Bodacious Black Bears

I mentioned in a recent post (see The Historic Hudson) one of the reasons I enjoyed visiting my friends in New Jersey.  A second reason I enjoy my visits to New Jersey is the possibility of seeing bears!  You probably don't associate New Jersey with bears, but my friends live right on the New Jersey/New York state line in a wooded area and they occasionally see bears right in their front yard.  Okay, sometimes in the back yard too, but see them they do.  The adult bears are very impressive and the little cubs so cute!  Here is a photo of a bear walking up Lynne and Rick's driveway; Lynne calls her Fertile Myrtle - I think you'll understand why!

Photo by Lynne Robinson

You may be wondering whether a mom with five cubs is a bit unusual.  I don't think Lynne had ever seen that many cubs before, but in fact, a black bear can have up to 6 cubs.  However, two cubs are the most common.  Some scientists believe the number of cubs depends on the availability of food.  There must be really good food in Lynne's neighborhood.

I've only seen bears from a distance a couple of times, but the most memorable viewing was maybe a little too close for comfort.  One evening right at dusk, we were all sitting in Lynne and Rick's living room watching TV when all of a sudden Lynne whispered loudly, 'There's a bear on the deck!"  Rick and I both turned to look and sure enough, there was a young bear climbing up on an urn attempting to get seeds out of the bird feeder.  The sofas where we were sitting were right next to the sliding glass doors that go out to the deck, so this little bear was literally just feet away from us.  Where there's a young bear, there's a pretty good chance momma's not too far behind.  Momma bear was on her way up the steps from a lower level.  My friends have three Bernese Mountain dogs, and after watching a few minutes we were all astounded that the dogs hadn't barked with the bears so close.  About the time we were wondering that one of the dogs must have heard or smelled something because the barking started.  The bears lost no time in deciding maybe they'd better hit the road, and both youngster and momma started back down the stairs.  But not before we had gotten a wonderful up close and personal few minutes with them, and certainly something to talk about for the rest of the evening.

Black bears' diets are 85% vegetation and the balance is mostly insects, although they will occasionally eat small animals and salmon if they can find them.  They are not considered endangered because of their wide North American distribution, although the majority are found in Canada.  They are also good opportunists and do well in fragmented habitat and, obviously, near human communities.  Black bears are not true hibernators, but are much less active in the winter.  You can go here for more information about black bears.

Here are a few more pictures of the New Jersey bears.  If you'd like to hear more about my friends' bear encounters, you can go to Lynne's blog.  On the right hand side, there is a category list.  You can click on Bears for recent posts and also Bear Diary for her older entries.  Enjoy and thanks, Lynne, for letting me share your great photos and thanks for the great title for the post!

Photo by Lynne Robinson

Photo by Lynne Robinson