Black Bears

Black bears are so BLACK! They really stand out. You think tree trunks are black and the space between leaves are black, macadam roads are black and shadows are black, but when you see a black bear beside them, you realize that none of those things are truly black. It must have to do with the thickness of the fur, that light doesn’t bounce off of their surface, but is absorbed.

I’ve seen two bears in the last two days, one twice in the woods behind my house. The first one I saw in a power line right-of-way in a conservation area near Davis, WV. He or she was moseying along the Blackwater River. The one in our woods (in Western Maryland) I almost bumped into. The cats and I were starting out on a walk, I heard what I expected to be a deer, looked up, and a bear was doing a little two-step shuffle, being as noisy as possible, running off a little ways and looking back at me. They are so funny when they do that shuffle! It’s like they’re trying to get their great bulk into gear to run. When he saw I was no threat, he ambled away into the woods. So Domino and I went on a path in the other direction.

Later on, Domino and I were sitting on a moss-covered stump on the other side of the stream. We were enjoying the serenity of the woods, when we heard what sounded like a deer again, and there was that same bear walking back the other way toward the blueberry field. I decided to keep walking in the opposite direction (I like to give all wildlife a wide birth), but Domino stayed. I think she thought it was pretty cool to lie on a soft throne of moss watching a bear moving around a safe distance away.

And I did feel safe. Black bears are so gentle and shy. They are mainly vegetarians. Plus they have very poor eyesight and hearing. Their sense of smell is their main way of sensing other animals, so if you figure out wind direction, they may not know people are in their vicinity. That’s why you’re supposed to make noise, so they won’t be startled and perhaps act aggressively. One time I was walking up our road, and two bears were drinking from a stream about fifteen feet from the road. I clapped my hands loudly as I walked by. The two bears looked up, snouts dripping with water, and watched me go by, probably wondering why the heck I was clapping!