07/13/11 21:19:51

Maine black bear

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.

© Ken Anderson 2011