This type of trail cam capture makes me happy because it shows an animal relaxed and comfortable in her own environment. Granted, she is a top predator and the only other predator around that would bother her is a mountain lion or human. The camera captured only about 11 minutes of video, but the bear was there for about one hour, sleeping, scratching, and resting. The water source she drinks from is a small pool left over from the summer monsoon rains. When I checked the camera, I dug out a bunch of sand, making more water available for the other desert critters who also visit this site. They include various bird and insect species, striped and hog-nosed skunks, gray fox, ringtail cats, coatimundi, and white-tailed deer.
Tag: arizona black bear
A black bear and cub take a swim
After a few months away from this location, I recently returned and reset a trail camera pointing at the small seep-filled pool. Since it has been so dry, despite some monsoon rains, I was hoping this spot would attract wildlife like it had in previous years. This morning I checked the camera and as it turns out, just yesterday there was a fun visit by a sow and her cub. Notice in the first clip of them, the mother bear pulls her cub into the water, encouraging her to swim.
Bears being bears
It’s the time of year in Arizona when the temps are hot and the black bears are always happy to find a watering hole, either to drink or wallow. The following three videos are from the last few weeks during one of the hottest and driest periods this summer.
A black bear marks trees and inspects a camera
The bear scat trail cam site (see previous post about the mama bear and her scat) has continued to be active, most recently with male black bears coming through and marking two different trees and smelling the old scat. I have two trail cams there now, both on trees that are not bear marking trees. Recently, a curious bear decided to check out one of the cameras. This isn’t the first time a bear decided to mess with one of my cameras, but no damage was done and it shows how curious and aware bears are of their surroundings.
Bear cubs inspect trails cameras
It look like this is the same bear family as the scat video from a couple weeks ago, even though the cameras are a few miles apart:
My Earth 