Bearly Fledglings

Saw more fledglings today. Also saw a bear...

Near the Mt Marathon trail head this afternoon this bear was checking out the picnic area. I enjoyed watching the bear until I realized the bear was also watching me ... and probably thinking I looked like lunch! I was in my car and rolling up the windows a heart beat after snapping this photo






This bear was looking for lunch at 2:30 this afternoon. Bear was not afraid of me. At all. Not even a little. And Bear was checking out anything and everything that might conceal food. Including me...






Yesterday a state trooper told me they have had to shoot some bears that became too aggressive with people after learning to associate them with food so when the only other person around suggested we try to chase Bear away I joined him in yelling, clapping, and stepping towards Bear.. Clapping seemed to be the most effective and sent Bear on its way back into the woods.




The man threw a few rocks and hit Bear in the rear right hip just before it disappeared into the trees. He believed that would help ensure that the bear associated the picnic area with a memorably unpleasant experience. Although I did not like seeing the bear actually hit and would not have chosen to do so myself, I think he is right and I'd much prefer the bear be hit with a rock than a bullet!

In the above video the man who was also there calls out "black bear" to warn hikers right after the bear emerged from the woods.






Sentry



Here a crow is serving Sentry Duty in one of the nesting areas. If anyone, birds, humans, or other critters get too close the sentry makes a racket cawing and squawking and alerting other crows who sometimes join in the ruckus. One trick the crows use is to fly away from where the fledgling is, land in plain sight of you, and squawk to draw your attention away from where the babies are.

Barely Fledglings



This is one the first handful of fledglings to fly. Fledglings are a little smaller than adults and have very pink mouths - you can see a touch of pink at the edge of the beak. They also have blue eyes although it is difficult to see in most of my photos, They are also very curious and not as wary of people as adult crows.

If a crow deems you too close to a fledging sometimes it will swoop down at you. I have video of one diving at me when it noticed me video taping it feeding a fledgling. I was surprised since I was using full zoom and really did not think I was close enough to cause alarm.

I was using full zoom while video taping and photographing so there is significant shake in the video and poor focus in the photos