14 Aug 2011 23:15:05 -0400

In this photo, it's quite clear that this little white birch is a marking tree for black bears. It's also clear that there's more than one bear involved or it would never keep the bear's interest.