A bear!

[mechtild]

~*~
There's bears in them thar hills

Comments

[mechtild]

Thank you for asking about the Minnesota ground squirrel, Pearl. When we moved here I told a neighbor, from the area, "aren't the chipmunks cute?" He corrected me, "No, that's a Minnesota ground squirrel". So I have been calling them that since. Because you asked, however, I looked the animal up on the internet. There is a particular species of ground squirrel native to Minnesota, with thirtreen stripes, extremely pretty, but with a bit of fluff on its tail. But the one in my picture, and the ones all over our area, are Eastern chipmunks. However, to give the neighbour some credit, the chipmunk articles begin by identifying chipmunks as "striped ground squirrels" generally

[mariole]

So true about roadkill; it's unfortunate we see so many animals dead instead of alive. I've been fortunate enough to see almost all of these animals alive and in the wild-- except a wolf! The first time I ran into a bear, we startled each other; it was feeding on bushes, and I had climbed the ridge around the corner. But my fears were set to rest as, with a huge explosion, it burst out of the bushes and ran away up the hill, where it stopped to stare at me with its brown gaze and pert ears. I can't describe its beauty; the way its coat swished and swayed when it ran, the grace. It held me completely dumfounded. Finally I remembered you weren't supposed to stare, as it can be provocative, and walked away singing "Heidi ho" and clapping my hands. Since then I haven't been frightened of bears, but I do look out for mountain lions. Never ran into one, but have seen them from my car. They do scare me, as a grizzly would. Humans.... yum.

[mechtild]

Your bear story gives me a chill, and a thrill, Mariole. I would have been TERRIFIED. I would have appreciated the bear fully, though, once I saw it was going away. :)

[shirebound]

Oh my goodness, what marvelous pictures! I would be thrilled to see any of those critters.

[mechtild]

I love the critter in your icon. :)

[primula_baggins]

Wow, fantastic! Nature is so beautiful, isn't it?

I feel like crying when I hear of a wild animal that is shot because it's in a neighborhood. We moved into their world, but we cannot stand having them around us? It kinda makes me sick. But I don't make the rules. :/

I guess I wouldn't want a coyote killing my dog, either.

[mechtild]

It's sad, very sad, when a wild animal in town gets shot. In a way I can't count deer, as most of the ones we see really do live here in town, having migrated here from the forest to live, the bird feeders and domestic plants and vegetables a strong draw, living here generation after generation, so they're not truly wild, not like a moose that wanders in through the green space and gets stuck in a street, standing there terrified or crashing into parked cars and shops in a panic

[belleferret]

I never saw a bear in the wild when I lived in Duluth, but did have a wolf run across the road in front of me once. Ah and I remember the time a young moose was wandering around downtown!

[mechtild]

Well, times have changed. Now Duluth is bear country. Bears smashed my birdfeeders twice, and the first summer we lived here (1999), we looked up to see a big black bear strolling right through the corner of the back yard -- and we were there working in it! It was the middle of the day. Bears only make the news if they create a situation. Wolves make the paper if they are merely sighted.

I've heard about the moose. It's sad and funny, a moose stuck in the middle of downtown, but how frightened it must have been. (Unlike deer, which don't seem to be intimidated by town life.)

[elasg]

That's at least a 400lb bear... probably more. A big male getting fat on people's trash, most likely. Be careful, they can be unpredictable and quite dangerous. (Look who's asking you to be careful...LOL!)

The wolf is NEAT! We haven't seen wolves around here in ages. The only things we have are bobcats and even the big one I saw in Paddy's Run the other year couldn't match a wolf. Very cool!

[mechtild]

The bears are very bold here. I won't get near one, believe me. I don't think Glen would have gone out there to take that photo if he hadn't been standing on the side porch. But who knows, men can be fools. :) There have been very few reports of attacks by black bears in our area, although there are so many. But most people are not stupid and keep their distance. Last summer I was sitting in the patio with Angelo, our cat that died last year, and Glen called me from the house, "Linda, don't move but look up, to your left." There was a bear, in the next yard, heading to the corner of our lots, to go up the hill, probably. "What should I do?" I hissed. "Get up slowly and come inside." I picked up poor old Angelo as quietly as I could and hot footed it in through the side porch door. Glen said it didn't even look at me. They are that used to being around people.

I hope you can see a wolf one day. Me, too. I've only seen them in zoos or stuffed in glass cases.