Morning Visitor

Well, we've finally got a black bear at the Aerie. Or I should saw, we have finally seen a black bear at the Aerie.

There have been some sounds in the night, including the crunch of bones (?) that have been attributed to raccoons. But it's possible that the raccoons were responding to some other presence. We've only seen the raccoons (usually two) and nothing larger.

This morning, while I prepped the coffee maker at 7:00 AM, a yearling black bear which I guess would weigh between 175 and 200 pounds (a BIG yearling) wandered into the yard from the woods. We had just set out the bird feeders (I got tired of refilling them every morning after the raccoons ad picked them clean) and putting the trays back on the deck rail (raccoons had knocked them down). There was a bit of onion and stale lettuce that the raccoons had passed up from last nights hamburgers.

I watched for a moment and then called to Terry to look out her window in the sewing room. Unfortunately, that window was open and the bear heard her call back to me. It stopped, whirled about and loped back into the woods long before I could get to the camera and take a picture.

Next time it's camera first.