Soo Junction Journal June 23, 2014
The morning was overcast and cool which is perfect for seeing black bears and photographing them.
As we got to the #1 station we had one of the quads waiting for us. He stood up to check to see if we were going to stop. He ran in front of us to the feeding area. We dropped him a bag of treats as we passed. It was the male that I call Chubby Bubby. It took him a little while to find but he finally laid down to eat…before the ravens swooped in to nab the treats.
As we neared #2 station another of the quads popped out and ran across in front of us. We dropped of treats for that one, too. It came out a little before another bigger bear showed up.
We got ourselves settled in the blind with the swarm of mosquitoes that were happy to see us. We had to keep our mouths covered so we didn’t inhale any. We finally got situated and our bigger bear at #2 started to come down our way. The closer it got we could make out the dark face of Momma Blaze…the momma of last year’s quads. She kicked them out early this spring so that she could mate and have cubs this next winter. Black bears have babies every two years…if their health and the winter allows for it.
Poor Momma Blaze was covered with a mass of mosquitoes. She was batting at them constantly as she walked and when she finally got up to us to eat. After she had her fill she wandered off into the woods to the west.
Another bigger bear came out at #2 but waddled clear down to #1. We never did get a closer look at it…but it appeared to be Big Bubba. It was definitely bigger than Blaze and she is the largest female we have around…bigger than another male that visited us two weeks ago.
Well, the mosquitoes finally abated after we put up our OFF fan…and the breeze picked up. We had sandhill cranes flying up and down the tracks…and yearlings wandering around.
Finally we had one of the yearlings come out to the north of us. It laid down to eat corn…and eat…and eat. Finally a second yearling came out and wandered down toward the other one. The first one took off into the woods to the west. The second one took its place eating corn.
It wasn’t more than ten minutes when a third yearling came out and started toward the one eating. It was a little leery of the one eating. It would dash in the woods then come right back out. Before long the two were laying down…eating side by side. These must the two girls. They we usually allow a sibling etc. to feed with them. The boys on the other hand like to be one their own.
Well, the girls kept eating along with sandhill cranes. A pair of sandhills came down as far as the speeder. It was fun to watch them. They were bothered by the bugs too but they just picked them off and ate them!
Finally, as I was watching the two girls the third yearling popped out near our blind. He cautiously came down. He walked past the speeder to check it out then came down to eat. We were able to get some nice shots of him. You can tell he is his momma’s boy…he has her black face. I’ve decided to call him Darth.
While we were watching the three yearlings to the north…the fourth one was wandering back and forth along the tracks to the south. This seems to be his domain. He finally made it down to #2 just as we were heading out for the day. I think we could have stayed all day and seen bears. We got to the blind around 8:15am and left at 1:30pm. The quads seem to be spending a lot of time wandering up and down and in and out near the three feeding stations and our blind. So it should be a good summer for the train to see bears.